The Wii U sales thread - 220k shipped last quarter

[still]

What is tragic is that the wii u doesn't deserve to be drawfed by the xbone and ps4.

True dis.

[Gario]

A year from now will be the Wii U's peak, if Zelda comes out as promised. Can you imagine? With Zelda, X and Mario Maker, it could be Nintendo's best Christmas in years. Isn't that right, Jawa?

[gamerforever]

A year from now will be the Wii U's peak, if Zelda comes out as promised. Can you imagine? With Zelda, X and Mario Maker, it could be Nintendo's best Christmas in years. Isn't that right, Jawa?

Glad I have one, but a bit worried that the console will be finished by next Christmas. I hope Nintendo support it until the end of 2016 at least.

[Death's Head]

What is tragic is that the wii u doesn't deserve to be drawfed by the xbone and ps4.

True dis.

"Doesn't deserve"? The XBO and the PS4 are delivering games that the majority want to play, the Wii U isn't.

[gamerforever]

What is tragic is that the wii u doesn't deserve to be drawfed by the xbone and ps4.

True dis.

"Doesn't deserve"? The XBO and the PS4 are delivering games that the majority want to play, the Wii U isn't.

All they are doing is delivering unfinished games and remasters as far as I can see. The Wii U's exclusives are quality.

[Death's Head]

All they are doing is delivering unfinished games and remasters as far as I can see. The Wii U's exclusives are quality.

I've had a Wii U since launch and not touched it for a couple of months now. People need to get into their heads that the "quality" games on the Wii U are quite niche. I don't really have many games on any system, but I've enjoyed Diablo, Destiny and InFamous - these are not unfinished or remasters, and even if they were available on the Wii U, they would be cut down versions.

People need to stop making excuses for why their favourite system is under performing and accept that it simply doesn't have the wider appeal that the more popular systems have.

[Gario]

A year from now will be the Wii U's peak, if Zelda comes out as promised. Can you imagine? With Zelda, X and Mario Maker, it could be Nintendo's best Christmas in years. Isn't that right, Jawa?

Glad I have one, but a bit worried that the console will be finished by next Christmas.

You make a good point, Zelda could be the Wii U's swansong, in exactly the same way that Skyward Sword was the Wii''s, Twilight Princess was the GameCube's and, correct me if I'm wrong, Majora's Mask was the N64's.

[gamerforever]

All they are doing is delivering unfinished games and remasters as far as I can see. The Wii U's exclusives are quality.

I've had a Wii U since launch and not touched it for a couple of months now. People need to get into their heads that the "quality" games on the Wii U are quite niche. I don't really have many games on any system, but I've enjoyed Diablo, Destiny and InFamous - these are not unfinished or remasters, and even if they were available on the Wii U, they would be cut down versions.

People need to stop making excuses for why their favourite system is under performing and accept that it simply doesn't have the wider appeal that the more popular systems have.

Agree that it doesn't have the wider appeal, but the multiplatform releases so far have been absolutely awful, but they will improve next year. I think if I only had a Wii U I would be a little disappointed, however their exclusive titles are quality and a lot more enjoyable than anything I have played on the PS4.

[Death's Head]

Agree that it doesn't have the wider appeal, but the multiplatform releases so far have been absolutely awful, but they will improve next year. I think if I only had a Wii U I would be a little disappointed, however their exclusive titles are quality and a lot more enjoyable than anything I have played on the PS4.

Why will the multiplatform releases improve next year? Sales of the Wii U aren't stellar so publishers aren't going to invest effort into making multiplatform titles available and when they do, they will be technically inferior to the PS4/XBO versions. Although the exclusives may be more enjoyable to you, again this is not the wider view and as such, the Wii U will only continue to sell to those who favour those types of games (the minority).

[Parksey]

It isn't necessarily a case of the console or its games not having a wider appeal - the Wii proved the Nintendo's first party software at least can be very popular and have wide appeal. Games like MK Wii or Wii Sports could be argued as having more appeal than most 360/PS3 titles, given that it reached people who wouldn't normally touch a game.

The Wii U's situation isn't necessarily because it is unable to garner wide appeal, and just because it doesn't quite appeal to you doesn't mean it is "niche" either. Instead we have a catch-22 situation, where it doesn't get a variety of titles release due to not selling, and it doesn't sell due to not having the software. Consequently, it might have had a much wider appeal had it had more sales, and if it had a wider appeal it may have sold more.

The biggest failing is not the console's scope - it had the potential to sell well, it could be argued, seeing as it came off the back of the Wii - but Nintendo's strategy and marketing let it down. It's never recovered from a slow start or picked up any momentum.

I wouldn't say this is because it lacks variety or appeal. All consoles have a similar variety of games, and one often plays host to something the other two could not do.

So I don't think it is failing because it only appeals to a narrow audience. I just think that because it is failing, its options, release schedule and, arguably, potential narrowed down somewhat. But it isn't due to narrow appeal that this downward spiral started.

Indeed, by hosting games like Pikmin 3, Wonderful 101 and Bayonetta 2, you could say that it has a wider appeal that it's more powerful completion, as it host these "niche" titles you so dislike. So it can do titles with broad appeal (albeit had it done well it would have much more third party support) and also play host to quirky titles like those listed above, which don't get a real look in elsewhere.

