Why is the Wii U not succeeding?

[TomWiley]

I think Nintendo simply does not care a whole lot about their console. They are all about handhelds now, probably because that's what's selling in Japan.

Personally, I'm of the very biased opinion that a game isn't a real game if you can play it on the subway. A real game is the kind of game that forces you to sit in a sofa or chair, hell yeah.

 

[DarklordKyo]

I still don't trust Nintendo because of Nintendo of America's unwillingness to release Xenoblade, Last Story and Pandora's Tower. On top of that I worry that we'll get dull 4kidsized versions of titles like Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem because Nintendo of America is so focused on being 100% Family Friendly...

To be fair, No More Heroes was a Wii exclusive for a long time. On top of that, Bayonetta 2 is going to be a Wii U exclusive (and one of the most well known aspects of that series is that it's hypersexualized to the point of possible parody).

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well let's run down their current stance on the market:
- most expensive console currently
- competitor to consoles that came 7 years before them (i.e. that entire market has been covered for a long time)
- offers very few games
- most of those games were out long before on other platforms
- their exclusives are roughly the same thing we played decades ago
- their previous exploding fan base is old people and grand children who don't much care for novelty
- and while the Flail-o-matic 9000 (also known as Wii) captured the peoples unyielding desire to flail extremities that touchpad doesn't have quite the same pull

All in all they just haven't got out at the right time with enough stuff to do, if they waited and launched along with PS4 / X180 they would have had the comparable games, prices, market space,... right now however they sit dead in the water with no wind forcast.

 

[lapan]

It will likely do better once more Nintendo games come out and once people realize that the other next gen consoles won't have a better starting lineup.

It seems customary for a while now to rush out systems with only a few bad or small titles at the start. PS3, Vita and 3DS had similar problems at the start, and the Vita still has them to some degree.

I for one am already happy with my WiiU. I had enough fun with Monster Hunter alone to completely make the purchase worthwhile in ?/h. Also got myself Pikmin 3 now that it came out and there are a few other upcoming titles i'm looking forward to.

 

[CloudAtlas]

I'm rather wondering why anyone would buy a Wii U. For all those party games, an old Wii should just do fine. And apart from that... Who buys a console that has just a small number of exclusives, most of them installments of really old franchises, an equally small number of non-exclusives, is technically not much better than 7-year-old consoles, yet more expensive?

 

[dscross]

Obviously it's because we friend zoned Nintendo. Don't try to deny it! It's been treating you nicely and you decided to chase Sony and Microsoft because you thought that you would have more excitement and that maybe...just maybe...you'll be the one to change them. Bad news, they treated you badly and you've been complaining on how you wish that you just had a gaming company that treated you nicely. Too bad for you. Now Nintendo will go hit the gym, become someone better and find someone else in its life.

So true. I feel bad that I friend zoned Nintendo...but I just didn't feel that spark. And it just seemed too over generous, like it wanted something from me instead of being genuine.

 

[Random Argument Man]

Obviously it's because we friend zoned Nintendo. Don't try to deny it! It's been treating you nicely and you decided to chase Sony and Microsoft because you thought that you would have more excitement and that maybe...just maybe...you'll be the one to change them. Bad news, they treated you badly and you've been complaining on how you wish that you just had a gaming company that treated you nicely. Too bad for you. Now Nintendo will go hit the gym, become someone better and find someone else in its life.

So true. I feel bad that I friend zoned Nintendo...but I just didn't feel that spark. And it just seemed too over generous, like it wanted something from me instead of being genuine.

It's funny. I was going to include that line, but I decided to omit it because I didn't think, at the moment, of an example of a Nintendo cash grab news.

 

[SerithVC]

It's simple, it's not a Playstation or an Xbox. People will look at the nintendo and thin it's just a bunch of kiddy games and ignore it. It also has games that support local multiplayer and, for what ever reason, people hate local multiplayer these days. Also it's the lack of big name franchises like Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Halo, etc. Once the new Zelda is announced i know for a fact that the sales will sky rocket.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

I'm rather wondering why anyone would buy a Wii U. For all those party games, an old Wii should just do fine. And apart from that... Who buys a console that has just a small number of exclusives, most of them installments of really old franchises, an equally small number of non-exclusives, is technically not much better than 7-year-old consoles, yet more expensive?

