Wii U Sales Forecast Cut

[Scribblesense]

It will go up after E3, once the games announced actually start to be released. Rayman: Legends, Pikmin 3, Bayonetta 2, and a few others will sell the Wii U a lot more than the paltry amount of games currently available.

Their numbers will only go down after E3, since both Microsoft and Sony are expected to be announcing their new consoles including all the new games they come with after June 2013.

If anything they have another 4 months till then to gather some further interest and be the "star in the spotlight" (like they tried with that last Nintendo Direct) and they'll be pushed in the background after that.

But let's be honest, it's going to be another "GameCube" for them: http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/19/year-one-gamecube-vs-wii/ instead of repeating the Wii phenomenon.

I highly doubt that. The new Xbox/Playstation consoles won't be released for months after their announcement (My guess, early/mid 2014 release if not later), sure they can hype them up, but Nintendo is the only one who can deliver with timely releases to their new console.

Also the Gamecube was excellent, I don't know why people use it as an insult.

The Gamecube had some of my favorite games and easily my favorite controller, but it didn't sell well and had terrible third party support due to its irregular disc format (those tiny discs could only hold about 2 gbs of memory, while a standard DVD can hold about 8). It was profitable, but it wasn't a huge success.

Nintendo has had lousy third-party support since the N64 days, and its one of the hurdles they are trying to clear with the Wii U. At the moment, many 3rd parties don't seem interested in porting games to the Wii U, and if that continues when the Sony and Microsoft next-gen consoles lost the Wii U will lose steam.

As for E3, Nintendo currently has the upper hand as they are set to unveil the next 3D Mario, Zelda, and Super Smash Bros, plus games they haven't even announced yet. I don't see Microsoft or Sony stealing the show even if they announce new consoles, unless their announcements come with something unexpected and is in playable form. I think the slowdown of the Wii U following its launch will cause Microsoft and Sony to postpone launching new hardware until Holiday 2014. The 360 and PS3 are still doing well enough that they may be convinced a new generation isn't necessary.

 

[Mythmaker]

I don't know why people assume sales of the console will increase when E3 rolls around. Announcements at E3 have never caused a significant increase in sales. Just look at the 3DS, which was in exactly the same position, had roughly the same games announced as what we're expecting for the Wii U...and didn't see any improved sales. It's when games are released, or a price is dropped, that we see an increase.

In short, don't wait for E3 for Nintendo to start selling more systems, wait for E3 to tell you WHEN Nintendo will start selling more systems.