wii u's bad sales due to the name?

ex employee says so

http://www.gamerevolution.com/news/adelman-wii-u-name-abysmal-reason-behind-poor-sales-27439

i like my pet name for my wii u personally

It's a lot more than just a name issue that Nintendo has to deal with. I'd say third party relations is more of a bigger issue than this. There are many other issues too.

The name is just as bad as the Wii, so that isn't it. At least not solely; Nintendo's entire approach is flawed and they aren't doing much to set it right.

Meh, the name could of been better, but it could of been worse. (Ouya. Ooohyaaa) I don't think that "Super Wii" matches it's appearance or the main features. (Gamepad)

I think that the bad sales are mainly because of the initial lack of games.

It look a while for the Wii U to get it's big system seller games. (Mario 3D World, Wind waker HD, Mario Kart 8 etc, etc,) Even though it had quite a bit of exclusives, it didn't have any good 3rd party support. Without the 3rd party support, it didn't have a very good flow of games coming in. Without the flow of games, (And the initial $350 pricetag), I can only assume that most people couldn't justify the purchase.

However, now that it has a pretty big library of exclusives, both retail and from the E-Shop, it's much easier for most people to justify paying $300. Which is why sales are starting to shape up. With about 15 exclusives and lots of other brand exclusives, E-Shop games, Virtual Console games and 3rd party games, the console has enough content to justify the purchase. It just comes down to whether or not the content interests you.

You couldn't say that around launch, so I'm sure that's why the Wii U's initial sales were bad.

EDIT: Also Nintendo didn't half market the dang think...Or at least not enough.

It's a poor choice because it causes confusion among consumers. There are people (as casual users) who still don't realize that it's new hardware. A lot of people assume the new games will just work on the Wii or that they need to buy "that tablet thing".

It's terrible messaging and Nintendo's done a poor job in creating a need for the Wii U.

This x 100

no crap this was established back in E3 2012

Anybody with a brain can conclude that Wii U must be something different than the Wii. The only problem Nintendo has is it's perceived reputation

Yea the name was part of the problem...the way they announce it & market it was another. Hope they learn their lessons & drop the Wii name, teach them a lesson trying to copy Apple naming scheme with "i"...Wii name sucks to begin with. No more super expensive controller! :P

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Name is part of the problem.

I think the next console be better name though.

WiiWii 2U.

Yup. This is it.

Basically this. I was in the store last week to buy DKC: Tropical Freeze, and the woman behind the counter asked me if I was aware that the game was for the Wii U, and not the regular Wii. I smiled and said "of course", after which she laughed and told me how many people had bought that game in the past few months and returned it the same day because it "didn't fit".

The Wii already was a terrible name, but the Wii U is even worse. Only gamers and people who do some research understand that the Wii U is a totally new console. Regular folks (casuals) don't notice the difference. I'm loving the console a lot, but the name is just plain awful.

Doesn't that also apply to other consoles such as the XBOX, XBOX 360 & XBOX One? How about the Playstation, Playstation 2, Playstation 3 & Playstation 4? Notice the commonality amongst them? Sony did nothing more than add/change a number while MS added a number and a word. The difference between Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo is that Nintendo doesn't know how to market their hardware and software. The name is insignificant.

I disagree about the Wii being a terrible name. Nintendo leveraged it well, created a need for the product and promoted the brand really well. They just did the opposite with the Wii U because it was a product aimed at a different demographic (all while trying to maintain the casual/new player user). The core demographic already has a negative association with the name Wii, but the casual user/new gamer didn't have those same feelings towards that console.

I think Nintendo has realized they can't really keep both audiences with one platform. It makes sense considering they're investing in their Quality of Life platform, they can have one platform dedicated to that casual/new player user and then leave their main console for their core demographic. I also wouldn't be surprised if their next platform is just a handheld/console combination, it'll be easier for them to support one platform well rather than two. Plus, the old business model is just that -- it's old. They can leverage technology to make a fairly powerful machine that's both portable and can be used as a home console.

Those platforms are aimed at a market which mostly consists of core gamers, and the names have been around longer or are just plain better. Especially the PlayStation's names are, although completely lacking imagination or innovation, very strong because of the attached number making it always bigger than the previous console. They already have a strong name that is widely known in the world. The "Wii U" doesn't really say much. Is it an addon? Is it just the new controller? Regular folks just don't know. The "Wii 2" would have been a better name at conveying that it's a successor to the Wii, although I would have preferred a different name because Wii sounds too farfetched and cheap to me. I like the "Mii" name and how they played on that inside their system (Miiverse) though.

