What if Nintendo abandoned the Wii U?

A thought experiment for us all.

What if Nintendo abandoned the Wii U?

Let's say that at E3 this year Nintendo announces that they are going to cancel the Wii U (like Sega canceled the Dreamcast). What would that do to the industry? What would that mean for the gaming landscape? Do you think they would release another home console? Discuss.

(Yes, I realize that is might never happen but I wanted to generate something thought provoking after their 'no press event' announcement this past week.)

I'd be there to ask "but we're still getting that Fire Emblem game, right?".

Then we would know that some seriously bad stuff is going to happen to Nintendo.

Nintendo spent tons of money developing the Wii U. Companies do not simply cancel something that they put that much money into and then released; they find some way to bring back as much of their losses as they can.

Anyway, people keep forgetting that Sega had several failures in a row. Nintendo hasn't had an honest-to-God failure yet, and we don't know for certain if the Wii U is one yet.

It would realistically mean very little, Microsoft and Sony barely look at Nintendo as a competitor. Hell they both look at Google and Apple as their main opponents.

Having another home console would be out of the question.

But concerns like that seem kind of over blown. Nintendo made money in the last quarter, presumably with a full year *unless Wii U really tanks and goes to 10k sale / month* they will at least make a profit. My main question would be how long this console generation will end up lasting. Like, do you launch a new console after 4 years?

I'm not sure a 2020 new wii that is pretty much a PS4 will go over that well.

I hope you're just referring to Nintendo as I suspect Sony and Microsoft expect at least an 8 year life on their new boxes. Also even if Nintendo loses money they have like $10 billion in reserve funds.

I do kind of wish that would happen. How awesome would it be to play Nintendo games on the ps4 or next xbox without their stupid hardware gimmicks? But I think that Nintendo is to prideful to allow their games on other systems, so I doubt that will happen.

Well, it is hard for me to speculate on something that isn't going to happen, but I suppose both Sony and Microsoft could benefit from that via additional users. Having one less competitor in console hardware probably wouldn't benefit us any. :(

And the regional mismanagement. Don't forget about the regional mismanagement.

That's a great question and honestly (if the WiiU continues the downward sales trend) I bet we see a new console in late 2014.

I think it would be great to play Nintendo games on other consoles but I doubt it would happen as long as Iwata is in charge and Yamauchi as the primary share holder. The heads of Nintendo seem to be rather stuck in their ways and slow to react. I honestly cannot understand why they don't port the original Pokemon games to IOS and Android. They are leaving money on the table by not doing so.

@jay_ray: I'm thinking of Nintendo. If they get into the situation where there are no gamepad use cases that really stick, and the graphics look barren compared to the PS4/XBOXsomething. Like, maybe Unity and the asset library stuff goes so far that the Wii U cannot handle the modest (like Orcs Must Die level) indie games without substantial back-scaling so the console is literally nothing but 2 first party titles/year and 8-bit/16-bit style indies.

I would not bet on a full 8 year cycle out of Sony/MS, if releasing a new generation revives sales substantially (if the new consoles do bad though, who knows). It has been such a brutal 2 years that I don't think anyone will want to repeat it. And in this case AMD is probably more capable of providing an easy backward compatible path that does not disrupt developer. Maybe launching to support 4k whenever those sort of televisions become common (like 5-6 years), but with something that does not substantially increase the price (at some point the downward scaling of manufacturing cost will presumably flatten). Maybe plan for 4 years of dual-compatibility support for most titles and the difference is resolution and a few streaming features.

Edit addition: The thing I do not understand is how little care Nintendo has for the back catalog stuff. You can play older emulated Nintendo games on PC, and do online multi-player on games that were pure local as it is. Why does the thing only have 8 virtual console games after 7 months.... (Wii mode is a bit crap and crashes in my experience)

Anyway, I think Nintendo will have a decent level of success, but they are still behind hacked Xbox 1 consoles for retro Nintendo gaming.

No one would notice.

*When

I can't wait to see what you select as the best answer.

Nintendo would do several things before cancelling the Wii U:

A - release first-party system sellers for it (they haven't yet, but will, like they did with Super Mario 3D Land)

B - Hefty price drop (like with 3DS)

In other words, not happening. The 3DS slumped as well, but now it's on track to top DS sales.

It's not going to happen, but sure, we can speculate a bit. They will push out big titles and cut prices before just ending it completely. They aren't currently losing money on sales of it; so, there would be no reason to just stop allowing some level of cash to come in from it. And if they keep it going for a few years, they'll probably release an updated version of it.

