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[Hellraider]

Wii U sales on the rise.
3DS sales on decline.
MK8 has incredible sales.

10 Billion Yen (I think that must be about 100 Mio US Dollar or 73 Mio Euro) is not that worrisome. Knowing the fact that Nintendo put a lot of unexpected expenses in there. Will be interesting to see how the Wii U performs this holiday. I think it had the change to outsell both competitors worldwide (only on holiday, after holidays PS4 will be on top again, but Wii U will probably outsell Xbox One continuously) and that MK8 and Smash Bros will be two of the biggest game this holiday.

Gamewise the Wii U will have at least one good year ahead with exclusives like Xenoblade Chronicles X, Devil's Third, Yoshi, Kirby, Zelda, Fatal Frame 5, Mario Party 10 and Splatoon (and probably some unannounced games). At least Nintendo doesn't drop the Wii U like inglorious Sony did with the Vita, but on the other hand the Wii U sales are better than Vita sales.

There is no new Nintendo Handheld needed. 3DS sales decline, software sales are good. Nintendo could easily live with 3DS two years more before releasing a successor.

Nintendo will be fine. They have been fine for decades. They are experts at being fine. No worries, guys.

 

[Carl]

MK8 numbers are impressive but WiiU hardware is still beyond awful

 

[KratosEnergyDrink]

the 3ds has never been doing great.

3DS numbers have never been "DS greatness" but it sold very well.

There is no other current handheld to compare 3DS sales to because Vita is doing abysmal but at least 3DS still outsells PS4 in worldwide numbers.

 

[godofrawr]

and the worst news of all is that nintendo didn't have a press conference at e3 this year, which is probably why the company is in such a sorry state.

Ummm wut?

The general consensus from almost every meaningful outlet was that Nintendo had the best show at E3 this year, sort of proving that the huge press events are a bit antiquated. Having a large, expensive press event at E3, which they still technically did, via the booth and the 3 days of streaming, wouldn't have changed anything for the company.

Nintendo's biggest enemy is the "intent to buy" stat people having been tossing around... It means that no matter how good MK8 is/was, that people didn't really think it was enough to justify the console... which by itself it isn't. Nintendo's inability to repair it's 3rd party relations, and unwillingness to face the reality that a single company may not be able to fully support 2 hardware lines with software is why Nintendo is doing as poorly as they are.

 

[Miles X]

Wii U sales on the rise.
3DS sales on decline.
MK8 has incredible sales.

10 Billion Yen (I think that must be about 100 Mio US Dollar or 73 Mio Euro) is not that worrisome. Knowing the fact that Nintendo put a lot of unexpected expenses in there. Will be interesting to see how the Wii U performs this holiday. I think it had the change to outsell both competitors worldwide (only on holiday, after holidays PS4 will be on top again, but Wii U will probably outsell Xbox One continuously) and that MK8 and Smash Bros will be two of the biggest game this holiday.

Gamewise the Wii U will have at least one good year ahead with exclusives like Xenoblade Chronicles X, Devil's Third, Yoshi, Kirby, Zelda, Fatal Frame 5, Mario Party 10 and Splatoon (and probably some unannounced games). At least Nintendo doesn't drop the Wii U like inglorious Sony did with the Vita, but on the other hand the Wii U sales are better than Vita sales.

There is no new Nintendo Handheld needed. 3DS sales decline, software sales are good. Nintendo could easily live with 3DS two years more before releasing a successor.

510k. Let that number sink in dude. WiiU isn't outselling anything, it's on par with XB1 whilst having what you could deem its biggest ever software release.

When will people realise Wiiu isn't going to be some big seller, at christmas or any time of year ...

FYI go look at Nintendo's WiiU Forecast.

 

[Nothing1016]

Next quarter probably won't be any better.... Nintendo is going to need a monster holiday if they want to meet the 3DS for cast.

 

[JoeM86]

Ummm wut?

The general consensus from almost every meaningful outlet was that Nintendo had the best show at E3 this year, sort of proving that the huge press events are a bit antiquated. Having a large, expensive press event at E3, which they still technically did, via the booth and the 3 days of streaming, wouldn't have changed anything for the company.

