What is wrong with the Wii U?

Hello !

Me and my fellow students are researching for an assignment where we have to analysis the failures of the Wii U and why it did not live up to the expections and looked so steep compared to the Wii. it is to our knowledge that the sales of this particular game console didnt meet up to the producers expectations and we would like to know what the gaming world thought of the Wii U !

if you could be so kind as to inform us of what you think of the Wii U's game console, game play and if Nintendo did enough to attract you to buy the console.

Thank you

Can't tell if troll?

Anyway, the Wii-U isn't a failure yet - games are still being produced, it's just having a rough first year.

I would instead do a report about why today's gamers prefer good graphics and violence over innovation and quirkiness.

Okay, I'll bite.

I've been a long-time Nintendo fan and enjoyed all of Nintendo's products. The Wii U, however, I did not buy.

There were several issues that hurt the Wii U's sales, in my opinion:

1. Their pack-in game, "Nintendo Land", wasn't nearly as appealing with the Wii's "Wii Sports"

2. Nintendo did not show me how the Wii-U Gamepad fundamentally changed video games for the better

3. The first few months of the console launch, there were very few games.

4. Third party developers like Rockstar, Bethseda, 2K, and such aren't developing games for it.

5. Wii-U's hardware is only slightly more powerful than the PS3 (a 7 year old console)

6. $300-350 is too high of a price (especially for a system with very small storage)

xbox and ps4 have not launched yet....so we dont know how big a failure wiiU is....

it might make a comeback this holiday and next year....xbox one could do horribly as well....ps4 could have hardware failure.

you cant dismiss the wiiU yet.

@Ovirew: haha no actually we are serious ! we are students from the Norwegian School of Business and we have an assignment in a subject called Consumer Behavior on Nintendo Wii U on its marketing failures particularly on the notion that it has failed to address consumer needs.

i completely understand where you are coming from and really appreciate your reply. but would you agree that Nintendo should try to target young gamers between the ages of 8 - 18 instead of adults and especially try to curb the enthusiasm of girl gamers ? because of the games out there such as Zelda, Mario Kart etc. and the failure of third party developers to make games could that be a good market to target in your opinion ?

i would really appreciate your respond dude !

well if the assignment is...what business decisions nintendo can do to improve then fine...

if the assignment is...why did wiiu fail...then your teacher is stupid because it hasnt failed yet for reasons stated above.

@drekula2 if you could be share your wisdom on my last post that would be awesome !

i think they need to target the mass public like the wii.. non gamers...grandma ...senior citizens.. adults that dont play games...

they are finally going to do it this this holiday with wii sports, wiifit, and wii party...

if people dont want to buy it then...nintendo needs to try something radically different...maybe go full hardcore and stop being family friendly?

as for 3rd party...nintendo feels they can do well with their minimal support....but if things get any worse for wiiU then maybe they should start paying and making their consoles more 3rd party friendly next gen.

nintendo has been catering to a younger audience for it's entire existence. but i think there are greater principles that go beyond age. strong hardware and third party support dont just benefit a particular age group, but everyone in general

as for girl gamers, i think nintendo sometimes underestimates women. women aren't just into casual, kid-friendly, simple games, but many women today are playing the hardcore games like skyrim, mass effect and call of duty.

@haakonmiknas: its not really the gamers who you should ask why the wii u isnt dong so impressively. alot of the people society calls gamers, do know what the wii u is about, and have had something to do with it not being a complete and utter failure. its the rest of everybody else that keep it from doing well.

nintendo didnt do the best job of letting people know about it when it came out. the original wii sailed on the strength of its buzz and controversy; the disruption of its uniqueness. the things that every gamer, at least at first, groaned about in the wii. nintendo decided to answer their groans and give them something more along the lines of what they were asking for. however, they fell down because they tried to stand on a step that wasnt there; the hype heap of its predecessor. an empty space that they may have taken for granted from the wii before it. they tried so hard to give gamers what they wanted, they even looked to their own success as a basis for their response. 'the ds is doing really well, lets give them a second screen.' everyone knows, it has been spoken plenty, that nintendo's wins always come when they are not walking the path, and giving people exactly what they think they want. they were trying to make people happy with the wii u. that may be even why they called it that. consumers just ended up throwing it in their faces and pitching a fit. here's hoping that they stand on their next step instead of questioning it.

Well alright, I'll give it a shot.

I would have to say that a big reason for the poor sales of the Wii-U is, oddly enough, the Wii.