If they announced that the Wii U was simply ending at E3 and they didn't announce anything else, well, that would show something catastrophic happened behind the scenes. Like, Miyamoto and Iwata blew a few billion dollars on coke and hookers. But I'm gonna say that's at least mildly unlikely.

Honestly, it wouldn't mean much for us, as most of us haven't bought the thing. It wouldn't mean much for third parties, as they've mostly taken a wait-and-see approach or cancelled their Wii U ports already. And crazily enough, it wouldn't be that bad for Nintendo! Their stock would take a hit, but they have a HUGE "war chest" that they are sitting on from the money-printing days of the Wii and DS. They've had a gaming machine crash-and-burn before (the Virtual Boy) and I believe they have even more breathing room to move past it this time.

They took such a Kitchen Sink approach with the tablet controller that they lose money on every console sold. In the face of total consumer apathy, it might be best for them to say "Fuck it, never mind." on the Wii U. Put even more first-party focus on the 3DS, which is already doing well. At the same time, workshop a new home console to launch in 2015. A console that will have comparable RAM and superior graphical horsepower to the PS4 and "Durango." This console would probably sell at profit, as the component prices have come down in the intervening years. The primary controller would be a motion controlling remote again, with plenty of support for dual-stick game pads. Some niche games would support 3DS control, but they'd wash their hands of over-priced tablet peripherals.

I think it's fairly plausible that Nintendo will abandon the Wii U. I don't think there's a chance in hell that it would mean the end of them as a hardware company. There will be a home console after the Wii U, no matter how ugly this gets. Whether THAT machine would turn things around (like the GameBoy Advance did after Virtual Boy) or be the tragic, real end (like the Dreamcast after the Saturn) remains unknown.

I suspect it won't mean much to those who don't have a Wii U. I do not believe they will abandon the Wii U like Virtual Boy but it does seem like Wii U is in a rough place where it can't do what the competition can do so many don't care.

I'd take it as a sign of the second video game crash. Nintendo is too big of a company to just fail, and it would probably make investors think twice about throwing thousands of dollars into the next big game. It would be bad for everybody, regardless of if you like Nintendo or not.

It isn't that Nintendo isn't big but that video games as a whole is much much much bigger. But you might be on the right track that developers can't afford to release on so many platforms any longer and something needs to give.

I think it is the opposite, Nintendo spent the least amount of money possible making that thing.

I mean i'd play WiiU stuff if i had one for free, but fuck me if i'm going to spend any money on that. I'm not a huge fan of nintendo franchises, the only one i personally like are the zelda games and i honestly haven't played one to completion since Orcania of Time.

Even in the hypothetical that nintendo becomes purely a developer and pushes stuff to other platforms (like zelda/mario on xbox/playstaion) I still wouldn't be super interested in any of their core franchises. I'd rather play something like Dark Souls than Zelda. I'd rather play something like Rayman than Mario. Their franchises are so old and tired that i can't imagine ever being interested in them unless they change dramatically.

Nintendo should focus on being a little kid type thing. One of my happinest video game memories is opening zelda: OoT on x-mas and playing it all day with my brothers and sisters watching all day giving tips, going "OH LOOK OUT!" when fighting a boss. ALL DAY. While my mom kept bringing us hot chocolate. Seriously one of the best days of my life, but whatever.

The WiiU will be the Wii of the next gen consoles. Clearly outclassed, clearly behind the rest, and only held viable by nostalgia and gimmicks.

I think they should get ballsy, maybe make a co-op zelda game where zelda is completely playable, link and zelda kicking ass together. Maybe have a mario game where peach isn't a useless twat. Maybe a metriod game where samus isn't a doormat. I could get interested then, but what are the odds of that happening?

That would be terrible we would no more getting our Wii U jokes from people like Epic....

Well for one I'd be pissed as I bought a Wii U and now I'd know I wouldn't be getting anymore games for it. If they were to cancel the Wii U then Nintendo should just become a publisher because given all the IPs Nintendo own and games like Mario and Zelda sell millions Nintendo would be a pretty big publisher.

That would be the worst that could ever happen to Nintendo.

Nintendo would develop some great games for the next Xbox and PlayStation. They could put more resources into supporting the 3DS and I think it would be rather swell for everybody.

I don't think they'd go make games for Sony or Microsoft. They would stick to the 3DS.

Did you have a hard time shipping Sonic Adventure to the moon?

