WII U low sales are strange

Third party support has been a problem for Nintendo for quite a while, but I cannot quite get why it cannot sell decently considering the very good amount of exclusives it has.

Bad marketing from Nintendo part or people getting bored with Nintendo exclusives and wanting to play Call of Duty's and the likes?

I got Super Mario Maker today and it's just addictive that I don't wanna go back playing through Dishonored anymore.

$300 for gaming console with little to no 3rd party games is a letdown to the average consumer. 3DS get's you more bang for your bucks then Wii U. [In my opinion that is]

Because the market that Nintendo cashed in on with the Wii and DS isn't on consoles anymore, it's gone towards mobile. What's left is pretty much hardcore Nintendo fans who are okay with buying the system for Nintendo exclusives only, which are of varying quality.

The amount of high quality exclusives it has doesn't come near to the amount of high quality games found on other platforms. It's a dud of a system with a terrible controller and marketing scheme. It lost the mindshare battle really fast.

Most US and EU console gamers these days are dude bro gamers. Sad fact.

Simple, the vast majority of gamers just aren't interested in what Nintendo has to offer. Either Nintendo changes and starts making products that appeals to the average gamer, or be stuck catering to the 10 million or so core fans for the foreseeable future.

Competition is too great, we got tablets, phones, and PC gaming growing at massive rates while home console gaming is shrinking.

Again, somehow the pro-"Nintendo should be third party" camp will deny this and just say "it's only the hardware we have no interest in".

And thus there is nothing wrong with that.

True, just like their is nothing wrong with mobile gamers, different strokes for different folks. Times change, Nintendo must rebuild again. Good thing is they have an awesome foundation to build upon now.

It is when other games are ignored and all we are left with are FPS games that rehash each other. Kind of sad what gaming has become. No more innovation because it doesn't get supported.

Um, yeah it is when they only support companies like Activision, EA and Ubisoft, the companies that buy up all the independent talent and take away sales from smaller developers who try new things. There should be room for more than only AAA blockbusters, remasters, collections and shitty indies.

@aia89: Underpowered console, bad marketing, not a lot of sales, Wii not talking to third parties are just a few reasons

Combo of bad marketing and Wii philosophy being a fluke that they tried to ride out a 2nd generation.

Pseudo-innovation is cool but no one wants it when it comes at the cost of tech and games. Wii only got away with it because it was way cheaper and more casually appealing.

It actually sells pretty decently for a system with no third party support. If it had third party support it would sell twice as much because it'd have thrice as many games. It's on track to be not a lot worse than the GC or Xbox so we have precedents for it. Wii U is sitting at 10 million in 3 years. Gamecube had sold 21 million in 6 years. If we extrapolate Wii U should be around 20-25 million in 3 years.

Whether one is in denial or fully accepting, the vast majority of the gaming community has left Mario and friends for greener pastures. Nintendo has killed it when it comes to Mario and constant releases focusing on the same mascot and theme. I'm only human and as such, I can only take the same thing over and over for a set time until I become frustrated and disinterested. Years ago we had Nintendo in everything from bed sheets to cereal. That helped make this company a well known and a house hold name. What we see today is a small portion of what used to be and although I don't think it could completely reverse the fortune of these consoles, a better effort might very well help get people on board. Resting on ones' laurels is not effective.

Wii was $249 compared to Xbox 360 being $299.

Wii U is losing momentum, it won't have a big year like last year again, and it needs another price drop. The people who are going to buy Mario Maker, Yoshi and Xenoblade probably already have a Wii U.

I have to agree with this, Wii U is doing awesome for what it is. It still amazes me how well their games are selling, truly amazing install rates. And then Amiibo sales that the Wii U NFC feature helped create, its almost as if it prints physical dollars out its disc tray.

We're in the information age. The most casual of gamers know Nintendo has no 3rd party support and weak hardware. On top of that, a lot of people are sick of the same old franchises. I've played countless Mario games, Zelda, Mario Kart, Smash, Mario Party, Donkey Kong, and Kirby games. I've had my fill.

Says the dude with a Mortal Kombat avatar.

I don't see how any could deny the negative impact that all the bro games have had on the console industry. Last gen they became super popular and early on this generation that's about all we've seen. Companies like Capcom and Square Enix tried to emulate their success and it all but ruined them outside of Japan. Inafune wanted desperately for Capcom to be more Westernized, and the company put out some of the worst crap they've ever made. SE wanted FF to have annual releases like Call of Duty, and look at what happened with FFXIII-2 and FFXIII-3.