Allow me to, for a few paragraphs, get a bit off-topic to explain this first point:

When the Wii came out it was a big hit, and for about a year after release it was sold out in most places. People kept talking about how the Wii changed the way you played games, and how the motion control was unique. You could go bowling and play tennis in your living room. It sounded like lots of fun on paper.

I finally got my Wii in late 2007, and at first I really did like the console. Wii Sports was fun the first few times I played it, but it quickly began to show through as a sort of tech-demo, and each sport felt like an unpolished experience. The limits of the motion control were quickly established.

Great games like Super Paper Mario and Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn came along, but great experiences like this were few and far-between. Those two early games were, ironically, my favorite games on the system.

The Wii was plagued by shovel ware, and never before did I see so many halfhearted games released for a game system.

But I think worst of all, was that Nintendo completely changed their target audience and what they were about with the Wii. The focus was on Mii game experiences, and people who weren't already gamers. They didn't do enough for longtime Nintendo fans.

I don't think people were willing to give the Wii-U a chance when Nintendo kept the Wii moniker, since it's basically an extension of an era that most longtime gamers didn't like.

Most gamers were also turned off by the large and unwieldy tablet controller, since they'd had enough of Nintendo's weird alternative control methods with the Wii. And seriously, the controller is pretty massive, it just doesn't make sense why they didn't give users something the size of a 3DS, or heck, make the 3DS into the controller. The expensive cost of the Wii-U controller is also a bit of an issue.

It certainly didn't help matters that Nintendo was slow to slow off the actual Wii-U console, putting way too much emphasis on the controller, leading to confusion about whether the controller was the actual console. And when they finally did show the Wii-U console, it looked like the Wii - actually even more plain than the Wii. And this didn't inspire much hope in people who were already put off by the console's name and odd controller.

And on top of all that, Nintendo still didn't give longtime gamers the console they wanted. There are still no online accounts with Nintendo that provide you with a universal player profile, linked to all of the games and DLC you've purchased. There's still no 500GB harddrive in Nintendo's systems to save and store all of the games and content you buy over the years. While not an issue for all gamers, it is still a very valid point that Nintendo is still not giving people next-gen graphics and power in their games, and are lagging behind a gen in that department.

And, a year after the console's launch, the only quality first-party games that have a mass appeal on the Wii-U are New Super Mario Bros., Super Mario 3D World, and Pikmin. Not enough variety, and not enough to justify a purchase for most gamers. Not to mention there aren't too many 3rd-party games worth noting on the system, and many developers just haven't made games for it.

Anyway, I'd say those points are all reasons why the Wii-U isn't doing so hot. Many of these things aren't going to change, but hopefully by this time next year the system has more games worth owning,and gives them more games that make good use of the tablet controller.

I have have to completely disagree. Maybe it's the nostalgia in me but I thought it was terrific using solidified names and faces to show off this system. Didn't stopped short though by not adding online play. It's baffling how other players can "visit" yet you can't play anything with them. Not everyone has people over their homes who can and want to play some of the MP games in Nintendo Land.

The holidays are coming up and the biggest shopping day of the year (in America) is almost two weeks away yet I have not seen one advertisement for the system. There must be quite the number of brain-dead people working at Nintendo.

@Ovirew: Do you think that Nintendo will try to redeem itself and actually make these improvements, or do you think they will already jump ship and focus on their next console?

This is a troll thread people. A serious student wouldn't use terms like "Jump Ship" or "Failure" when the system hasn't been out long enough to become a failure.

Given that Nintendo’s aim is to ensure that the Wii U will be a successful player in the new console generation, its needs to analyze the reasons underlying its disappointing launch, understand consumers’ decision making process in the different markets where it operates, and identify the types of marketing actions it can initiate to boost the Wii U’s success. As the company is mostly targeting Japanese, European, and U.S consumers, its needs to understand these consumers’ decision making process. Your assignment is therefore to investigate the reasons underlying the Wii U’s unsatisfying start, to provide a thorough analysis of the European, U.S and Japanese consumers’ decision making process for these types of product, and to suggest marketing actions Nintendo could take to boost the Wii U’s popularity. The consumers’ decision making process refers to the generic decision making process that forms the backbone of the text book, but also eventual cultural/social elements that are specific to these consumers. In addition, an analysis of the relationship between the Nintendo brand, the Wii U console and other products the company develops should be considered in your analysis.

imho point 3 is the single biggest problem facing the wiiu. with the wii nintendo demonstrated using the wiimote to play golf or tennis and everyone went "oh yeah. i get that. thats cool!". it was an easy concept to explain.

but with the wiiu its a case of "huh?". even nintendo don't know what to do with it it seems.

perhaps they thought "well people already use tablets...we dont really need to explain it" but tablet gaming is not the same as console gaming.

basically for joe public the question is "why would i pick up a wiiu to replace my wii or instead of a PS4/X1". with the wii nintendo has an answer...wii sports.

with the wiiu they dont have an answer at the moment.

so basically the wiiu really needs a killer app that justifies the existence of the wiiu gamepad.

imho the secret lies in using the tablet to manipulate the world around you.