Nintendo's biggest enemy is the "intent to buy" stat people having been tossing around... It means that no matter how good MK8 is/was, that people didn't really think it was enough to justify the console... which by itself it isn't. Nintendo's inability to repair it's 3rd party relations, and unwillingness to face the reality that a single company may not be able to fully support 2 hardware lines with software is why Nintendo is doing as poorly as they are.

Seldom take what Anihawk says seriously

 

[Mpl90]

If anything, those numbers show that Nintendo needs to rethink their entire hardware strategy radically.

Not revisions of existing systems - I mean a radical rethinking of everything they are doing right now. Times have changed, and another traditional console/handheld combo won't help.

Nintendo had success with the DS and Wii because they tried something new. Nintendo had big issues with the 3DS and failed with the Wii U because they followed the trends of some years ago with those devices, namely 3D and tablets, instead of setting a trend themselves. Of course that's just the tip of the iceberg of mistakes they've made with those two systems.

They'll stick to them at least until the end of 2015.

Fortunately, it seems that they're heavily rethinking that, with the whole iOS-ification plan.

 

[idwl]

So being optimistic the wii u will sell 10-12 million at most?

 

[Linkstrikesback]

Yes, and easing up development issues across multiple formats is catering to them...

Unless the "multiple formats" means providing sony/microsoft comparable hardware , 3rd parties won't care.

The ability to reuse assets between 4DS and Wii 3 will sell no-one on the idea, because if it comes down to designing a game as a nintendo exclusive, or a sony/microsoft/pc multiplat, they're almost always going to take option b.

Now nintendo, double down on MK8, when are you releasing DLC tracks?

 

[MisterGrey3000]

But that goes against the entire concept of handheld & console.

Do you know a part of the reason the Vita isn't selling? Because they tried so hard to replicate the home console experience on the portable, which is not why people buy portables. The best selling 3DS games are ones that can be played in bite sized chunks portably while having an overarching story and gameplay that keeps you coming back.

If Nintendo goes the other route of sharing games across both platforms, not only would it impact their bottom line, but in my view, it shows that they deserve to fail as they no longer get the handheld concept.

I don't think, "People don't wanna play console games on handhelds!" is a valid point anymore. The line between what is a console game and what's a portable game has been completely blurred outside of the young male market that exists on PS3/PS4/360/Xbone, thanks to the Wii/DS and smarphone/tablet eras.
It would be more beneficial for Nintendo to able to port games rather than make them separately.

 

[Darius]

Sales after 14 quarters

NDS 70.6m
GBA 53.72m
3DS 44.14m

After 18 quarters

NDS 101.78m
GBA 67.77m
3DS ????

DS sales peaked in its 4th-5th year. 3DS is more similar to the GBA (sales peaked in 2nd-3rd year).

Very disingenious. The GBA was selling and often times even outpacing the PS2 until it got replaced by the NDS. By that metric PS4 will very soon start to be a disappointment as well.

 

[Zeyphersan]

So being optimistic the wii u will sell 10-12 million at most?

10 million is a safe bet, 12 million if miracles exist

3DS will cap at 60 mil

 

[Mpl90]

Seriously, I think there's going to be a 3DS revision this end of the year. Here's the reasons

1) Japan has been two years without a new 3DS model. 3DS XL came out on July 28th, 2012. Two years indeed. This would be usually the right time for a new revision, in order to proprel hardware sales again, especially when...

2)...they're going down. Now, as already said, shipments are still infuenced by the big Holidays overshipping, so much that 3DS sold 200,000+ more in Americas and Japan than what was shipped in those two territories, so you have to count that as well, but sales are still going down. Especially...in Japan, best 3DS territory so far. Which is very similar (not number wise, but % wise) to what happened to DS Lite sales in 2008 compared to 2007. That year, DSi happened.