The reason why the first year of the PS4 and XB1 "have no games" outside of a rare exclusive is because most of the creative talent that supplied great gen 6 & 7 console games are gone: either out of business or absorbed by one of the big three - EA, Activision and Ubisoft. As a result of this, low end indies fill the void to replace them. Also to fill in the dirt we are subjected to slightly higher resolution "remasters" and gen 6 & 7 collections between annual shooters, open world and sports games. Throw in the occasional WRPG and a super-rare JRPG and that's the sum of generation 8 console games.

Well first of all no one in their right mind buys the shitty 300 dollar 360, but that's still a 50 dollar difference when Wii came bundled with a game, and anyway the Wii U was 300-350 at launch which is more what I was referring to. Wii games were also generally cheaper as well, with Wii U embracing the 60 dollar tag despite last gen tech in the games.

I blame Nintendo's awful naming sense. It's entirely different console with better capabilities than the original Wii, it's beyond me why they'd choose name that would confuse the common masses

• The name.
• Marketing.
• Lack of 3rd parties.
• Change in gaming culture.
• Nintendo's old policies.
• Rise of casual gaming on Mobiles.

People can buy what they want. There only "should be" what the market and consumers want to actually purchase.

There is more than enough to play anyway. My backlog is huge.

@Celsius765:

And they named the new 3ds..new 3ds. Now we're getting the non xl version in the west. There's going to be more confusion with the faceplates for average consumers and kids.

Try explaining those as well.

I'll just post these things what went wrong from the start at Wii U launch and now.

• Naming it Wii U cause a lot of confusion to the consumers thinking it was some kind of add-on Wii.
• Install base is low for 3rd party.
• No hit titles games at launch and had to wait almost 2 years for worthy exclusive games for it.
• Price is still too high for the average consumer. Should be price almost the same as Xbox 360/PS3 by now.
• Nintendo announce a new console is on the way too early and just telling everyone to not buy Wii U.
• Some killer apps exclusive games are still in development/delay such as Legend of Zelda and now Star Fox.

Oh so were judging by folks avatars are we? For shame.

@davillain-: Im not trying to judge, but when you cry rehash on Nintendo and sport a Mortal Kombat avatar your gonna get called out.

Doesnt seem to be affecting sales, N3DS is selling great.

It's grossly overpriced. People see it just fifty or a hundred dollars less than much more powerful consoles that constantly get new games, and they see its own dusty small shelf of games, and the decision is clear.

Yep, speaking of Japan trying to westernize, get a load of that recent COD like resident evil game lol

Plus the other thing is games just cost too much to make now, an 8th generation Okami would cost far more to make than the original and thus those games would be doomed to sell badly when you consider the development cost. There's still talent, even if there's less, but it's a money (and time) issue and the games that sell in droves are rarely unique.

I think Nintendo games are great, I think people still want to play them, I just think asking people to pay a good deal of money for a system that offers nothing more than the very familiar recycled games and no third party support to speak of, that's asking a lot, both PS4 and XBO offer so much more than Nintendo easily in third party and is of much better value. This is why I think Nintendo needs to just go third party while they can, before their company goes in irreversible direction that panders to cheap mobiles games before it's too late.

@lamprey263: I just want more Nintendo games, i dont really care about third party on a Nintendo device, i have a PC for that. Now if its cool third party that i cant experience on PC, then great, ill look into it. Other then that, just give me something different, or at least a different experience.

@Chozofication: Another clear sign of the Western console market declining can be seen right here in SW: a larger interest in PC gaming, and that's because these systems (despite selling well) just aren't satisfying like they did in the past.

It's starting to look like the NX might be the last hope for consoles, but that still remains to be seen.

Cost of development is indeed high and it's put a fear on 3rd party at that. Considering Wii U isn't selling well, 3rd party fear that they won't recuperate there money back and they lose even more money. Look at games like ZombiU, it's now on PS4/Xbox One/PC [now Zombi] mainly because Ubisoft lost money on the Wii U exclusive cause it sold poorly. This is just an example that the cost is higher now and now relies on Sony/MS sells now, not Nintendo.

