The Wii U sales thread - 220k shipped last quarter

[Harry Bizzle]

Tallest dwarf.

[GrinWithoutaKat]

Update of the chart that was getting a lot of attention last year.



Solid lines are the monthly sales, dotted lines are LTD figures. All just for North America.

[Alvin Flummux]

Nintendo needs a breakout hit that really draws attention. I don't think they have one.

[Parksey]

Nintendo needs a breakout hit that really draws attention. I don't think they have one.

What's a breakout hit though? If it is not a franchise like MK that gets people in, I can't see a new name getting much attention, especially from the people who made the Wii so successful. These people haven't really bought a Wii U.

[Gario]

The Wii was a huge hit for two reasons - Wii Sports and Wii Fit. I don't even think MK Wii drove up hardware sales on a significant scale.

[Alvin Flummux]

Nintendo needs a breakout hit that really draws attention. I don't think they have one.

What's a breakout hit though? If it is not a franchise like MK that gets people in, I can't see a new name getting much attention, especially from the people who made the Wii so successful. These people haven't really bought a Wii U.

A breakout hit being a game which unexpectedly is super popular, much like Brain Training was, or Wii Sports.

[Harry Bizzle]

Step one is to employ someone at GameFreak who isn't a lazy hack. Step two is to get them to make a Pokemon game in the same top down sort of view as the handheld games but with nice 3D graphics. Step three is to force some Amiibo integration in there (maybe put down the pad and put your figure on it and use optional voice commands for the attacks). Render the battles with actual 3D animations rather than wobbling sprites.


Watch it sell.

[Buffalo]

A 'breakout hit' is a good idea, but what could they do?
Quiz games? Done.
Sports games? Done.
Music games? Done.
Karaoke games? Done.
Tamagotchi style games? Done.

I'm struggling to think of something that would be deemed new.

[HSH28]

Step one is to employ someone at GameFreak who isn't a lazy hack. Step two is to get them to make a Pokemon game in the same top down sort of view as the handheld games but with nice 3D graphics. Step three is to force some Amiibo integration in there (maybe put down the pad and put your figure on it and use optional voice commands for the attacks). Render the battles with actual 3D animations rather than wobbling sprites.


Watch it sell.

I'm convinced that wouldn't work.

They should do a sprite based game at HD resolutions, perhaps they could get 3D Pokémon models to display on the Gamepad with stats or something like that.

[Rog]

They need Zelda and they need it now.

[Harry Bizzle]

Zelda has never been a system seller.

[Alvin Flummux]

They could buy the rights to Dino Crisis and develop a proper reboot..?

[Buffalo]

Maybe they should Skylander-it-up the Pokemon series. They're bringing in AR figurines anyway, right?

[NickSCFC]

Maybe they should Skylander-it-up the Pokemon series. They're bringing in AR figurines anyway, right?

A Pokemon game with cell-shaded graphics similar to the anime series and collectable NFC figures would shift Wii Us.

[jawafour]

A Pokemon game with cell-shaded graphics similar to the anime series and collectable NFC figures would shift Wii Us.

...Nick, I do believe you're hinting at the un-success of Pokemon Rumble U!

[NickSCFC]

Yeah that's nothing like what I was describing.

[chalkitdown]

Game Freak won't make a big console mainline Pokemon game. At least I can't see it happening. I think I read once that their main reason was that they want it to remain a portable series, it is called Pocket Monsters after all in Japan. I imagine if Nintendo outright owned the series and not Game Freak we would have seen a home console Pokemon release a long time ago.

[Alvin Flummux]

Why can't they alternate between portable and home consoles? It makes no sense, Nintendo could take the burden of development costs and Game Freak could carry on making its portable things.

Are they scared that one glimpse of a console Pokemon game will cause everyone to abandon the handheld ones?

[Rog]

Zelda has never been a system seller.

Yeah but I want Zelda.

[The Alchemist Penguin]

I think that if (or when) the series makes the jump to home console properly, then it could potentially kill off the handheld series. If Game Freak created the "home console Pokemon game everyone wants" then it would basically make the handheld games weaker instalments of the home console versions. Now that the series is fully 3D there wouldn't even be the different "feel" that, say, the GC games had to the 2D GBA games, so from a gameplay perspective you'd be basically getting similar games, with the handheld ones having worse graphics. Pokemon is big on the portability and trading so the handhelds would still have an advantage, but it could just undermine and cannibalise their own market by splitting them across machines.

Considering how much the games sell on portables, and how big of a boost they always are to the handhelds, I don't think Nintendo would actually want to risk losing such an obvious money maker and handheld seller just to save the Wii U. The long term results could actually be worse for them, if it ended up backfiring.