Why is the Wii U not succeeding?

[Nimcha]

Simple answer. It's called the Wii U. Emphasizes on WII. Most people just think its the same thing as the old 360 and the black 360, or the PS3 slim. They should have changed the name or called it Wii 2 to make it clear that it's a new system. Otherwise people will go I already own a Wii, why would I get the same system with some new gadgets? That's like basic marketing.

I would say I agree with this. I'm usually not that interested in Nintendo so didn't really follow the marketing well. This led to me not knowing it was actually a completely new console and not just some controller addon like Kinect for the 360. Until one of my friends bought the thing a few weeks ago I literally had no clue.

I am not a console gamer in the least but by now I already know more about the PS4 and Xbox One than the Wii U. That can't be good.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Mostly because of lack of titles, which can be attributed to 3rd parties once again doing their generational Nintendo backstab. Nintendo plays nice by holding back their own product in order to give 3rd parties a chance to sell...only for 3rd parties to squander that time and make sloppy, slipshod product that any intelligent person would pass up followed by 3rd parties bitching and moaning like spoiled brats when they realize consumers aren't that dumb. Seriously, how many 3rd parties pulled 3DS support and then basically got humiliated when the system took off like nobody's business? The Wii U will bounce back, but I can't help but feel 3rd parties will sulk in a corner when it does, realizing they fucked up by not putting any actual effort into stuff.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Perhaps if Nintendo wasn't trying to force unnecessary innovation down our throats, developing third party for the WiiU would be more tangible. This would lead to more third party titles and hopefully more variety.

Then explain why the PS4 and Xbox One have outside tablet support? Where you have to buy an extra multi-hundred dollar item to play a game that requires 'tablet support'? I know EA is doing that with a few of their games that they are putting on the PS4/Xbone/PC. Seems like the 'forced unnecessary innovation' you're talking about is even worse with Microsoft and Sony.

And seriously, don't blame Nintendo for third party publishers backstabbing them. EA, Ubisoft, Acti-Blizz, and others had at least two years, two freaking years, to make games for the Wii U. That is more than enough time to get a start on how the Wii U works. Making a small game to learn the system is easier than starting off with ports/large scale mega games.

Now why is the Wii U not succeeding? Unsuccessful marketing and releasing at least six months too early. I highly suspect that was because of mainly Ubisoft pushing for such an early release.

There are no games announced where the tablet is require for the PS4 or Xbone. Tablets are just compatible with those 2 consoles. Not required for them like the Wii U. And that's the major difference. How many Wii games by the end of its run have been using ANY of the motion features of the Wii Mote if at all? That number is now. Really low. The last games to actually require motion use on the Wii was Skyward Sword and some argue that the game suffered because of it. Otherwise most well received Wii games did not force motion controls.

It'll be the same on the Wii U.The best games on it won't even bother using the Tablet controller for more than a way to show inventories in games. The problem with the Wii U is that you don't get a choice with whether or not you have to use the gimmick peripheral.

And I'm going to be honest hear, the publishers not filling the void with WiiU games aren't backstabbing Nintendo. Nintendo's own boneheaded attitude towards the 3rd party is finally coming to bite them in the ass. Nintendo made things so damn hard for 3rd party devs to sell games on the Wii and now those devs are avoiding the WiiU, and more power to them. Nintendo marketed and sold a console to a market that was either very new to video games or die hard Nintendo fans. The two options to succeed on the Wii were either be a Nintendo employee or make your game specifically for the casual market. Otherwise you flopped. And there are way too many examples of games that flopped on the Wii due to the Wii not having the audience to sell core games to. People just wanted a decent core gaming experience from the Wii and didn't get a lot of chances to have it.

And that's another reason that WiiU sales are so low that people seem to ignore. Gamers that feel they got screwed. The people who bought a Wii on day one and didn't really care about all things first party Nintendo. The guys who though No More Heroes was the kind of Wii game that was going to happen often.



Instead when they went to the shelf of their gaming store's Nintendo section that got this:

 

[Another]

Two reasons in my mind. One is a lack of system selling games, and bad timing.