@osan0: I think that is the issue. Most people aren't going to rack their brains thinking of new ways they can do things in gaming, but Nintendo has to do more to show people the potential of the dual screen and touch screen in console gaming.

I honestly do think there is some potential there. Nintendo already showed that some motion control, two screens and a touch screen can do a lot for gaming when used correctly. Heck, they were the first to include a speaker on their controller as far as I can recall, and now the PS4 even has one - and it does add something to games when used well. And Microsoft and Sony made their own 'Miis' and motion control devices. So their competition is picking up on what works. Nintendo is really a pioneer of things like that.

I've heard a lot of people saying how they think a console Advance Wars game would be perfect for showcasing one way to use the Wii-U tablet controller. I really couldn't agree more - the more I think about it, I think they could do something interesting with that series on this new tech. I think Wii-U also has potential as being a place where games with old-school gameplay and graphics can live on. I'm not sure how, but I just get that impression.

I think there is something to the Wii-U controller, but it just might take a lot longer to find the niche for such a different kind of gaming system like this one. Perhaps once the system gets some revisions (maybe a less-gaudy controller?), produces more noteworthy first-party games, and catches the attention of more gamers who want something different, maybe by that point people will see the possibilities some of these new ideas could bring to the table.

If you are still interested, I am a middle school/high school teacher and talk video gaming with my students on a regular basis. I would say that Nintendo sees themselves as the Catholic church of the gaming world. In their minds, they should be telling the world how to play games, and have not considered listening the rest of the world's ideas on what gaming should be.

Nintendo believes if they make quality fun experiences, then they can sell both consoles and games--and they have little reason to think otherwise. While they have made products that didn't sell, they have far more successful products than non-successful ones.

Meanwhile, the US gaming audience has completely changed this generation. At the release of the Wii, most people who had played video games had played Mario, Zelda, or Metroid. Nintendo was still at the forefront of gaming. That is no longer true. Most middle school kids today have never played a Nintendo game, and most have been indoctrinated into the idea that Nintendo is a "kids" console. Middle school boys want nothing to do with anything associated with a "kids" console. They only want to play "adult" games and focus on M ratings.

High school kids are increasingly centered around the social aspects of gaming. They want the console their friends have and play the games their friends play. As an example, most of the students at my school decided to get Battlefield 4 this time around instead of Call of Duty Ghosts. Even those who like Call of Duty, yielded to the group's decision.

This all leaves Nintendo in unfamiliar territory. Microsoft has carved out their own piece of the gaming market. First person and third person shooters with strong online components dominate the Microsoft market and Sony can provide similar experiences with some highly praised exclusives. Nintendo is left out in the cold as it has been branded as too family friendly for adolescents to desire, They have gone from being the first name you think of in gaming to being the name you're embarrassed to own.

Can Nintendo change their image? Can they salvage the Wii U? Yes to both. Nintendo can transform their "Disney of video games" image and make titles for a new generation of gamers at the same time. Imagine a deep first or third person Metroid shooter with online bounty hunter mayhem or an adventures of Link open world adventure with cooperative online play. Imagine a console Pokemom adventure similar to Skylanders where "gotta catchem all" includes the idea of purchasing figures to use in game or open new areas or powers.

I think Nintendo will both market the Wii U as a family party night machine and evolve their IPs to be more attractive for adolescents in the Western marketplace. They will need to because they don't believe their first party games require a different more powerful system, and they don't believe that exclusive third party games will become system sellers on their own.

I've talked game with my students(high school) for years. This became a bonding issue for me, since many of my students were male. PS and Xbox have always been in the lead with that age group along with young adults.

Using emulators for Nes and Snes I was able to introduce many of the old favorites. When the Wii came out a few lucky kids got that too but it was probably a family gift as that's a large cost for many. Not sure if Nintendo will ever lose the family friendly kiddie image.