The whole confusion argument would make so much more sense if Wii U software sales were through the roof or something like that, but they're not. You can't even buy Gamepads as stand-alone products in stores... The problem with constantly bringing up the whole name thing is that it makes it seem like there are a lot more people interested in what the Wii U offers than there really are. We're not talking about a system that has always been in amazing demand and suddenly, finds itself losing millions of customers because of branding issues. If that was the case, about 30 seconds of education from any relative, store clerk, or even commercial would have led to major changes a long time ago. The only thing the Wii U has shown is that without a Mario game nearby, the system is irrelevant in most people's eyes.

I do agree with you on the last part, though, in saying that Nintendo has done next to nothing in trying to show the everyday person why the Wii U needs to be a part of the home. If they had, people would have gobbled up the platform, regardless of what name was given to it. Adelman's point really doesn't say very much right now, given that he also believes that the Wii U, in spite of a variety of actual problems the system has, should be selling so much better at the moment. If he's not still wearing his Nintendo employee goggles, I'd love to know what he's seeing right now. It's too easy to mention an already commonly-viewed theory and try to make it look valid, which is what Adelman does here. What's harder is to take a deeper look in the mirror and realize that something as flawed as the Wii U isn't being held back by the mere usage of a letter.

Nintendo has been a household name (in terms of video games) longer than Microsoft and Sony. The problem is how Nintendo practically stopped marketing their products like they used to during the days of the NES and SNES where you were bombarded with advertising. There wasn't a big push with the Wii U. Even the Wii was marketed well but the Wii U could have been named so many different things yet lacking proper marketing any name would not have been effective.

I'd say at the beginning it had a bit to do with the name as many people I knew figured it was another reiteration of Wii. Now I think it has more to do with software and marketing...

I don't think you can pin point one flaw that has hurt the Wii U.

Biggest Reasons IMO:
1) People don't see it as good value. The beginning price tag of 350$ for a system with at best 32 GB hard drive, a tablet controller, that people aren't sure they want/need. A major lack of launch games... 2-3 years later... Where's Zelda/Metroid/Star Fox?!? They lost their 3rd party support due to lack of sales. Bad News on top of bad news. (Until late 2013-2014)

2) It's a family friendly/kids system, but your putting a 100$ + controller in their hand, and hopefully they won't break it. I recommended my sister with two little ones, pick up the Wii, and play that for a few years, until they are ready for the WIi U hardware.

3) Hardware... 32 GB hard drive, 3-4 hours of battery life. As a consumer, i don't feel like these are things i want to upgrade within months of purchasing the system. If they are going to push the digital route, develop hardware to support it. Not have the customer spend another 100$ on the upgrading to current standards.

ALl that being said, I REALLY like my WIi U. With some minor tweaks, could have been an Amazing system.

Well let's be honest, the Wii U is the worst value in gaming right now. It's not just the name, it's what you're getting for that price.

If honesty is what you want we can say the same thing about every major console on the market. You are paying (minus B&M promotions) a lot right now for very little in return. What separates the three is the future of Nintendo doesn't look as bright as its competition. Six months between big releases does not make the future feel overwhelming.

Well, I think one could argue @400$ PS4/ XB1, offer better value. Bigger Hard drives, more app's, TV/Music experiences DVD, Blu Ray's. Less Risk. Yes, neither XB1/PS4 have a killer line up of games at the moment, but we know they are coming. With the Wii U... we really didn't know much until this years E3, and even with those games coming... Nintendo's line up is mostly 1st party exclusives, which will probably drop about 2 months apart.

1st and 2nd party. people always ignore the 2nd parties

Exactly my point. The mainstream is there, there's games that can't be played anywhere else, and they offer a plethora of entertainment options.

@The-Butcher248:

For 1) I think that it isn't because of the sales ( which could pick up at one point or another ) is more the fact that Nintendo controler always change, they never made two times in a row the same controler. Let's be honest here, their new controler is what make their unique IP feel fresh even after more than 25 years. But the problem that comes with that is what Sony and Microsoft created as an ecosystem, their controler hardly change, they have Evolved but its pretty much the same since their respective beginning so 3rd party developper know what the controler his, how many boutons and sice both have pretty much the same power it is easy to create one game and port it.

