Wii U 'isn't going to work' says Pachter

Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter has offered some harsh words about Nintendo's forthcoming Wii U console, saying during a Develop Conference presentation last week (via Edge) that the system plainly "isn't going to work."

"I don’t get it," he said. "I think that essentially this is a solution in search of a problem. I mean, somebody had an idea--'let's make the controller a tablet'--and there aren't many games that are going to take advantage of that."

Pachter also claimed that Activision and publishers of other major franchises pressured Nintendo into developing the Wii U Pro Controller, a more traditional gamepad.

"Activision never said anything to me," he explained, "but I know that [for] big games like Call Of Duty they said, 'No, we're not putting it on there if you don't give us a conventional controller'. So they gave in."

Pachter had little faith in the original Wii at launch in 2006, calling the system "gimmicky." That system exploded with regards to popularity upon launch, and is currently the top-selling current-generation console. Pachter admitted this was true, but claimed that Nintendo's success will not be repeated.

"[The Wii] worked, they got lucky, [but] I don't think they're getting lucky with Wii U," he said. "I don't think they suck. I just think that they really believe that, 'If we're still novel, everything we do will work'. This isn't going to work. Hardcore gamers will buy them; hardcore Nintendo fanboys will buy it. They could put out a piece of cardboard and say that it'll play Mario and they'll buy it."

The Wii U is due out worldwide this holiday season.