3) Shipments forecasts being defined as "conservative". Now, let's try to comprehend what could that mean. FY2013 ended with 12,230,000 3DS and 2,900,000 Wii U shipped. This year's forecasts are respectively 12,000,000 and 3,600,000. They seem to basically be based on what happened in FY2013 with some adjustments due to releases, age of the platform and other things. Wii U forecats is extremely low, but higher than 2013, due to having MK8 and Smash Bros., as well as other titles, coming out this year, compared to Super Mario 3D World and Wii Party U. Stronger lineup, thus stronger sales, even if not by that much to call it a turnaround.That's...something that should be reached by Wii U, and it could do higher than that too.
3DS, instead, is slightly lower than last year: end-of-the-year lineup should be not that far from last year (Pokémon remake doesn't have the same power Pokémon main has, but Smash Bros. should be better than Zelda, even in the West), platform aging being considered as well...but, last year, 3DS reached 12 millions also thanks to 2DS's launch. And Iwata himself said that those forecasts have been made conservative because "they're sure they will reach them". Now, of course, we have the evaluation component: last years, they sucked hard at doing forecasts. But this time, they seem to be at least trying to be reasonable: you can't tell me that they've overshoot with Wii U forecast, since it's higher than last year, but still poor at best...and since they applied the same reasoning to 3DS forecasts (conservative, based on last year happenings and what happens this year) , I suppose they won't leave it without a revision this year, at least in order to be as near to their forecast as possible.

Ack, quoting for new page since it was posted exactly at then bottom of the page :lol

 

[Diprosalic]

dark times ahead for videogame fans.

 

[JoeM86]

I don't think, "People don't wanna play console games on handhelds!" is a valid point anymore. The line between what is a console game and what's a portable game has been completely blurred outside of the young male market that exists on PS3/PS4/360/Xbone, thanks to the Wii/DS and smarphone/tablet eras.
It would be more beneficial for Nintendo to able to port games rather than make them separately.

Has it really, though? I don't think it has, and sales seem to match my assertion.

 

[KratosEnergyDrink]

510k. Let that number sink in dude. WiiU isn't outselling anything, it's on par with XB1 whilst having what you could deem its biggest ever software release.

When will people realise Wiiu isn't going to be some big seller, at christmas or any time of year ...

Do you know how Nintendo systems normally perform on christmas? I never said it will be a big seller, but Wii U sales are rising and christmas is the biggest time for Nintendo sales, It has a good chance to outsell both competitors. A year ago no one thought that Wii U would outsell Xbox One despite the fact that XB1 got a big price cut and had some meaningful software releases (like Titanfall).

 

[Honey Bunny]

Such as?

He says that every time, lol

 

[Hellraider]

Seriously, I think there's going to be a 3DS revision this end of the year. Here's the reasons

1) Japan has been two years without a new 3DS model. 3DS XL came out on July 28th, 2012. Two years indeed. This would be usually the right time for a new revision, in order to proprel hardware sales again, especially when...

2)...they're going down. Now, as already said, shipments are still infuenced by the big Holidays overshipping, so much that 3DS sold 200,000+ more in Americas and Japan than what was shipped in those two territories, so you have to count that as well, but sales are still going down. Especially...in Japan, best 3DS territory so far. Which is very similar (not number wise, but % wise) to what happened to DS Lite sales in 2008 compared to 2007. That year, DSi happened.

3) Shipments forecasts being defined as "conservative". Now, let's try to comprehend what could that mean. FY2013 ended with 12,230,000 3DS and 2,900,000 Wii U shipped. This year's forecasts are respectively 12,000,000 and 3,600,000. They seem to basically be based on what happened in FY2013 with some adjustments due to releases, age of the platform and other things. Wii U forecats is extremely low, but higher than 2013, due to having MK8 and Smash Bros., as well as other titles, coming out this year, compared to Super Mario 3D World and Wii Party U. Stronger lineup, thus stronger sales, even if not by that much to call it a turnaround.That's...something that should be reached by Wii U, and it could do higher than that too.
3DS, instead, is slightly lower than last year: end-of-the-year lineup should be not that far from last year (Pokémon remake doesn't have the same power Pokémon main has, but Smash Bros. should be better than Zelda, even in the West), platform aging being considered as well...but, last year, 3DS reached 12 millions also thanks to 2DS's launch. And Iwata himself said that those forecasts have been made conservative because "they're sure they will reach them". Now, of course, we have the evaluation component: last years, they sucked hard at doing forecasts. But this time, they seem to be at least trying to be reasonable: you can't tell me that they've overshoot with Wii U forecast, since it's higher than last year, but still poor at best...and since they applied the same reasoning to 3DS forecasts (conservative, based on last year happenings and what happens this year) , I suppose they won't leave it without a revision this year, at least in order to be as near to their forecast as possible.