If Nintendo's exclusives are "Small", then Microsoft's and Sony's exclusives are completely barren. And these really old franchises at least are kept fresh and to a minimum, unlike some other, shorter running Franchises *Cough* *Cough* Guitar Hero *Cough* *Cough* Call of Duty *Cough* I could list. You don't see 7 Mario 3D Platformers on the Wii, or 4 Legend of Zelda's on the Gamecube, or 3 Smash Bros on the N64. Super Mario 64 is different from Sunshine, which is different from the Galaxy games, which is different from the 3D Land/World games. I bought mine around Christmas, because I want new Nintendo games, something that I couldn't get on the Wii. It's the same reason I bought the 3DS.

OT: Lack of Games. I don't expect the WiiU to start selling really well until Super Mario 3D World comes out Near Christmas. But after that, I think it'll do fine.

 

[WhyWasThat]

The question is self explanatory. I was just wondering why? Maybe a gamer with better knowledge can explain it to me? Is it from lack of games? Bad timing? Or what? Seems to be doing a Dreamcast...

Nah, the Dreamcast was good.

 

[WhyWasThat]

It's simple, it's not a Playstation or an Xbox. People will look at the nintendo and thin it's just a bunch of kiddy games and ignore it. It also has games that support local multiplayer and, for what ever reason, people hate local multiplayer these days. Also it's the lack of big name franchises like Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Halo, etc. Once the new Zelda is announced i know for a fact that the sales will sky rocket.

It's a sad day when one game franchise is enough to keep an entire console brand afloat. You know that's a sure sign that it has no place in the industry.

 

[WhyWasThat]

Personally, I'm of the very biased opinion that a game isn't a real game if you can play it on the subway. A real game is the kind of game that forces you to sit in a sofa or chair, hell yeah.

Hmmmnnn... I don't know - have you played Ridiculous Fishing?

 

[Lightknight]

Nintendo has admitted to the following mistakes:

1. Marketing: They failed to market the WiiU as a new console. A significant number of people think it's just a tablet peripheral at a high price (though not too high for a tablet). That's a huge marketing failure.
2. Games: There is a lack of Nintendo and 3rd party games out right now. They need a break through title and perhaps even new IPs for at least once this decade.
3. Experience: Nintendo Execs have stated that they really haven't given consumers a reason why they need this new console. Why is it worth getting? What new thing does it bring to the table? Nintendo has to figure out ways to make it a new experience.

Things Nintendo hasn't stated:

1. The price point is pretty darn close to the competitors. $350 for the 32GB version compared to $400 for a ps4 that has a 500GB HDD and is significantly more powerful? That's silly. This is also the price point for more hardcore gamers than for the casual gamers that flocked to the system this past generation. That's not to say hardcore gamers don't own a wii, just that there's a non-trivial number of casual gamers that make up the customer base of the Wii. These are individuals who may not be willing to spend over $300 for a new console, especially with no present reason to. While hardcore gamers are quick to try and dismiss casual gamers, they are still a legitimate demographic and certainly a source of revenue for such companies.
2. The 3rd party developers are currently divided on whether or not they're going to even support the console. This does not give confidence in the future of the product. Who is going to pay next gen money for a new console that offers no new experiences (currently) and is likely to be short on 3rd party development for the third generation in a row? (Gamecube, Wii, WiiU). I've literally come to consider the price of a Nintendo console as my Nintendo Software tax. A fee I pay to be able to purchase nintendo games.
3. There was a significant earthquake that forbes magazine seemed to indicate could have impacted sales.

 

[SerithVC]

It's simple, it's not a Playstation or an Xbox. People will look at the nintendo and thin it's just a bunch of kiddy games and ignore it. It also has games that support local multiplayer and, for what ever reason, people hate local multiplayer these days. Also it's the lack of big name franchises like Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Halo, etc. Once the new Zelda is announced i know for a fact that the sales will sky rocket.

It's a sad day when one game franchise is enough to keep an entire console brand afloat. You know that's a sure sign that it has no place in the industry.

what makes it sad is that people only focus on certain game franchises instead of playing a larger variety of games. Nintendo Land was a great game to ship with the Wii U. It gave everyone a taste of things they can do with the system and a taste of our old favorites. Honestly the games they have released for the Wii U have been good games, except that most of them people already played on other systems. I'm actually excited for the new Mario, the new Zelda, the new smash bros, the new Xenoblade Chronicles (or X as they are currently calling it), Super Luigi U. As well as seeing what other games they release on it. Nintendo has a lot of good games and the wii u has some nice features like having your inventory at your finger tips so you don't have to keep opening and closing menus to do shit.

