Satoru Iwata: Hardware Price Is Not Wii U's Problem

[Zelgon]

I think that pretty soon this whole conversation about what is killing the wiiU will be for naught. Once Nintendo releases some more 1st party games, they will sell in the millions as per usual, and they will win back 3rd party support.

Lack of 3rd party support is understandable. It's Nintendo's responsibility to make the WiiU popular enough an their job to take all the risks at first. Until Nintendo can prove WiiU is going to be a success, they are going to keep their money in places that they know they will make more money with.

Nintendo messed up with their launch. They did it with 3DS, promised they learned and wouldn't do it again, then they did it again. It's unfortunate. I'm hoping for a WiiU ambassador program like they did with 3DS and get me some awesome games for free

 

[fix-the-spade]

Of course the Wii-U has a future.

In the bargain bin with the Gamecubes!

Unfortunately for Nintendo, the Wii U is dead, if they wanted to shift a large number of units they had to get it out the door and get the big first party titles out to guarantee an install base. In it's first twelve months the Wii had Metroid Prime 3, Mario Galaxy and Twilight Princess (which was a port, but still, no one had a Gamecube), it took until 2008 for Wii sales to really take off as casuals discovered it but Nintendo had already made healthy sales from the hardcore.

This time around there's nothing, a Smash Bros in 2014 but Metroid, Zelda and a 'proper' Mario game are notable by their absence. The casual market's abandoned them because it's fickle like that, whilst the hardcore aren't interested and there's new hardware from Sony and Microsoft a few months away that grinds the Wii U's abilities to paste. Any hope of major third party support died with those announcements, in two years EA's not going to waste money on a cut down Battlefield 5 for a 'current gen' console nobody bought.

They've missed their window of opportunity, even if Zelda, Metroid and Mario all get released in 2014 and they're all fantastic no one will notice but the faithful (I'd hope for Starfox too, but Iwata seems to hate Starfox). This is an almost exact repeat of the Gamecube, which has some of the finest games Nintendo has ever made on it but was still a sales failure because they all came too late in the lifespan.

That's to say nothing of the download store and tying purchases to hardware and not accounts, tell people that if the console ever breaks they lose everything and then watch them buy something else.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

As an owner of one, I hate to say it...but this thing might get Dreamcasted. I don't mean that they'll do just what Sega did and start making Mario Galaxy 3 for the PS4 or whatever, but they're going to be in serious trouble once the PS4 and X1 release. I figured that if the 3D Mario, Smash Bros, Metroid, and Bayonetta 2 would be ready to take on Sony and Microsoft they stood a chance of at least being in the race, until I saw all the "2014" release dates on their E3 thing.

This is a huge, successful company that really should have learned all of Sony and Microsoft's mistakes with making games in HD and fostering relationships with 3rd parties, and should know by now that it's all about the killer apps. Something must have just went terribly wrong. The price may not be too high, but when there's a PS4 for 50 bucks more on the shelf with Killzone, Infamous, and all that shit and the Wii U lineup looks the same...yikes.

This is getting a bit long, but they royally fucked the advertising of this thing too. Everyday people I talk to who don't read games media think the system is either an iteration of the Wii they have a la DSi or GBA SP, or that the tablet is a new controller they can buy for that system they played Wii Sports on 5 years ago. Nintendo sure didn't do the job of explaining the HD, HDMI output, and the plain fact that it's a true successor to the Wii. "Wii U" may have been a horrible name choice too. Ah well.

 

[masticina]

How is the basic version even a good choice? 8Gbyte of flash memory is not enough! It is the same as the 4Gbyte Xbox 360 model and the PS3 12Gbyte. You just know that software will come out and before you freaking know even the updates take up the small bit of space you had.

So the 8Gbyte doesn't has a reason to exist! The only reason is to LOOK cheaper.. yeah wait until you are out of space.