Quoting you for new page since I completely agree with what you have been saying on the matter. I have been saying that a 3DS revision is on the way since the minute this year's forecasts where announced. Just as you said, if the WiiU forecasts were delusional I wouldn't pay attention to it. The fact that WiiU forecasts were conservative as hell there is just no way 3DS' would be the complete opposite. Something is happening.

I expect to hear about the new model this August.

 

[Amazeballs]

That would be quite bad, it will save some development time for sure, but not as much as they needed. Partially they did that already with NSMB, DKC and Mario 3d series, they don't need a new framework for that. The best outcome from a common framework would be to have scalable games across several different configurations (low price handheld, premium handheld, low price console, premium console for example). Anything else than that means they are putting too much effort into this common framework with less results in the end.

Do those games share the same engine? News to me.

Releasing different configurations of the same console in a single generation would result in those configurations competing with one another, unless there is significant price difference like with PC components. Developers will need to optimize for each different configuration to ensure their games run smoothly all around. The time spent will obviously scale with the number of configurations, but a more important issue is the difference in power. If the power difference is large enough developers will either need to make concessions with their game or make it exclusive to certain configurations. The latter would kill the point of a scalable console. If the power difference is small then there's less of a need for different configurations and pricing points.

 

[AniHawk]

So being optimistic the wii u will sell 10-12 million at most?

that's where i put it, although if they can hit their forecast for this fiscal year, they may exceed my guess by a million or two.

 

[Pie and Beans]

Reality coming crashing back after a highly positive e3 paved over the cracks and optimism perhaps got a little too out of control.

Nintendo's next hardware launch is going to have to be their most pitch perfect to date to combat the decline they find themselves up against once again. The problem is its the nebulous pie in the sky QoL which is still as shoulder-shruggy as it was at the start of the year.

 

[NIGHT-]

Makes me sad. I wish more people could experience the Wii U. The library is pretty damn good, so far.

 

[Shiggy]

3DS numbers have never been "DS greatness" but it sold very well.

There is no other current handheld to compare 3DS sales to because Vita is doing abysmal but at least 3DS still outsells PS4 in worldwide numbers.

I don't think there's any way to spin the 3DS sales which have never significantly improved and which are a big drop down over previous generations. The handheld market has eroded; while selling uber incredibly well compared to the Vita, sales still aren't great or very well. Software sales are another number, which make the situation look even much worse.

 

[1.21Gigawatts]

While MK8 number are very good it looks like it mainly sold to people who already owned a WiiU.
Not much of a system seller.
At this point I wonder if the WiiU will ever 10mil units sold.
Certainly it won't do much more than 10mil.

 

[1st Course]

Very disingenious. The GBA was selling and often times even outpacing the PS2 until it got replaced by the NDS. By that metric PS4 will very soon start to be a disappointment as well.

Not sure I understand your point. I didn't even mention the PS4.

 

[Shiggy]

Do you know how Nintendo systems normally perform on christmas? I never said it will be a big seller, but Wii U sales are rising and christmas is the biggest time for Nintendo sales, It has a good chance to outsell both competitors. A year ago no one thought that Wii U would outsell Xbox One despite the fact that XB1 got a big price cut and had some meaningful software releases (like Titanfall).

In Japan, or where?

 

[TMaakkonen]

This may go bit off-topic, but if PS1 sales indeed were 102.49 , I dont see Wii passing it. Very close sales nevertheless.

As for Wii U, unfortunately Nintendo is in lose-lose situation.

If they would want to gain back big sales numbers, they would have to rely on costly things, such as big marketing & trying to please 3rd parties. This doesnt even mean that they would gain back big enough numbers. Not to mention PS4 is going to make Wii U look embarrasing even if Wii U would get big sales improvemets.

