Is weak third party support the biggest flaw with the Wii U?

i think nintendo burned too many bridges.... they will never have full 3rd party support. even if they beg it will take them at least 2 generations to win back 3rd party gamers. its not going to happen.

they need to either combine their handheld and consoles (fusion) or just just make handhelds. or find a better gimmick for the next console. maybe go back to the wiimote.

yes they need to pump out first party games twice as much and twice as fast.

That is a great point. Smash Bros coming to the 3DS shows the lack of confidence Nintendo has for the Wii U. I mean if someone wanted to buy a Nintendo gaming device right now then the 3DS is the much better option. Better library of games and cheaper price tag.

I think Uncharted is great. The gameplay is some of the best out of those types of games. It isn't pure gameplay, I'll agree there, but it is its own thing. What I don't understand is why Naughty Dog doesn't improve the climbing sections, etc. I know that those part are more of a playable cinematic and used to set the scene, tone, but the game would benefit if it felt more seamless. Then there is Killzone. The FPS genre has just gotten sooooooo lousy with a few exceptions. Halo is great. It is really going back to a more pure shooter--I was mighty surprised by Halo 4 after being disappointed with Reach. The odd thing about this genre is that people complain and complain but then will say how awful a game like Rage is, yet it really gets the shooting mechanics spot on.

Then Nintendo better be happy only selling around 15 million units per console generation going forward. They need games that will get the attention of people who enjoy more mature titles. Mario/Zelda games are great for the core Nintendo crowd, but what about all those other gamers who don't necessarily like those titles? Shouldn't Nintendo also try and make games that appeal to the majority of gamers out there as well, especially when third party developers packed up and ran? Nintendo can no longer only cater to Nintendo fans, because there isn't enough Nintendo fans out there to support a home console with. 15 million gamers aren't worth the investment a new console generation brings.

Not really.

People buy Nintendo systems to play their first party games. If you purchase one to play 3rd parties...you are wrong.

So then Nintendo should only expect a install base of around 15-20 million per console generation going forward. Nintendo will not be able to sell 30+ million units on the existing 1st party franchises they have now. The only way they will be able to sell well again is if they either start making games that cater more towards western audiences, or if they somehow come up with another gimmick that draws the casuals in again. Mario/Zelda games alone aren't enough.

MS does have a flaw they'd rather buy franchises than make more than what they've already have and do things that are short term investments like timed exclusives

Maybe, but I dunno. It's not like Call of Duty will make Wii U's fly off of shelves.

It IS a problem, but not a viable deal breaker unless the Wi U is your ONLY console. (Unless you have a gaming PC)

the FPS genre suffers from the same problem the MMORPG genre does at the moment.

Most people arn't FPS game fans... they are fuggin CoD or Halo fans. Just like most MMORPG players are not MMORPG fans... just World of Warcraft fans.

Drawn to a singular game in that genre... with a rare other exception.

I tend to ignore these people now.

I don't need to paint a picture, it's as plain as day for all to see. I agree that Nintendo has a perception problem, but I question how much that has had on its overall performance.

Do you think Nintendo is at all responsible for that problem? Or any number of problems plaguing them?

It's one of the many problems, I'm afraid.

I would say that it is one of the reasons. I DO know a good deal of people (both online and real life) that won't buy one because it has Little to no 3rd party support. But I think it might be a question of chicken/egg and the hill those slide Down on (yeah chicken and egg, I get you but hill? wtf?)

3rd party will not really be a thing for the Wii U due to a few different reasons.

1) The percived image of the Wii U, a toy at worst, and a real low spec console at best (meaning that games would have to be altered and cut Down in alot of cases). So alot of games would not run well. However the almost complete lack of 3rd party content can hardly be blamed at the hardware (since PS360 still gets cross gen games).

2) The 3rd party devs and pubs claim that anything not Nintendo doess'nt sell on the system, which is true for the most part. But what gamer would like to pick the version of the game that they are told is the worst? Or worse reported not to run well at all? The games are rarely advertised on the system, so ofcourse alot of consumers will hardly know the game exists on the system.

3) The Wii U marketing was a nightmare, it was presented exactly as a Family friendly relaxed uncomplicated toy. So most people WHO would buy it has the image form the ad campaigns that it is a fairly simple console, that exists in its own vacuum. This in turn ofcourse makes it a selffulfilling prophety. It gets picked up by people not interrested in 3rd party (that gets Little face time on the console).

So 3rd Party aint helping the system, and Nintendos stupid ad campaign enforces the belief that 3rd party would not Work on the system.

This would be the chicken and egg, Nintendo creates users that are unaware of the 3rd party games, and as a result 3rd party stops advertising for the Wii U (On consoles ads DO sell games).

Now what about the Hill? Well that would be the machine itself, right now with the cross gen games there might be working 3rd party on the system, If Nintendo reached out thier hands like they did in the 80's (well they didd'nt but devs did not have alot of choice back then). But shortly cross gen will not exist and the Wii U will simply not run 3rd party games all that well, mening a bumpy ride (hence the hill anology).

