• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Pachter: Wii U a "mistake Nintendo may never recover from"

S

shinobi602

Member
Nintendo may be unable to recover from its Wii U mistake, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter has told GamesBeat.

"I think they misfired on the Wii U," said Pachter. "It's just not that different from the other two [existing] consoles, and the gameplay isn't as unique as the Wii. They made a mistake, it's something they probably can't recover from."

Wii U sold only 55,000 units in January across the US, whilst Xbox 360 shifted 280,000 units. According to Pachter even Nintendo's handheld business will struggle in the face of phones and tablets.

"I think they have made a costly mistake [with the Wii U]," said Pacther. "And their handheld business can't save them in the face of cannibalization from smartphones and tablets."

However, not all experts are so down on Nintendo's chances of recovering.

"Great games, unique to the platform, would be a very good start," Baird analyst Colin Sebastian told GamesBeat.

"Games, games, and more games," IDC research manager Lewis Ward told GamesBeat. "The relationship between key releases - primarily first-party titles - and hardware sales is especially clear in Nintendo's case. The sooner they get titles like Pikmin 3 and Wii Fit U on the console side and Pokémon games and titles like Animal Crossing: New Leaf on the 3DS side on store shelves, the better."

Wii U certainly faces an uphill battle, especially with much more powerful next generation systems from Sony and Microsoft expected to hit stores this year. Sony will announce its PlayStation 4 on Wednesday.

Source via GamesBeat
Click to expand...
.
 
P

Piggus

Member
I'm sure they'll recover and may even be able to turn the Wii U into a success, but I'm sure this is a big wake-up call for them.
 
E

espher

Member
So, does this mean it's a mistake Nintendo will recover from, or it wasn't a mistake?

I'm not sure how to apply the "Opposite of Pachter" rule in this case.
 
P

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
Thanks, Pachter!

Stay strong fellow Wii U owners--looks like the 2nd half of this year is going to be huge!
 
M

MikeE21286

Member
"I think they misfired on the Wii U," said Pachter. "It's just not that different from the other two [existing] consoles, and the gameplay isn't as unique as the Wii"

It's very different, just not in a way that many people care about and/or Nintendo hasn't given people a way to care about (i.e. the Gamepad)
 
P

Pringler

Member
As always, has he EVER predicted something that actually came true?

I bought a Wii U today, hopefully I'll recover from it :)
 
D

Deleted member 284

Unconfirmed Member
You know, I don't even blame Pachter for this one. He's a known quantity. I guess GamesBeat needs some hits.
 
G

grimshawish

Banned
"The relationship between key releases - primarily first-party titles - and hardware sales is especially clear in Nintendo's case. The sooner they get titles like Pikmin 3 and Wii Fit U on the console side and Pokémon games and titles like Animal Crossing: New Leaf on the 3DS side on store shelves, the better."
Click to expand...
Am not even going to bother.

Also. What is Pacht talking about cannibalisation? Is he just throwing words together? Thats not a description of Nintendo's handheld side. They don't have phones or tablets.
 
C

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
The system has been out for three months - if it still sells like shit after this holiday season and the release of Mario Kart and Co. i would get worried. Lets see how it`ll be affected by Sony and Microsofts next consoles, before announcing its death.
 
E

evangd007

Member
Depends on what he means by "recover". He probably means return to Wii-level sales, in which case my response is, "No shit, really?"
 
Y

YAWN

Ask me which Shakespeare novel is best
God, this guy really needs to shut up and actually think about what he's saying.
 
S

Steve Youngblood

Member
YuriLowell said:
When is he ever going to be quiet? The only thing he is constantly right about, is how wrong he is all the time.
Click to expand...

Well, he'd probably be quiet if media outlets stopped seeking out his opinion. Media outlets might stop seeking out his opinion if his sound bites didn't generate the reaction that they do.
 