Now to the software situation, yes.. they have made quite a few mistakes. And it is hard to say what is going to really help them by now. They are already known as that "3rd console", even the Wii might have outsold both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 if you look at the sales of games on said format.. it wasn't 1st!

I guess the dependency upon games like Mario, Zelda ,Pikmin.. look it is nice we get those games yes. But where is my Need for Speed on the WiiU? Where is my Football 2013 on the WiiU? Where is Fifa on the WiiU? I know it sad but yes you also need the third party. Also those games.

The WiiU has a lovely lego game really really nice. That is one game..

And the marketing.. yeah you target the same market that sold the Wii like hotcakes. Except that is the same market that only plays Wii Sports. That is not a market that is going to help you forward. These casuals are not buying your new hardware.

Definitely since you made it rather unclear what the WiiU really is. I get it moms tend not to get the right feelings of words like "High Def" or "HDMI" but you never even told them that the WiiU is more then just a fancy gamepad. That it actually has a console connected to it!

I as gamer know this.. but if my parents would hear about the WiiU they would be like "Oh that fancy gamepad thingy"...yeah!

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Without good hardware you are not going to sell software. Frist and foremost they should have focused on normal control pad for easy ports then use the LCD controller for speffic games. IMO its mostly the un willingness of developers to port to and add features for the WII U control pad.

 

[Towowo]

No Blu Ray or DVD functionality

I fail to see how this is a problem when the average person probably has one or the either and probably more than one.

No ethernet port

Sure would have been nice to have one as not everyone likes using wireless

No USB 3.0

I don't see this as much a problem USB 2.0 speeds are still faster than the average disc speed and I doubt most people will even care.

No region free

Not a deal breaker and once again most people won't even care, the amount of people that import games are an extreme minority.

No massive storage

Starting storage leaves a lot to be desired but storage is easily remediable as external storage is still far far cheaper and it's only getting cheaper.

No multitouch

I could live without multitouch, almost no Wii U game plays exclusively touchscreen so I don't see this as a big deal.

No cross game chat

Agreed this needs to be fixed.

No audio CD support

Eh, most people have their music on digital so why is this a problem for the majority?

 

[Casual Shinji]

There are also a bunch of other problems with the Wii U.

No Blu Ray or DVD functionality
No ethernet port
No USB 3.0
No region free
No massive storage
No multitouch
No cross game chat
No audio CD support

You know, I constantly keep forgetting this, especially the lack of Blu-ray and DVD support. Probably because it's become so natural for a console to have extra media functions. And it's kinda baffling Nintendo still hasn't included this.

I know how they're trying uphold themselves as to be all about the games, but you're still spending a good chunck of change on this device. And yet for 50 bucks more you can get a console that has way better looking games, way more memory, AND the ability to play Blu-rays, DVDs, and CDs.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

This is the most pathetic thing I've ever seen from developers. There are no games on the Wii U which is hindering sales but the developers don't want to make games for it since the sales are bad. Does anyone have balls to do ANYTHING anymore? Take a risk you fools and make a Wii U game! The Wii U has made many sales from Monster Hunter fans who wanted to play 3 Ultimate online. So make the next system seller already!

Its posts like this that make me laugh. Mostly because its the 3rd party titles on Nintendo consoles taking a risk that winds up beating them up in sales. Nintendo's marketing of the Wii hurt its Wii U image really, really bad. You've gotta realize that the Wii U won't sell when a good 3rd party game comes out. 3rd party games don't sell Nintendo consoles. Nintendo games sell Nintendo consoles.

You should be yelling at Nintendo to make more games for its console that are more than just mostly side-scrolling platformer franchises. Not the third party. It seems that Nintendo fans want to blame anyone but Nintendo for the Wii U's slow sales. We can't just ignore how the third party was treated on the Wii by Nintendo and how hard the casual marketing hurt a variety of games in terms of chances to sell. The Wii U inherently has adopted some of those problems by carrying the "Wii" name on.