The Wii U basically had a one year head start on XBone and PS4. One year to get out some really good games and push the system. And then every big name game for it got pushed back. Heck, Pikman 3 was supposed to be a lunch title and it came out this week! Now Nintendo gets to compete against two systems with potentially strong line-ups.

I don't think the system is doomed though. I think that once a few Nintendo exclusives get rolling we could see some bounce back. There is also potential to secure some niche market with SMT X FE and Bayonetta 2. I think that the bounce back of the 3DS shows that a few good games can really push a system. Of course unlike the Xbone and PS4, the Vita didn't compete very hard it seems.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Like I said, the Wii U is Nintendo's PS3, it'll sell eventually, but they'll be taking huge hits before it starts taking off.

I don't know, the major set back against the PS3 was its pricing. Everyone, even the non-gamer crowd, knew that this was going to be the next big thing for Sony. They knew this was going to be "the next big leap for consoles". But the ridiculous price and the image that it created for the PS3 left most people cold for the longest time.

With the Wii-U it really seems that people aren't buying it because they just don't know what to make of the system. Not even the developers. The Wii alienated third party developers with its comparably different hardware, but it was such a money making gadget that it didn't matter. The Wii-U still has that alienating hardware, but completely lacks the popularity of its predecessor. And I don't know if that's going to change anytime soon if at all.

 

[Chaos Isaac]

Because the Wii U sucks.

I'd prefer they go the Sega route and just make games, well, at least stop making consoles. (Keep those handhelds though.) I mean, i'd rather have my PS3 and Xbox being able to play Nintendo games, then having a console that i'm only interested in about five games for.

 

[Murgen]

Because it is seventh generation console pretending to be new gen...

 

[zefichan]

but for me the Wii U has quite a few games out.

The problem is that, for most people, it just doesn't.

If it had, people would buy it. As simple as that.

It's not the name, it's not the pad, it's not the price. It's games and always was.

I'd prefer they go the Sega route and just make games, well, at least stop making consoles. (Keep those handhelds though.) I mean, i'd rather have my PS3 and Xbox being able to play Nintendo games, then having a console that i'm only interested in about five games for.

Of course you do. Too bad you're not getting what you want. The industry is better for it, too: An industry without Nintendo as a major player with their own console would be a poorer industry.

get a much more powerful PS4

Complete rubbish. Nobody sane buys a console for specs. It's games, games, games.
Look at the history of the industry. Most "generation winners" were behind in tech, sometimes significantly.

Nobody in their right mind bases a console purchase on specs. Nobody.

 

[bjj hero]

I also suspect that they could have done a better job marketing it. Someone mentioned that people weren't sure if it was a new controller or a new system, personally never had that problem, but I won't rule that out as a factor (changing the name could have prevented that confusion I guess). I can't say that it has seen a whole lot of marketing though.

I'm sure the board members over at Nintendo would've called you crazy if you suggested to leave 'Wii' out of the name. But it seems to be biting them in the ass now. Trying to capitalize on the Wii brand has likely instead caused confusion among potential customers whether it's just the same console with a peripheral, like the Wii balance board.

They really should've gone for a totally fresh sounding name, like the Nintendo Gulf, or the Nintendo Salto or something. Just put 'Nintendo' infront of bouncy, happy word and people are bound to get a bit excited.

They also should've probably spent more time focusing on how to make HD games when they decided to make an HD console.

Id buy a nintendo salto in a heartbeat!

I dont have one as theres nothing i want to play on there.

 

[Saika Renegade]

I figure some of it banks on the fact that the system seems to be some kind of hybrid that neither marketing nor consumers know quite how to approach. It has a controller that looks like the sort of peripheral great for wandering away from the console if desired, but my friend who owns one complains of transmission problems from just the next room over. As in terms of power, it doesn't quite have the oomph to bring all that much more to the table than the Wii did, from the looks of things. Finally, the controller with integrated screen is a feature looking for an application. It has uses, certainly, but the question becomes, what can it do with that controller that no other system can offer? The Wii, at least, introduced us to motion controls with the Wiimote--despite the flaws in its operation, it still offered something that Sony tried to copy and Microsoft tried to one-up, to little avail for either competitor in the long run (I'm looking at you, Heavy Armor).