P

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
I find it hilarious that the other guys quoted give reasonable ways to fix the problem and Pachter basically states, "Oh man business-destroying failure!!!!"
 
C

clav

Member
zrCmq.gif


Courtesy of: http://neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=46512009&postcount=104
 
R

RoKKeR

Member
Nintendo to come back and sell more WiiU's than Orbis/Durango combin-

...yeah that's run it's course. I see where he's coming from on this, but we still haven't seen Nintendo's biggest hitters/system sellers yet.
 
Lactose_Intolerant

Lactose_Intolerant

Member
Their last 2 releases have been misfires. The 3D function on the 3ds is hardly used and the Wiiu was poorly marketed.

Luckily the 3ds has the games to back it up at this time.
 
M

macewank

Member
isn't this the same doom and gloom everyone had for the 3DS when it stumbled out of the gate?

I don't expect Wii U to reach anywhere near the level of success that the Wii did, and I'm fairly certain Nintendo doesn't either. That said, it's not going to be a failure when all is said and done.
 
P

Platy

Member
What Patcher said about the Vita then ?


And really ?
NEVER RECOVER FROM ???

The 3ds is starting to sell like hotcakes, specialy the software .... they are recovering the WiiU problems like right now =P
 
H

Hot Coldman

Banned
Rehynn said:
Pikmin 3 won't change anything. I'm still looking forward to it though.
Click to expand...

Course it won't, but it'd still be nice to see something more committal than "yeah that's come out sometime this year I guess". Stirring up interest and all that, games without release dates are fucking invisible to me at least.
 
B

Baconsammy

Banned
Pikmin and Wii Fit aren't going to save the Wii U, but a consistent series of releases will and perhaps maybe if they gave a shit about third parties their own weak first party efforts so far wouldn't have been so glaring.

Platy said:
What Patcher said about the Vita then ?


And really ?
NEVER RECOVER FROM ???

The 3ds is starting to sell like hotcakes, specialy the software .... they are recovering the WiiU problems like right now =P
Click to expand...

Hotcakes eh? DS never had a worse month than 3DS just had, and it had the luxury of a 5 week measuring period. Software and hardware sales way down in the West from the prior year. He's using actual facts to back his analysis up this time.
 
N

NateDrake

Member
He continues to say things like "It's just not that different from the other two [existing] consoles, and the gameplay isn't as unique as the Wii", so I wonder what will, in his mind, Sony and MS do to show their consoles are so much different from their previous consoles?

Are visuals enough in his mind or do they need new controllers and other general concepts?
 
P

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
Lactose_Intolerant said:
Their last 2 releases have been a misfire. The 3D function on the 3ds is hardly used and the Wiiu was poorly marketed.
Click to expand...

3DS is doing fine overall.

If Nintendo recovered fine from Gamecube, they'll be fine from this debacle.
 
R

Raide

Member
IcyRhythms said:
and like three months ago this same guy was saying the Wii U would be a huge success
Click to expand...

Well, he is an Analyst...so he is supposed to analyse what happens and then say something. I don't get the hate/dislike for Pachter. (not directed at you)
 
J

Jinko

Member
Yup talking out his ass.

The console just needs more games.

It's pretty clear though that Wii-U isn't going to sell as well as its predecessor.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

1 new Wii U was sold in the US in September. First time a new Wii U sold since May 2022.
Community Event Hype 2
60
5K
Dr. Wilkinson replied
GVMERS: Lies, Confusion and The Tragedy of Wii U
Drama
44
3K
Alan Wake replied
The Switch's Success completely vindicates the Wii's Legacy
Opinion 2 3 4
174
7K
Celine replied
Is the Meta Quest a Wii U-sized flop? Software numbers suggest it might be - Arse Technica
Sales-Age
46
4K
Reallink replied
Nintendo says it will overcome challenges of generational transition with ‘unique propositions’
News Platform 2
56
3K
newtypepilot replied
Top Bottom