Danny O'Dwyer The Point / Is the Wii U A Failure?

I wonder how much of the Wii-U's problems are owed entirely to branding issues. The only people who pay enough attention to the difference between a Wii and Wii U are the people who are least likely to be interested in it.

Right now... definitely. Can they pull it round... probably not.

Wii was a flash in the pan and Nintendo and right now, the value proposition of the Wii U is poor. Even if Nintendo released the 2-3 GOTY contenders every year for that console, it wouldn't be enough. The 3rd party publishers are largely ignoring the console and this will get worse when companies begin the transition to the XB1/PS4/PC only games leaving Nintendo in a much worse position.

When you consider (this is from journalists - I don't own one myself) how messed up their online is, how slow the OS is and just how they don't integrate achievements/trophies into their games... this is all their own fault. I want Nintendo to do great, I want 3 real competitors in the console space and I want Nintendo to always make games, but they're so reluctant to adapt to the times and take note from what consumers want.

Super Mario 3D World is a pretty neat game, and it (along with other games) convinced me to spend money on new hardware this fall to play it. PS4 will convince me once inFamous: Second Son comes out. And Xbox One will convince me once some things I want to play on it come out.

It's just like any hardware. Some games might be system sellers, while some may be the tipping point to convince someone to pick up the platform it's on. One cannot judge other than for themselves.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-12-05-nintendo-in-the-firing-line

Thought I'd provide a good counter-article for anyone interested, which is more in line with my "it's too early to call" position. Also an interesting point made in it's comments is that Nintendo has been profitable over past years, and is 20 places higher than Sony on the Forbes 500. They can afford to play a long game if they need to, particularly with the 3DS doing gangbusters.

It took me awhile too realize but Nintendo isn't going anywhere. They better than anyone can realize know that they have a different audience that will support them. They are like the Disney Channel of games. I have no idea what's on there but I'm sure after it's popular and all the fans are talking I'll hear about it and they will take their clothes off...wait. Nintendo is Disney. I've gotta go.

Love Danny but I'm not a fan of threads that don't intend to start a conversation. it's still technically youtube spam if you aren't adding anything of note or inciting a conversation. I mean if people wanted to discuss this they could on the gamespot website for over a week now..

@cornbredx: Which is irrelevant, because a civil conversation was already started here, in this community, many of whom probably aren't part of the gamespot community.

If Nintendo exists the console industry and focuses on being 3rd party and a handheld only maker, I'm fine with that. Seeing as how much Nintendo is able to squeeze out of outdated hardware, it would be amazing to see how a Mario game would look on the new consoles.

Fuck the Wii U, just keep putting out pokemon games on the 3DS

In the launch window, like Danny says, people will do a bit to justify purchasing new stuff. It is nice that people are getting excited about the PS4 because of inFamous: Second Son. How is that going to work a year from now? SS might be the best game ever but expecting people to be excited for months and then expecting them to stay excited for months after the release until the next "system seller" is only possible if SS is really really really really good.

And again I have to point out this belief that system sellers save systems is bunk. 30 years of history shows that these big titles help but saving systems is fanciful. If you want an easy example: Halo for XBox.

To be clear: The problem that people keep missing is that isn't these game. The games are good. They might even be the top tier of the era. The platform, for whatever reasons, is the problem. It is unclear if anyone can fix a platform with high quality games and so far it hasn't happened for the Wii U.

Here is something more in line with my standpoint. Even I do not think that Nintendo should make consoles anymore. They are just so far behind actual standards in Power, Technique and services that it would be just result in another failure. They will not Reach their Target and I am really excited to see Iwata admitting defeat and to resign. Maybe then someone else can save Nintendo. It would be tragic if they would go under but it would not be tragic if they would not make any consoles.

And going third party would make a ton of cash for Nintendo.

http://www.gamesradar.com/its-time-nintendo-admit-defeat-and-make-true-next-gen-console/

@extomar: The idea that one system seller saves systems is fanciful, but a series of good games over a period of time does. And the Xbox was hardly a failure in absolute terms, even if it wasn't what it's competition was, it paved the way for the 360 and it's costs were totally expected as the price of entering the industry fresh. It's easy to forget that these aren't really contests in the sense how the company does on it's own is usually more important to how it does compared to it's competition.

It's not losing money, actually.

Nintendo's already said that any time someone who owns a Wii U buys one piece of software, the sale is profitable.

And sorry, but a year is early when you expect something to last 5-7 years.

And yeah, @razielcuts, "out of the gate" doesn't equal a year later.

To be fair, the Wii U did fucking amazing "out of the gate". It was the best launch in console history until the PS4 and XB1 launched. Over the last year since it launched it has sold like shit, unfortunately.

And the Dreamcast and the Gamecube and the various Atari systems were hardly failures either because they each had one or two really nice games that lead to other things as well. :)

I don't hate Nintendo but really there is something off about the Wii U whether it is the marketing or the market. At this stage I'm not entirely sure putting out a new Zelda and a new Smash Bros on the Wii U will help but they need several titles hitting every month.

Yeah the Dreamcast which led Sega to go 3rd party was not a failure XD

Every system has some good games but this does not make it a success. By now the Wii U can be lucky if it reaches 15 million LTD. And I also do not think a MArio cart, Smash brothers or Zelda will help at all because most of the people who wnat to play these games from Nintendo already have a Wii U.

You focused on "system seller" but ignored that I mentioned a "tipping point." I'd say most games fall into the latter for most people. inFamous might be a system seller for some people, but it might be one of many games another person will use to justify their purchase.

So maybe for a few people Mario Kart is a system seller. Perhaps for others, looking back at Super Mario 3D World and other games, it might be the tipping point that convinces them to pick up a Wii U. Super Mario 3D World, along with other first-party games, has been able to convince some people, including myself, to pick up a Wii U this fall.

@extomar: The Gamecube was Profitable. It was a success by the most fundamental definition of business there is, common perception be damned. And the WiiU is selling well in Japan, now. I absolutely think that a few good games in a row could give international sales the kick in the pants that it needs.

Give it at least another year.

The window is small and the best opportunity passed but Nintendo still has time to turn perception around.

The Xbox 360 came out 4 years after the release of the original Xbox, a very short turn around. Microsoft and Sony seem to be planning for another long console generation this time around, though that can always change. If Nintendo came out with a new console in 3 years time, long enough to produce a hardware edge on the other consoles, and catered more the core market without relying on gimmicks like the Wiimote or whatever that pad is called, then they could make a decent headway into the market as the new, strong console.

I'd say that I'm sure that Nintendo is working on something that may even be more market-savy than that, but these are the same geniuses that decided that Wii-U was a good, marketable console name, so who knows?

I personally am not even close to interested in a WiiU, but I had no idea it wasn't selling very well.

I could just listen to Danny talk for hours. Seriously. He's in the same ranks as Sessler and the GB guys with me. He's great.

My friend who recently got a WiiU asked me the other day if there were any games we could play online together or against each other.

I could not come up with an answer.

People love being connected these days and I think nintendo needs to catch up or things might go very wrong in the next year. The people who will want to play Mario Kart and Smash Bros. are the same people who grew up with the originals, adults who no longer have time to get together and play local multiplayer.

Revamp the nintendo ID friends system and maybe sell the system without a tablet (just a pro controller) to reduce the price?