 

[CloudAtlas]

If Nintendo's exclusives are "Small", then Microsoft's and Sony's exclusives are completely barren. And these really old franchises at least are kept fresh and to a minimum, unlike some other, shorter running Franchises *Cough* *Cough* Guitar Hero *Cough* *Cough* Call of Duty *Cough* I could list. You don't see 7 Mario 3D Platformers on the Wii, or 4 Legend of Zelda's on the Gamecube, or 3 Smash Bros on the N64. Super Mario 64 is different from Sunshine, which is different from the Galaxy games, which is different from the 3D Land/World games. I bought mine around Christmas, because I want new Nintendo games, something that I couldn't get on the Wii. It's the same reason I bought the 3DS.

You know, some people don't find those franchises that fresh anymore. Gameplay might be neat and all, but the princess is still in another castle. They'd say that those franchises are not that different from Call of Duty, what you seem to deride: always the same stuff, but still selling like crazy.
Where are the new ideas? No matter how cool and fresh the gameplay might be, any title with "Mario" in its name and some combination of odd prefixes and suffixes, to name just one example, that's just not appealing to a large set of people. And I can't imagine that this number is decreasing in the future, with all the competition from mobile gaming, which I would expect to hit Nintendo the hardest, of all gaming platforms.

 

[Something Amyss]

It's a sad day when one game franchise is enough to keep an entire console brand afloat. You know that's a sure sign that it has no place in the industry.

Wouldn't that apply to Microsoft (who owes much of their ability to continue making consoles to Halo) and to a lesser extent Sony (whose sales were helped by the exclusivity of MGS IV in much the same way, quite possibly on a similar scale to the way Zelda helps Nintendo consoles)?

 

[themind]

It is going the way of the Sega Dreamcast. It is a solid console, but people are waiting to see what the PS4 and XBOX1 are going to be like before making the commitment. Dreamcast was a very good console, but most people wanted to see what 360 & PS3 were going to be like first.

 

[dscross]

The question is self explanatory. I was just wondering why? Maybe a gamer with better knowledge can explain it to me? Is it from lack of games? Bad timing? Or what? Seems to be doing a Dreamcast...

Nah, the Dreamcast was good.

Yeah, I still have mine somewhere. Loved it. Wasn't a judgement, it just was the reason SEGA stopped doing consoles, because the Dreamcast did poorly for some reason. Now that WAS timing in my opinion rather than games. Maybe too ahead of its time?

 

[Mr.Mattress]

You know, some people don't find those franchises that fresh anymore. Gameplay might be neat and all, but the princess is still in another castle. They'd say that those franchises are not that different from Call of Duty, what you seem to deride: always the same stuff, but still selling like crazy.
Where are the new ideas? No matter how cool and fresh the gameplay might be, any title with "Mario" in its name and some combination of odd prefixes and suffixes, to name just one example, that's just not appealing to a large set of people. And I can't imagine that this number is decreasing in the future, with all the competition from mobile gaming, which I would expect to hit Nintendo the hardest, of all gaming platforms.

It's actually an inverse of CoD in a way: Where CoD Changes the Story but keeps the exact same gameplay, Mario has an essential story but keeps changing the gameplay. For example, In CoD 3 to CoD 4, The plot went from WWII to the Modern Era (I'm sorry I can't go further into the plots of CoD, I have forgotten their details). Meanwhile, From Super Mario 64 to Super Mario Sunshine, The Gameplay changed because of the Water Cannon/Jet Pack FLUD. From CoD 4 to CoD: BLOPS, the plot went from The Modern Era, back to World War II. However, from Super Mario Sunshine to Galaxy 1+2, the gameplay changed because of the Planetoid Platforming (Something that hadn't really been done before) and Motion Controls.

And I understand that a lot of people don't find the franchises fresh anymore. A lot of people, however, still do, just like a lot of people think CoD is still fresh. The Difference between Cod and 3D Mario, however, is that CoD releases every year, where a 3D Mario (Usually) releases from 2-6 years after the previous one, and usually on a new Console to boot. Also, Mario doesn't have a lot of Prefixes to it (The Only games with a Prefix is the New Super Mario Bros. Series, which is not what I'm talking about).

 

[CloudAtlas]

I think Nintendo simply does not care a whole lot about their console. They are all about handhelds now, probably because that's what's selling in Japan.

Personally, I'm of the very biased opinion that a game isn't a real game if you can play it on the subway. A real game is the kind of game that forces you to sit in a sofa or chair, hell yeah.

That, I believe, is a great challenge to Nintendo, more so than to Microsoft and Sony. Why would I want to buy a 3DS or a Wii U if I can get similar experiences for my smartphone or my tablet, which I already own anyway (well, I don't, but many others do)? Sure, Mario or Link might not star in those games, but will those names continue to have the same pull on the generation growing up now?