I Believe that it wa the adverts that started this, since the Wii U is a really nice console, currently it is my preferred, My Wii U has more storage Space then my PS4, better games, and ironically it has the better control options. But few people know, or care, because nomatter how a fanboy would like to see the World, it is the Multiplats that tends to sell, and they sell hardware too. So all those ads with Battlefield, Call of Duty, Destiny. And the Wii U is not amongst those, so most consumers that are not really fond of Nintendo games ofcourse logically avoid the machine. However all of the above Works on 360 if I remember correctly.

I hope that Nintendo goes for a powerhouse NeXT time, pays the license fee for the media they use, instead of using own sub versions of it. And mend bonds with 3rd party as a Whole (most people say Nintendo has a bad relationship with the West, which might be true, but they also have a fairly cold relationship with Japans own developers and Publishers).

In Short: Yeah the lack of 3rd party Hurts Nintendo, but I think the start of the problem lies with the way they presented the system.

The target audience with the Wii is just all over the place. I think the main problem is the price, its way to high for what it offers. The lack of 3rd party games is not helping it either. Nintendo needs to focus on who they want to sell the system to, and do a better job at selling the system. I like their tablet controller, but before I used I wanted nothing to do with that controller. Also they need to keep up hardware wise with sony and MS if they expect 3rd party support. Nintendo pretty much need to change their whole imagine on how people see their consoles, and at the same time keep the charm that makes Nintendo systems so great. At this point nothing will save the Wii U.

That and Nintendo releasing the same game over and over again.

I'd love to buy games for it, but it just feels like the same shit they've been releasing for years.

It's one of the bigger flaws no doubt. Considering that the System is well capable of handling anything a 360 and PS3 can take and yet those systems are getting better support than the WiiU, a System that is Guaranteed to live well beyond the next 3 to 5 years.

Yet 3rd Party Publishers didn't see demand for these games on Nintendo systems nor did they even try (sans Ubisoft, I'm willing to say they gave it a good shot).

I would have loved to see FarCry 3 on WiiU, I would have bought Bioshock Infinite and Tomb Raider on WiiU, Metal Gear Solid 5 would have been amazing to play on the Gamepad. Destiny would have be a bliss.

But Nintendo dropped a hard one on WiiU and it shows. At least we have Bayonetta and Smash Bros.

@LegatoSkyheart: I can see 3 years, but I'm pretty sure the system will be dead by 2017. If past precedent (the Gamecube and N64) is any indication, Nintendo usually puts unsuccessful systems on a 5 year lifecycle.

And even though the Wii had a 6 year lifecycle, it was all but dead after 5 years too.

• Online services is kind of subjective. But what you can't refute is the lack of online titles. If games like Mario Allstars (and the upcoming Mario creator) does not have online, how can one think that Nintendo actually takes online seriously. btw, F2P online games are still free on the PS4.
• "Gimmick" is subjective. But as you stated even Nintendo doesn't utilize the Tablet to it's fullest and the system is turning 2 yrs old in a few months. And you only can use one per system. That's not a selling point.
• Again subjective.
• Already addressed
• The quality of 3rd party games is subjective (although reviews state otherwise). Either way those games are not on the WiiU. Missing out on games like GTAV, TR, Diablo III, Minecraft, ect.. ect..ect.. is not a "PLUS" or a selling point for the WiiU.

Neither of us know the EXACT reason why the Wii U is not selling but one can guess that lack of marketing, lack of a fleshed out online infrastructure, lack of BR disc playback, lack of storage, lack of 3rd party support, and lack of FULL utilization of the Table are contributing factors.

Personally, I wanted a WiiU, but I also wanted to play games like Mario Allstars online.. but I can't. It's not because the wiiu isn't the "IT" console.. it's because the WiiU doesn't do what I would like it to do (especially for $300).

The Wii wasn't officially dead till March (or was it May?) of this year when Nintendo killed it's Online ability.

But I might agree with you. With Ubisoft pulling the plug on 7th gen and soon many publishers will follow suit, I think We might see a new Console from Nintendo in 2017. If not then then 2018.

They'll be another Nintendo Platform by Christmas 2017.

@OhSnapitz: Yeah the "NEW" 3DS.

It's more like what's not wrong with nintendo at this point 3rd party support is just one of the issues. The price is a major issue at 300 bucks it's only 100 less than a ps4 and x1. The online is the worst and the support is also. The wii u has only 32gb of memory shit my cell phone has more. The hardware is so weak that there is already a wii u emulator for the pc and it's almost stable ie wii u useless. The 1st party games that get great reviews in the press get little interest in the real world. The games are frankly stale from my perspective how many mario/smash/zelda/platformer/kart games can I play for 20 years with similar music and art??

The tablet is a gimmick with crappy battery life and the os is a joke. The damn thing does not even play blu-rays or dvd's for the love of GOD!!

The game prices are very high even on old games to rub salt in the wound. Then you have the 3ds that has many of the same games and 3rd party support and it portable for less. Nintendo is a soup sandwich that is why their sales are are horrible and the leadership is stuck in the past. The wii u has a very limited appeal to hardcore sheep Nintendo seems to be living off their past glories. Next gen game streaming and 4k will be standard features most likely Nintendo will just do 1080 next gen.