The fact that the controler is so different wasn,t a problem during NES, SNES and N64 times because games for consol and PC were very different and rarely a consol game was offered for PC and vise-versa. Also 3rd parties developper were pretty much exclusive to one consol something that died once Sony entered to war.

But still 3rd parties were still here and developped for them, during the Gamecube era, Nintendo got all major 3rd party release ... pretty much the first time many games lunch on all avalaible consol and PC. But the Gamecube died very fast even with all the great exclusive it got. The Wii was their downfall for 3rd party because they went the complete oposite direction. Instead of super power to match the competition and a controler similar to them they try to shook things up a lot but in the end gamers went with either a 360 or a PS3 and so the consummer see Nintendo as a one trick pony who can provide very high quality games but no one will pick on up to play anything else. It is sad because, just like the Gamecube they have a controler with the same number of boutons and slightly more powerful than a PS3 which should be enough but hey ... no one know what to do with the screen in the middle of the controler.

It is sad because a lot of games could be enhanced with that second screen ... pretty much like a huge DS but hey ... it is like asking to developpe games that would only be for the Wii U and with the cost of making games now I doubt that will happend ... 3rd party happily makes games for the 3ds because the cost isn't very high and so that consol get a lot of unique and interesting games that you can't play anywhere else but big consol and PC aren't about exclusivity anymore ...

There was definitely confusion from the name. I know a few people that thought it was just a tablet add on for $300. It probably doesn't help that the Wii-U body looks very similar to the Wii body to the uninformed.

Yeah but that's Nintendo's problem that they brought on themselves.

They could have had a console that had horsepower to have third party devs wok on their machine, they could have had a real controller that didn't exclude literally millions of people worldwide, they could have made a full featured online system that rivaled the other companies.

The problem is Nintendo didn't, they were arrogant and delivered a weak system with a poor controller with bare bones online.

We're seeing that's not enough for the majority of hardware owners.

Disabled people who may not have all the dexterity that someone normally would have.

Microsoft works very hard in making their controllers able to be used by everyone and allows outside people to tweak them. Sony is coming around.

Nintendo on the other hand has a controller that's even more user unfriendly than last gen, it's losing millions of users on that alone. For a company that can't afford to lose customers you would think that's something they'd want to avoid.

@farrell2k: Sony's braille console coming near you. :p

The economy is crappy here in the states and price is a big factor when it comes to gaming this generation. $500 or $400 (depending on the package) is a lot of cash to spend which is one of the reasons why a certain system isn't doing well. The cheaper Wii U has seen a significant resurgence in recent months and that leads me to believe the value is becoming more and more appealing. The bundles are quite a deal whether it's SMB or MK8 or Zelda.

You're a fool if you do not see the potential customers they're losing.

Because Nintendo is making it 100% sure that they choose another console.

In the US alone that means millions of users instantly cross off Nintendo's console.

I don't know why you fail to understand basic business but I'll have to explain it to you. You do not alienate yourself to nearly 20% of the population.

I laughed at the name initially but you get over it, it comes down to 3rd party support and with Microcrap bribing once again the get exclusives like the next Tomb Raider it doesn't look good for gaming. I hate M$ with every molecule in my being, I despise them. They destroyed PS3 gaming by bribing all the top developers to dumb down games to fit on DVD like the pathetic RE6, it came out 7? years into PS3 and was a mere 11GB of data leaving 14GB of a single layer BD empty on PS3. So it's happening again, if there isn't a significant upgrade of the next Tomb Raider being ported from Xboner to PS4 then we're going to start seeing a rehash of the PS3 generation. PS4 generation will be dumbed down to Xboner... limp, flaccid, impotent fake HD gaming once again.

Now Wii U is a different story, it can't compete with HD gaming on PS4 so it might come out a winner due to lazy developers that will focus on quality of enjoyment over graphics, but that's if developers even bother to make games for it at all. So it's a thin window of opportunity, they'll need developers who can't be bribed, or M$ doesn't find worthy of bribing to be lured to make games for the Wii U instead of spend more money on PS4 games which would be bigger budget investments. It sickens me to realize but PS4 might get shafted the most by 3rd parties once again... Wii U will be easier to developer for than PS4 and even easier than Xboner.

PS4 is once again the cutting edge, big budget console, sure it's more developer friendly than PS3 ever was, but it still might get screwed over again. Wii U might come out on top in the long run, and I'd rather that happen than see Xboner take over and crap on gaming once again.

+1

So you hate good business?

Go hug a tree, or are you too busy crying because someone is littering?

didnt expect for this to be popular lol