What Nintendo should, and seem to be doing is making profit. Amiibo could make profit, so thats a start. As long as Nintendo makes money they should be fine. The problem? INTERNET GIVES TWO SHITS ABOUT PROFIT. We want big numbers, something that shows. Nintendo is never going to get those things in the current outlook. Even if Wii U would be profitable, people are still going to view Wii U as failure.

They really cant win with Wii U.

 

[CTLance]

Yeowch. Man, Nintendo is really struggling with both their handhelds and home consoles. 3DS going down in flames, WiiU only twitching on the ground. Then again, maybe the retailers/channels are now less packed and more receptive to newer shipments?

Non-trivial amounts of one-time write offs and stuff like currency exchange losses as well.

MK8 selling mainly to existing WiiU owners only must have been annoying, as amazing as its sales are otherwise. You'd think with the B1G1F promo new users would come to the platform in spades... so either the WiiU still doesn't offer enough value with that, or potential customers didn't know about the promo. Neither is good.

Hopefully they will find a way out of this slump.

 

[1st Course]

This may go bit off-topic, but if PS1 sales indeed were 102.49 , I dont see Wii passing it. Very close sales nevertheless.

It will not.

 

[AniHawk]

While MK8 number are very good it looks like it mainly sold to people who already owned a WiiU.
Not much of a system seller.
At this point I wonder if the WiiU will ever 10mil units sold.
Certainly it won't do much more than 10mil.

10m is pretty much a lock for q2 fy ending 2016 at the latest unless they suffer a massive collapse year over year, which doesn't seem very likely given how sales have increased outside japan.

 

[Mpl90]

Reality coming crashing back after a highly positive e3 paved over the cracks and optimism perhaps got a little too out of control.

Nintendo's next hardware launch is going to have to be their most pitch perfect to date to combat the decline they find themselves up against once again. The problem is its the nebulous pie in the sky QoL which is still as shoulder-shruggy as it was at the start of the year.

The problem about the QoL platform is just that...we don't know anything about that. Speaking for myself, I'm not expressing an opinion on it until we see what it actually is, or know more since we just know that it'll be a non-wearable and usable also outside of the house (IIRC). Just to compare, we can express opinions about unification of handheld and home development because it's something we have far more statements / infos about and because it's also easier to imagine compared to a non-wearable device, even without seeing it

 

[MisterGrey3000]

Has it really, though? I don't think it has, and sales seem to match my assertion.

Well, if we're using the Vita as an example of "people don't wanna play console games on handhelds" it's also possible to assume that the console has been horribly crippled by it's very branding and software ecosystem.
16-35 yo males don't seem to really be playing on dedicated portable devices anymore (I'm not even sure if they ever were), and the very nature of portable devices goes against the kind of games that they wanna play (Last of Us, 3D GTA, Mass Effect, etc.); it doesn't help that Sony's support for thing (as far as I know) is quite anemic and it's own top tier 1st party guys won't even touch it.
I just can't buy the idea of "people don't wanna play console games on handhelds!" anymore because it seems the idea of "console-like" game is different depending on who you ask (NSMBWii vs NSMBDS)
Maybe the idea should be changed to "People don't wanna play mature AAA western graphics-intensive shooters/action-games/Wrpgs console games on portables!"
:/

 

[KratosEnergyDrink]

that's where i put it, although if they can hit their forecast for this fiscal year, they may exceed my guess by a million or two.

There some strange statements in you predicition. For once you mention the "shit" sales of Wii U in europe, despite the fact that XB1 is selling worse there, despite a price cut an big software releases.

 

[Miles X]

Do you know how Nintendo systems normally perform on christmas? I never said it will be a big seller, but Wii U sales are rising and christmas is the biggest time for Nintendo sales, It has a good chance to outsell both competitors. A year ago no one thought that Wii U would outsell Xbox One despite the fact that XB1 got a big price cut and had some meaningful software releases (like Titanfall).

Do you? You saw Wii and DS sales at christmas and a long with everyone else decided that was the norm. Did you see how Gamecube did at christmas? Or WiiU in its first 2?? Stop assuming because it's the holidays it automatically equals big wins for Nintendo. Their sales were awful last holiday, and they'll be awful again this holiday (WiiU).