[Gario]

The sad thing is, the Wii U is hosting one flop after another. There's a reason the sales of Pikmin 3, The Wonderful 101 and others are never mentioned in quarterly or annual reports - they were disappointing. Outside of the Mario games, only the sales of The Wind Waker HD have been addressed, and that's because it went over a million.

[jawafour]

I hesitate to write too much here as I suspect we're covering old ground, but...

> Nintendo got the launch messaging wrong, third party relationships wrong, in-house game production capability wrong and marketing wrong
> There is barely any mainstream vibe for the U
> There are some terrific games on the U and some of these hold wide appeal such as Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8, Zelda Wind Waker and Smash Bros
> The U remains a fun system to own and use - it just feels rather niche

Deaths, I don't think it's game quality that is the problem - it's more a basic lack of awareness in the minds of the bulk of people who play videogames. Many still don't know much about the Wii U, the games or how it works. Nintendo has failed to communicate unique selling points and it has failed to develop any kind of vibrancy. There are jewels there but to most people they remain hidden.

[Death's Head]

How it got to its current position is irrelevant, it is left as a console with limited appeal and regardless of who we blame, it doesn't just deserve success because that isn't how business works.

[jawafour]

How it got to its current position is irrelevant, it is left as a console with limited appeal and regardless of who we blame, it doesn't just deserve success because that isn't how business works.

That's a rather peculiar statement, Deaths... is it *really* irrelevant? It sounds like you're not interested in discussing the Wii U; you just want to wallow in the gloomier aspects.

[Gario]

I hesitate to write too much here as I suspect we're covering old ground, but...

> Nintendo got the launch messaging wrong, third party relationships wrong, in-house game production capability wrong and marketing wrong
> There is barely any mainstream vibe for the U
> There are some terrific games on the U and some of these hold wide appeal such as Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8, Zelda Wind Waker and Smash Bros
> The U remains a fun system to own and use - it just feels rather niche

Deaths, I don't think it's game quality that is the problem - it's more a basic lack of awareness in the minds of the bulk of people who play videogames. Many still don't know much about the Wii U, the games or how it works. Nintendo has failed to communicate unique selling points and it has failed to develop any kind of vibrancy. There are jewels there but to most people they remain hidden.

Jawa, did you notice the Zelda pattern I discovered earlier? I hope it's not true

[Parksey]

How it got to its current position is irrelevant, it is left as a console with limited appeal and regardless of who we blame, it doesn't just deserve success because that isn't how business works.

"Deserving success" is a pointless concept anyway. The Wii U isn't more or less deserving of success than the PS4 or Xbone. A product "deserving" to sell is pointless if it's surrounded by bad management and business decisions. Or, likewise, good business decisions and strategy can shift a product and aren't a sign of it "deserving" that success.

I wouldn't say the Wii U has any more limited an appeal that the Xbox One or PS4. It has areas it covers better than those consoles and vice versa.

And how it got into its current position isn't irrelevant, as simply saying "the console lacks appeal" or "the console had no variety" is a bit simplistic and reductive, and belies a number of other factors. Namely that a lot of this opinion seems to stem from the fact the games you personally enjoy aren't on the system.

A product can have a wide appeal and not sell. The whole idea of marketing is that you make sure knowledge of the product reaches these people. Nintendo didn't do that, so it's current position isn't irrelevant. Especially if your argument about the Wii U's lack of appeal centres on its low sales. I think it can largely be factored down to bad management and poor business choices.

[jawafour]

Jawa, did you notice the Zelda pattern I discovered earlier? I hope it's not true :shock:

That was a good spot, Gario - I hadn't realised that the timing of the Zelda releases co-incided wirh the last months of the consoles' lives! I guess there are two ways of looking at it. The gloomier view is that the arrival of a Zelda game is a portent of impending doom... whilst the shinier view is that Zelda games are publshed on a fairly infrequent basis but whenever they arrive they are worthy of reverance.

I prefer the latter line of thinking :-).

[jawafour]

...The whole idea of marketing is that you make sure knowledge of the product reaches these people. Nintendo didn't do that...

Parksey nails it.

[Super Dragon 64]

The sad thing is, the Wii U is hosting one flop after another. There's a reason the sales of Pikmin 3, The Wonderful 101 and others are never mentioned in quarterly or annual reports - they were disappointing. Outside of the Mario games, only the sales of The Wind Waker HD have been addressed, and that's because it went over a million.

Thankfully Nintendo still shows interest in supporting such niche titles, as we can see from the recent Pikmin shorts and Pikmin 3 demo.

How it got to its current position is irrelevant, it is left as a console with limited appeal and regardless of who we blame, it doesn't just deserve success because that isn't how business works.

You were arguing that the games themselves on the Wii U were unappealing and the reason for its current position so this is all very much relevant. To expand on Parksey's post, if Nintendo franchises were so unappealing, they wouldn't sell so well on the 3DS.

I know how business works but that doesn't mean that I can't make comments like 'Nintendo deserves more success because of its quality games'. Such comments show that I think that there is potential in Nintendo's output and that it needs to change its approach to get the success that those games deserve.

[Death's Head]

That's a rather peculiar statement, Deaths... is it *really* irrelevant? It sounds like you're not interested in discussing the Wii U; you just want to wallow in the gloomier aspects.

My point is, there is nothing really to discuss success wise, it is where it is and it isn't going to change. Hoping for this and that to change its fortunes isn't going to happen. If there are games on it people enjoy, enjoy them. But it's fortunes aren't really going to change and to think otherwise is purely wishful thinking.