@mesome713: that's fine, that's why I picked up a Wii U, just that it's not selling well and Nintendo is't going to succeed if they're only appeasing such a crowd. I think too many people here are hung up thinking Nintendo's lack of success was due to a lack of power, frankly this is not something Nintendo should get into. Someone like MS who everyone though their days were numbered with their tech have steadily been making tweaks to its performance for the better; does Nintendo have it in them to do the same? No. Do they have it in them to evolve their online user infrastructure to match that of PSN or XBL? No. They had a chance to do that back when they launched the Wii U, 6 years after both MS and Sony did it on the last gen systems, they didn't care to update their online infrastructure. But, do they make great 1st party games? Yes. So, best thing they could do, go third party. Sell a lot more on other systems because they'll have a much larger combined userbase. I think people still want to play Nintendo games, I just don't think they want to spend the money of needing to buy a Nintendo hardware that's only good for that one reason.

Nintendo can still make hardware, they can focus on their handhelds instead, which is still a successful market.

Yep.

NX is my last hope, that's for sure. I actually love the Wii U, because it's unique with great games and is much more like an actual console. But it's still a far cry from what it could've been.

I think the possibility is there that the Ps5 and XB2 might just be streaming devices, if not that then probably all digital.

Something i think is funny, i actually think Wii U will end up selling more then Xbox One. Might sound weird, but i have a feeling that Wii U will just slowly increase its sales in all countries. I feel Xbox One is loosing momentum, its poor sales in Japan along with its weaker performance in games i feel will hurt it in the long run. I dont think PS4 nor Xbox One will sell close to what they did last gen, i think PC will continue to destroy them.

They lost the casuals. They were pretty much the only thing keeping them from going back to GameCube numbers (or worse).

Nobody is surprised

Love the new avatar, its very fitting.

The Wii U turned out quite disappointing, but still offered some great titles in between long droughts, so it's no wonder that it will have a very pre-mature death. Nintendo shouldn't have forced the big ole Wii U pad on folks, and as already stated numerous times, their advertising this gen has been piss poor. Maybe they'll get it right with NX, I sure hope they do.

Regardless of what PS5 and XB2 end up being, NX is probably my last console, at least for a very long time. If those other systems end up being great after several years, I might pick them up and their games on the cheap. I'm just tired of buying these systems and playing the waiting game instead of frequent great games. I'll just play my backlog and continue to pick up cheap games for the systems I already own. Who knows, maybe I'll seriously get in to PC gaming sometime next gen?

Wii u sales are not strange at all. Nintendos hardcore fanbase has been steadily dropping every gen.

When people grow up, they move on to better consoles from Sony or MS.

I think that's besides the point, Nintendo can make their games for whoever they want when going third party, definitely making games for multiple systems each doing much better than they are is going to be a benefit.

@lamprey263: I think them going third party on mobile will be a big thing for sales on their own console. Will get more people wanting to experience more Nintendo content. When they start to seek for something more, they will be able to find what they are looking for exclusively on Nintendo hardware.

I'm not sure about that...

What about Wii and DS? I think PS4 and Xbox One are the teenager consoles. Majority of their games seem to cater toward teenagers. Sometimes i play their stuff and think to myself, man, this some teenage bullshat. I play a bunch of story games and wonder, man, only a teenager would find that enjoyable.

I agree going mobile will be big for Nintendo, I just worry it'll be big in the wrong way. And I don' t think that success will translate into support for their dedicated machines. With potential to make so much more money than their more traditional approach, I worry they'll only prove to themselves that it's more fruitful to make mobile games and thus focus the entirety of their endeavors in such a direction. Sure, Nintendo will improve financially, but it'll be in ways that really won't make anybody but their shareholders happy. From a gamer's standpoint, such a transition will be a regressive one. And, I'm pretty sure the mood will be, once everyone realizes it's too late and that Nintendo is on an irreversible course, that everyone will come back in hindsight saying "Damn, maybe third party was the right call."

@lamprey263: Have no fear mate. Majority of companies go out of business when they try and focus only on mobile gaming, its a cut throat business and the competition is fierce. But Nintendo loves to make games for gamers, and guess who has a bunch of gamers, Nintendo will cater to mobile and make games that fit that experience. Nintendo also knows that in order to survive they must cater to their core fan base. Is just like they stated with Wii to Wii U transition. Wii was great, but they needed to get back to catering to their core fan base with Wii U. And so they did.

It's like people would rather get the systems that are getting a wide variety of games. That is just crazy.

@princessgomez92: PC gaming is growing at insane rates.