So... what can the WiiU offer, and what can it do? That's the question a lot of prospective customers are asking, including myself, and to be honest, I have yet to find an answer that can motivate me to make a purchase. It may end up banking on the Smash crowd, but while it's popular, it's also hardly an assurance. Without being able to offer a short and solid answer to the common consumer asking 'why buy,' it's just not going to thrive.

 

[TomWiley]

I think Nintendo simply does not care a whole lot about their console. They are all about handhelds now, probably because that's what's selling in Japan.

Personally, I'm of the very biased opinion that a game isn't a real game if you can play it on the subway. A real game is the kind of game that forces you to sit in a sofa or chair, hell yeah.

 

[DarklordKyo]

I still don't trust Nintendo because of Nintendo of America's unwillingness to release Xenoblade, Last Story and Pandora's Tower. On top of that I worry that we'll get dull 4kidsized versions of titles like Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem because Nintendo of America is so focused on being 100% Family Friendly...

To be fair, No More Heroes was a Wii exclusive for a long time. On top of that, Bayonetta 2 is going to be a Wii U exclusive (and one of the most well known aspects of that series is that it's hypersexualized to the point of possible parody).

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well let's run down their current stance on the market:
- most expensive console currently
- competitor to consoles that came 7 years before them (i.e. that entire market has been covered for a long time)
- offers very few games
- most of those games were out long before on other platforms
- their exclusives are roughly the same thing we played decades ago
- their previous exploding fan base is old people and grand children who don't much care for novelty
- and while the Flail-o-matic 9000 (also known as Wii) captured the peoples unyielding desire to flail extremities that touchpad doesn't have quite the same pull

All in all they just haven't got out at the right time with enough stuff to do, if they waited and launched along with PS4 / X180 they would have had the comparable games, prices, market space,... right now however they sit dead in the water with no wind forcast.

 

[lapan]

It will likely do better once more Nintendo games come out and once people realize that the other next gen consoles won't have a better starting lineup.

It seems customary for a while now to rush out systems with only a few bad or small titles at the start. PS3, Vita and 3DS had similar problems at the start, and the Vita still has them to some degree.

I for one am already happy with my WiiU. I had enough fun with Monster Hunter alone to completely make the purchase worthwhile in ?/h. Also got myself Pikmin 3 now that it came out and there are a few other upcoming titles i'm looking forward to.

 

[CloudAtlas]

I'm rather wondering why anyone would buy a Wii U. For all those party games, an old Wii should just do fine. And apart from that... Who buys a console that has just a small number of exclusives, most of them installments of really old franchises, an equally small number of non-exclusives, is technically not much better than 7-year-old consoles, yet more expensive?

 

[dscross]

Obviously it's because we friend zoned Nintendo. Don't try to deny it! It's been treating you nicely and you decided to chase Sony and Microsoft because you thought that you would have more excitement and that maybe...just maybe...you'll be the one to change them. Bad news, they treated you badly and you've been complaining on how you wish that you just had a gaming company that treated you nicely. Too bad for you. Now Nintendo will go hit the gym, become someone better and find someone else in its life.

So true. I feel bad that I friend zoned Nintendo...but I just didn't feel that spark. And it just seemed too over generous, like it wanted something from me instead of being genuine.

 

[Random Argument Man]

Obviously it's because we friend zoned Nintendo. Don't try to deny it! It's been treating you nicely and you decided to chase Sony and Microsoft because you thought that you would have more excitement and that maybe...just maybe...you'll be the one to change them. Bad news, they treated you badly and you've been complaining on how you wish that you just had a gaming company that treated you nicely. Too bad for you. Now Nintendo will go hit the gym, become someone better and find someone else in its life.

So true. I feel bad that I friend zoned Nintendo...but I just didn't feel that spark. And it just seemed too over generous, like it wanted something from me instead of being genuine.

It's funny. I was going to include that line, but I decided to omit it because I didn't think, at the moment, of an example of a Nintendo cash grab news.