Also, Monster Hunter Ultimate didn't really sell a lot of Wii U's. It showed up as one of the top selling games in the UK sure, but it quickly left that list, for a couple of reasons. One, its a niche title(I'm a fan but MH is NOT for everyone). Two, its a remake of MH 3 with a few more features. Hell, even Pikmin 3 couldn't get people buying the console. Why? Niche title. The same pattern will happen with Wonderful 101.

Nintendo needs to release a Legend of Zelda game or a Mario game that's bigger in scope than any they've put out in recent years. Those games sold Wiis. The third party won't risk losing money on the console and I don't blame them.

 

[Vivi22]

Except the WiiU is a next-gen console.

In terms of hardware it is barely more powerful than a PS3 or 360. It's next-gen by virtue of release date only. Aside from that it really has little in common with the PS4 and XBone. Certainly not enough to make direct ports feasible.

N64 and Gamecube had some pretty successful 3rd party hits.

The N64 had a handful, but they were few and far between and nothing compared to the third party support the PSX got. Same thing for the Gamecube, except it got even less support than the N64.

It's not Nintendo's fault that their 1st party games blow sales charts most of the time and make 3rd party games seems less successful.

It's not a question of Nintendo game sales making third party games look less successful, it's a matter of third party games actually not being successful. If they were, third parties wouldn't be dumping so much of their time and effort into the other consoles and all but ignoring the Wii and the Wii U. Third parties have realized that there's just no real money in making AAA games specifically for Nintendo consoles anymore which is why they aren't bothering. Not because Nintendo happens to be really successful.

I need to ask, have you played with the wiiu gamepad? I don't find it uncomfortable at all.

I never said it was uncomfortable. I said it was poorly thought out and no one, including Nintendo, had any clue what to do with it or how it would push gaming forward. And unsurprisingly, nothing all that amazing or innovative has been done with it. Nintendo never stopped to ask, how will building a touch screen into controllers help developers and consumers have better gaming experiences, they just stuck it in because tablets are hot shit right now and hoped it would all work itself out eventually. Except it's really not, because the people interested in buying and playing tablet games already have tablets, the people interested in making tablet games have much easier access to markets and development tools for tablets, and nobody interested in AAA games would particularly give a shit about having a tablet in their controller.

This isn't even like the DS where there's some obvious benefits to having two screens with one being a touch screen because even using the tablet controller means you aren't watching the rest of the game, and that's just not good design for any real time games.

 

[Dragonbums]

There are also a bunch of other problems with the Wii U.

No Blu Ray or DVD functionality
No ethernet port
No USB 3.0
No region free
No massive storage
No multitouch
No cross game chat
No audio CD support

You know, I constantly keep forgetting this, especially the lack of Blu-ray and DVD support. Probably because it's become so natural for a console to have extra media functions. And it's kinda baffling Nintendo still hasn't included this.

I know how they're trying uphold themselves as to be all about the games, but you're still spending a good chunck of change on this device. And yet for 50 bucks more you can get a console that has way better looking games, way more memory, AND the ability to play Blu-rays, DVDs, and CDs.

But how much of these features actually matter?
I can list only 3 things on that list that is actually detrimental to the Wii U.

Blu Ray or DVD- Most people already have a Bluray/DVD box at home as a separate piece of machinery, and there is also a 90% chance that it's infinitely better than whatever the console has.(will also jack up the price.)

Multi-touch- Considering how game devs apparently can't even wrap their heads around a single touch Wii U gamepad, I highly doubt they would get bright ideas with a multi-touch one.

Massive Storage- Only a big deal if you are heavy on downloading your titles as opposed to buying the physical game disk. I believe that- just like 3DS games, your game memory is stored inside the CD.

USB 3.0- Most people will have no clue what significance this has. Only the most savvy in tech will remotely care about this lack of a "feature".

Audio CD Support- um...I...honestly can't think of anyone who would make good use of this feature. Especially when computers are much better at that than a console ever would.