Even if they did go cheap - which I really don't think they did - developing a console is an expensive, time consuming, and risky thing to do. Why do you think we aren't overflowing with new consoles like we are with phones and computer brands?

It wouldn't change anything, they have a software problem and nothing will help them until they get those games out.

I could easily see them changing the name and relaunching it; call it the Wii 2, pack in the mario game, success.

That wouldn't happen. They'd most likely release another console at a very cheap price with the sole purpose of playing Nintendo games, or they'd fall back on the 3DS and other handhelds, which are still doing very well for them.

But again, people are blowing Nintendo's situation way out of proportion. Wii U sales aren't fantastic, but they're still making a profit and I think we'll sooner see Microsoft or Sony drop out of the console business before Nintendo does. We've seen this same cycle happen with the PS3, Wii, DS, 3DS and practically every single other console that's ever been released and had a slow start. Nintendo had higher expectations, but it's only been a few months. It's far from being a complete failure that will cause the downfall of a whole company.

@believer258:

No, I mean Sega Japan and Sega America hated each other. I think there were two versions of the Dreamcast at one point, and neither company could agree on how to handle the Saturn. All because Sonic the Hedgehog was a success (at least according to what I've read of Segagaga).

Then the Wii U you would abandoned.
Not a whole lot else would happen, I guess.

I agree with latest 8-4 play - less than cancel, i see them really start trying to direct it not as competitor to ps4 nxtbox, but as a separate device - a nintendo utopia, a high quality toy.

Double down on handheld then I suppose

They should be preparing a huge marketing campaign coupled with at least three major releases to inform the fuck out of everyone what the Wii U is and why it should be taken seriously, they need to start again from scratch and completely rebrand it with confidence and appeal.

Also they should be marketing heavily towards under 15's and casual gaming parents. This thing plays the games on a small second screen while the wife/mother is watching tv, that's a huge family selling point that seems to have been totally forgotten. They need to look at reinventing the party/family game market somehow to differentiate/improve on the Wii/Kinect.

In the mean time they need to steadily kick goals by consistently releasing great first party titles to maintain an enthusiastic core audience. This is typically Nintendo's thing, but i'm afraid everyones getting tired of seeing the Mario's and Zelda's etc. Not to say they shouldn't keep firing these strongly out of the chamber but...

Nintendo needs to create some strong exciting new IP. It's time Nintendo. You need to expand your roster. People need to be excited again at the prospect of a new Nintendo game.

The problem is they are going to have to pick their time carefully, it's probably why they cancelled their E3 appearance outright. No one want's to listen to what the have to say about the Wii U when OMG PS4 XBOX360 LOOK AT THE GRAPHICS.

Failing that, keep an eye out for some sort of gimmicky add on in the next two years. I can't envision a full blown console to compete with the other two (plus pc) for the same hardcore audience.

I bet if they just called it "Super Wii" they would at least have about 50% more sales.

Then they could join my special club called "I wasted my money on a WiiU".

Well, I think Nintendo would piss a lot of people off. Also, Nintendo would change as a company if they cancelled a console.

and they would say, "What's a Fire Emblem?"

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It'd be really bad for Nintendo. Even less people would buy their next thing in case it was abandoned too. They can't afford it.

What might happen is a price cut Ambassador deal.

Well, hopefully they would follow Sega, and release their games on everything.

I don't think anyone would care. Very few people even know the Wii U exists right now, and the people who do know wish they didn't know. They'd be better of stopping the bleeding early than dragging the failure out.

This.

A gaming world without Nintendo would be a far bleaker one than it already is.. regardless of what you think of them. It would really suck if they just abandoned the Wii U. But on the other hand.. I bought one for myself and gave it to my younger brother within a week.. So who am I to complain.

And, like Sega, bleed all their talent until their once classic franchises are either embarrassments or long forgotten. People that think Nintendo would've been competitive with a direct console competitor to PS4 and Xbox are nuts, it wouldn't have changed anything.

People that also think it would be a good thing for Nintendo and the gaming community if Nintendo went 3rd-party are also nuts. Nintendo would become irrelevant, and then one more of the companies that experiments and takes risks would be gone from the gaming landscape.

Nintendo is not Sega.

The problem with Sega is, they were never able to bring their classic franchises to the new generation, at least, not in the best way.

Nintendo would be making the same games, or even better games, if they could focus only on making games.

And they would also sell more copies, and not waste millions bringin' out and supporting a new console.