I think a lot of is just internet hate for no real reason. I feel like Nintendo is that quiet nerdy kid at school who sits in the corner, minding his own business, doing his own thing and yet gets bullied for no other reason than the two popular kids rally everyone to do so. Xbox is that big jock who stomps around with his lettermen jacket and Sony is that preppy, popular kid who struts around then they come to the lunchroom together, see Nintendo sitting there, minding his own business, doing his own thing, not bothering anyone, but because Xbox and Sony are the big dogs on campus, who rally the students together to beat up the "awkward kid who's different." And of course if you stand up for that poor kid, you get beat up too.

This of course is more of internet culture of console wars. By now we know of the Sony president actually saying Nintendo is good for the industry because more systems means more people playing games.

I really don't get all the Nintendo hate. If you don't like the WiiU or 3DS, don't buy it. Nintendo is not going to affect you enjoying the PS4 or Xbox One. it seems like you just have people who got mad because Nintendo didn't "grow up with them" aka made M rated dudebro shooters like everyone else or like Zelda and Smash Bros. and are just annoyed they have to buy another system to play said games. We all saw the butt hurt whining over Bayonetta 2 and Sonic Lost World being Nintendo exclusives despite the same whiners complaining about Nintendo not having cool third party exclusives.

It's cheaper than the competition. Nintendo does have some good first party games now and will be getting more. Whether or not you like Mario or Zelda or whatever is your preference. I hate FPSes hence why the 360 had little that interested me.

But the internet really does have the whole "tin foil hat theory." If everyone keeps saying "WiiU has no games" there's enough sheep to believe it. Like in Animal Farm. "Sony/Xbox good! Nintendo baaaaaad." And with Nintendo, it honestly seems like no matter what they do, people aren't satisfied. They could release a peripheral that gives free hand jobs and cookies and you'd hear "what a lame gimmick." For years people wanted true co-op in a 3D Mario, and not have the princess get captured for once. We finally get that and now everyone complains about it being an up res 3DS game. They complain about no cool M rated games, they announce Bayonneta 2, gamers throw a fit because it's a WiiU exclusive despite the fact it wouldn't exist without Nintendo willing to publish it. They complain about no new IPs, yet ignore Wonderful 101 (it's techinically 2nd party but still). Next year we could hear about a new Fzero, Starfox AND a new IP and people would still find something to complain about. Damned if they do. Damned if they don't.

Also the game journalists don't help as companies pay for ad space on sites. You want a site that gives Nintendo a fair shake, check out Gengame.net. It's run by volunteers who aren't paid by publishers for ad space. Hence why that site does a lot more Nintendo features than Gamespot or IGN or Gametrailers.

But I do agree with the Sony president of "Nintendo promoting itself as a family friendly system." Whether or not we want to accept it, kids do matter as a demographic and last time I checked the PS4 and Xbox One weren't making much of an effort to appeal to anyone under the age of 15. Sure there's Knack but that's about it. Kids don't care about fancy online networks or HD graphics. Hell they don't even care about reviews. One of the big reasons the Wii did so well was it was a cheap, accessable system for kids with a huge kid friendly library. When you went to a Gamestop. You looked at the PS3/360 racks, you mostly saw M rated gory action games but a parent looked at the Wii and saw shelves of kid friendly games. And while it's not reported on as heavily as some, a lot of E rated third party games sold very well on the Wii. Skylanders, Sonic games, Lego games, etc. Essentially stuff that kids and families could play together. Why else did Sony start focusing on stuff like LBP, bringing back Sly Cooper and why else did MS try to push family time around the Kinect if there wasn't profit in that?

Nintendo should promote the WiiU as a "kid system" it's not like there aren't any more kids after the Wii's run. Of course it also comes down to parents. This is probably where another $50 price drop might be beneficial but other than Nintendo, what other company actually makes a worthwhile effort to make decent games that kids can play. But back to parents, they also have to want decent games for their kids and too many either are content letting them play half assed tablet games or the ones who let their 12 year olds play GTAV and CoD despite the M rating. But the ESRB can't make up for bad parenting.

But why is the kid friendly angle so bad? Why do we have such a problem with it? Saying that Nintendo needs to make bloody, M rated games is like saying Disney needs to make R rated slash flicks. Yoshida is right on the "family friendly machine" thing. This worked great for the Wii and the handhelds and if I was Nintendo, I would get commercials on HUB, CN, Nickelodeon and Disney channel as well as get something along the lines of "hey parents, do you kids like video games but you don't want them exposed to violent imagery?" You know something like that.