It's funny because didn't Jim basically slam the Xbone for having these features over games first?
I don't know.

 

[Casual Shinji]

You know, I constantly keep forgetting this, especially the lack of Blu-ray and DVD support. Probably because it's become so natural for a console to have extra media functions. And it's kinda baffling Nintendo still hasn't included this.

I know how they're trying uphold themselves as to be all about the games, but you're still spending a good chunck of change on this device. And yet for 50 bucks more you can get a console that has way better looking games, way more memory, AND the ability to play Blu-rays, DVDs, and CDs.

But how much of these features actually matter?
I can list only 3 things on that list that is actually detrimental to the Wii U.

Blu Ray or DVD- Most people already have a Bluray/DVD box at home as a separate piece of machinery, and there is also a 90% chance that it's infinitely better than whatever the console has.(will also jack up the price.)

Multi-touch- Considering how game devs apparently can't even wrap their heads around a single touch Wii U gamepad, I highly doubt they would get bright ideas with a multi-touch one.

Massive Storage- Only a big deal if you are heavy on downloading your titles as opposed to buying the physical game disk. I believe that- just like 3DS games, your game memory is stored inside the CD.

USB 3.0- Most people will have no clue what significance this has. Only the most savvy in tech will remotely care about this lack of a "feature".

Audio CD Support- um...I...honestly can't think of anyone who would make good use of this feature. Especially when computers are much better at that than a console ever would.

It's funny because didn't Jim basically slam the Xbone for having these features over games first?
I don't know.

It's mainly for the sake of added convenience. Not having to switch off your console and switch on your Blu-ray or DVD player.
A simple pleasure about the PS3 for me is the ability to immediately go play a game after I've watched a movie or vice versa. And anything that keeps me from having to insert another cable in my TV is a benefit. As well as the Blu-ray fireware updates coinciding with the regular ones. At least, that's what I'm assuming, since I never had any problems playing Blu-ray discs, dispite many of them containing warnings that they may not play well if the player is not properly updated. I know my brother had this problem with his Blu-ray player.

And it's not about having them inplace of games, but as an extra. I think what Jim was getting at was that it's unecessary for a console to have features most TV's already have. If TV's had build in Blu-ray, DVD etc, then yes, it would be a useless addition.

And seeing as Blu-ray is a larger disc format anyway, you got two birds with one stone.

 

[Yokta]

All this talk of doom and gloom makes me want to bring up a little factoid:
In Australia, the Wii U Premium console has an RRP of AU$428. That's over a hundred dollars cheaper than a PS4 preorder, (AU$549), and cheaper still than the Xbox One (AU$599). Of course, I'm not here to advertise; $428 is still way too expensive for a console you're only going to use to play Pikmin 3 and a handful of unreleased titles, and it's more an example of Sony's price gouging than it is of the Wii U's affordability. I just thought it would be proof enough that every cloud has a silver lining.

 

[faefrost]

This is the most pathetic thing I've ever seen from developers. There are no games on the Wii U which is hindering sales but the developers don't want to make games for it since the sales are bad. Does anyone have balls to do ANYTHING anymore? Take a risk you fools and make a Wii U game! The Wii U has made many sales from Monster Hunter fans who wanted to play 3 Ultimate online. So make the next system seller already!

Most devs got burned by the Wii, as well as the fact that Nintendo first party titles are system movers and not those pesky 'risk adverse' dev offerings.

At this point companies are not going to invest in the WiiU as it isn't worth it (see ZombieU), in the beginning of a consoles life console makers generally either pay devs to make console exclusives or outright own the devs in question.

Besides, nearly everyone else is gearing up for the next gen console release.

THIS!