As far as I am concerned there is one major reason why the Wii U hasn't taken off as well as Nintendo hoped it would. The way in which Nintendo have marketed the product has been dreadful. Now I can only speak from the perspective of someone living in the UK but hardly anyone that I know even knows what the Wii U is. That confusion all stems from the name of the console in my opinion. Had Nintendo simply called the Wii U the Wii 2 instead I believe the console would have sold a lot more right out of the gate. With so many casual gamers being responsible for the great Wii sales numbers Nintendo needed to ensure they got them on board for the Wii U as well. As a result of not making it clear that the Wii U was a new console they really shot themselves in the foot. A lot of parents probably believe that the Wii U is simply another add on just like Wii Fit was etc.

Also here in the UK I have hardly seen any adverts for the Wii U in the last year. In fact the only advert I remember seeing for any Wii U game was for Pikmin 3.

Now I'm not saying that marketing is Nintendo's only problem. Yes there are other issues but the majority of them have stemmed from low levels of product awareness.

they havnt released any huge titles yet..well except wii sports club a week ago..and they didnt market the wiiu or any of the games as heavily as they should of.

imo....mario 3d world is the first huge game released for the system.

not that pikmin 3 and windwaker were bad though...winwaker is beautiful and pikmin3 is a terrific game.

You and students and researching the Wii U's failures? What course is this? Some university thing I assume.

But honestly the only thing in my opinion the Wii U needs to be improved is Party Chat.

@haakonmiknas: Really, I think many people don't see why they should buy a Wii U. The Wii had excellent product placement and was just a fun, easy to play system for everyone. The Wii U didn't launch with a super easy fun for all game like Wii Sports. Nintendo Land was meant to be that game, but it didn't succeed.

- Nintendo has also admitted that it takes them longer to produce games for Wii U than for Wii, and has delayed a number of titles.

- The battery life of the Gamepad is bad and many don't want to be forced to use it, from what I've seen.

- Low internal storage. Who wants to buy a HDD for a console?

- The price is still high for a system that's only slightly more powerful than a PS3. It doesn't seem next-gen when compared to the PS4 and Xbox One.

- Lack of NEW games (exception of 3D World); Wind Waker HD is great, but is a remake.

Nintendo's gotta do a lot more if it wants the Wii U to be as good/better than the Wii was. Without the casual appeal that the Wii had, the Wii U is like a GameCube: Nintendo loyalists and kids will buy it for Nintendo titles, but that's about it.

i think price was an issue at launch.....wiiU with a game cost 400$

plus there is no harddrive so you have to buy one...thats another 80$

hardware wise...these 2 things hurt it the most i think.

as for software...

wii sports club online should have been a launch game instead of nintendo land.

also..mario kart, smash bros or a new zelda should have been released in the first year.

I think lots of people were burned by the original Wii. People who bought into Wii's hype eventually got over it. Even if people know Wii U is a new system, they don't care. No more Wiimotes, sensors bars, and gimmick games. The only reasons I got a Wii U day one, is so I could get the username I want and I was interested in the Miiverse. (I have never had a facebook, twitter, etc.. so I thought I'd try Nintendo social ..thing) -and I KNOW THERE WILL BE A GAME I HAVE TO HAVE IN 2014. Nintendo fans always talk about 'the new Zelda'. Not everyone cares about Zelda. I know so many money spending gamers that haven't played Zelda since the SNES~

The name should have been something different,I really think that confused you average joe!It is a little expensive I guess but to some like me its not a deal breaker and it did'nt really have anything very unique other than the screen on the controller,but IMO still a great system!

theres nothing wrong with wiiu , the games look good enough for a real gamer , only those who are exreamely picky would complain , in my world gameplay matters most and wiiu right no w has more quality titles then ps4 xbox 1 , and unless you like playing the same games you bought for your 360 ps3 already then youd agree , sure wiiu had some of those as well when it launched but it had some other ones like Mario u zombie u and Nintendo land , as well as announced games like project 1`01 and bayonetta 2 , so it made the purchase worth it , 349.99 is chump change compared to 400-500 plus a game remember wiiu actually came with a game so , if you wanted you could have waited to buy a nother I chose not to I got bo2 and zombie u ,

for my x1 similar I got ghost and forza 5- ps4 I may get kz or just get two multiplats , I don't know but the point is , im a gamer and I found nothing wrong with wiiu or x1 so far

It replaced the Wii!

The Wii U looks good, it just doesn't have that many good games to buy in my opinion

@haakonmiknas: Do your own research instead of asking strangers to do it for you.