The Console makers have to "Prime the Pump" with good first party or exclusive titles in order to insure a "killer app" that will then drive sales. The third party developers do not want to touch the system until there is an acceptable level of an installed user base. And therin lies the catch 22. Nintendo needed to sacrifice one of their top end IP's to drive the consoles initial sales. They didn't. See Game makers don't want to be "Launch titles" they lose money on Launch Titles because the installed user base, and hence the pool of customers has not expanded yet. 6 months or a year out is where they prefer to be. Otherwise they waste their most profitable IP's or games ona fraction of the potential customer base. The only way we see good launch titles is for the console makers to subsidize them in order to insure the game devs against the massive hit they take on day 1. Nintendo didn't do that in this case. They either intentionally or unintentionally held back all of their top end properties. So no Mario, Zeldo, Metroid, MarioKart, etc. Now some they held back because these are their main profit points. They didn't want to take the hit on them in order to push the new hardware. (They made this same mistake with the 3dS and recovered. But that might not be the case this time). But they also ran into trouble developing for the new (to them) concept of HD graphics. The costs of the game development skyrocketed and the delays piled on. As a result even stuff that they had hoped to have ready wasn't and still isn't. And all of this has now dragged onto the point where customers can see what the competition is offering, and it looks a bit nicer than a PS3 equivalent with a sketchy iPad knockoff.

 

[Hero of Lime]

Wii U threads are looking to become the new gender topics on the escapist it seems. The Wii U's price is decent, but to get a fairly new console, you have to plop down a good chunk of money, everyone understands that, that is why getting a new console is such an event.

Games do sell game systems(obviously) and the games will come eventually, maybe not from many third party developers, but nonetheless they will come. Nintendo focused a bunch on the 3DS to get it rolling, they have to do the same with Wii U, which they have already started by showing off their big hitters at E3. Besides, if you love Nintendo first party games enough, you won't be able to resist the Wii U forever anyway.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Iwata once again having to state the obvious to people who can't even get the most basic of things drilled into their heads. Fact of the matter is that price cuts tend to be a quick fix instead of a long-term solution. Sony cut the Vita's price in Japan and, yeah, it DID increase the sales...for awhile. Then it went back to flopping on the sales charts due to its lack of product. The Wii U already has Pikmin 3 out with The Wonderful 101 out in September, Wind Waker HD in October, Donkey Kong in November, and then Mario capping off the year. It's a 3DS repeat. System comes out, system enters trouble due to 3rd parties screwing Nintendo over, and then Nintendo revitalizes system with their 1st party offerings, thus humiliating 3rd parties, naysayers, and doomsayers. Which they did before with the DS and Wii. You'd think people would recognize the pattern by now.

 

[faefrost]

Iwata once again having to state the obvious to people who can't even get the most basic of things drilled into their heads. Fact of the matter is that price cuts tend to be a quick fix instead of a long-term solution. Sony cut the Vita's price in Japan and, yeah, it DID increase the sales...for awhile. Then it went back to flopping on the sales charts due to its lack of product. The Wii U already has Pikmin 3 out with The Wonderful 101 out in September, Wind Waker HD in October, Donkey Kong in November, and then Mario capping off the year. It's a 3DS repeat. System comes out, system enters trouble due to 3rd parties screwing Nintendo over, and then Nintendo revitalizes system with their 1st party offerings, thus humiliating 3rd parties, naysayers, and doomsayers. Which they did before with the DS and Wii. You'd think people would recognize the pattern by now.

It's not third parties screwing Nintendo. As I said above. It is Nintendo's job to prime the pump. These wonderful Nintendo titles that are only just now being talked about should have been in the line up last year. Nintendo bares the burden of building the installed user base, not the third party developers. They only do so if the console maker is making it worth their while to do so. Nintendo has never had a history of making such things worthwhile to third party devs.

 

[Toadfish1]

Anybody can tell that a lack of games is the Wii U's current problem. Why, were there people saying that the Wii U is too expensive? Its the cheapest of the next-gen consoles!

No, its the most expensive of the last gen consoles. You can' argue that somethings "the cheapest" when its clearly so very inferior to its competitors that its not even in their league.

Besides which, its barely $50 less than the Ps4, which outclasses it hugely.