Secondly, it hasn't outsold XB1, both are around 500k~ shipped. Titanfall was March .. so I don't know why you're bringing that up, and the price cut propelled sales higher in the US to what WiiU nearly did in November with Black Friday last year.

 

[Mpl90]

In Japan, or where?

To be honest, I think WW sales (Japan + USA + Europe) it could happen that Wii U beats Xbox One, even if by a little, this Holidays. MS console seem to be at lower relevance levels than Wii U in the majority of Europe, and Japan won't be a good territory for One for sure. USA and UK are the best territories for One, of course, but the gap...what will it be this Holidays?

 

[biglittleps]

Makes me sad. I wish more people could experience the Wii U. The library is pretty damn good, so far.

Nintendo should have gained more 3rd party support to get more people to choose Wii U. Now, they made it hard for gamers to choose Wii U as primary console because of no 3rd party support, so they will buy Wii U only when they have their most wanted game or price drop to buy that as a secondary console for their exclusives.

 

[KratosEnergyDrink]

In Japan, or where?

Worldwide but obviously only on holidays. After holidays PS4 will be back on top and Wii U and Xbox One fighting for second place.

 

[AniHawk]

There some strange statements in you predicition. For once you mention the "shit" sales of Wii U in europe, despite the fact that XB1 is selling worse there, despite a price cut an big software releases.

europe is squiggly lines, that's true, but i think microsoft has the ability to and will push for more of a presence over there - and really any 'tier one' region.

 

[Pikma]

it should probably at least outperform the psp.

What's the correlation between the two platforms that makes you believe the 3DS should sell more than it, and even then, according to what? Your expectations? If so, you need to get those in check, there's no realistic way those could have been achievable, there's a lot of variables to be considered when doing that kind of comparisons, like current competition and such. The potential market shrinked a lot (just ask Sony), the fact that the platform manages to move ~7M units on holidays (even though I doubt they'll get there this time) is already pretty remarkable.

 

[Deleted member 125677]

Mario Kart slaying! I hope Smash gets on that level too, we need a lively online community for it

 

[Mario007]

To be honest, I think WW sales (Japan + USA + Europe) it could happen that Wii U beats Xbox One, even if by a little, this Holidays. MS console seem to be at lower relevance levels than Wii U in the majority of Europe, and Japan won't be a good territory for One for sure. USA and UK are the best territories for One, of course, but the gap...what will it be this Holidays?

Let's not pretend that Europe is some fairly land where Nintendo does magically well either though.

 

[mrklaw]

How do Nintendo hardware refreshes historically sit alongside new platform introductions?

just feels like 3DS is running on fumes - both from hardware volumes and software roadmap. Hypothetically if they bring out a 4DS in fall 2015, would that mean they are more, or less, likely to bring out a 3DS revision before that?

 

[AniHawk]

What's the correlation between the two platforms that makes you believe the 3DS should sell more than it, and even then, according to what? Your expectations? If so, you need to get those in check, there's no realistic way those could have been achievable, there's a lot of variables to be considered when doing that kind of comparisons, like current competition and such. The potential market shrinked a lot (just ask Sony), the fact that the platform manages to move ~7M units on holidays (even though I doubt they'll get there this time) is already pretty remarkable.

nintendo definitely thought their platform was going to sell well based on positive word of mouth when it was revealed in 2010. they increased the price to reflect what they expected what would be acceptable for the demand at launch. they miscalculated, and then every year continued to underperform forecasts for the system. if nintendo had met their forecasts through the end of the fiscal year 2014, there would be 56.5m units out there, outpacing the gba at the very least.

i understand the idea of relative success. compared to the vita, the 3ds is doing great. considering the problems with the device as a concept and its appeal to customers in the smartphone era, it's doing great. historically for handhelds and especially for a nintendo handheld, it is not doing great. i don't think it's necessarily its performance is poor, but it's definitely disappointing and mediocre at best.

 

[Mpl90]

Let's not pretend that Europe is some fairly land where Nintendo does magically well either though.

I didn't pretend that, I just said that MS is probably doing worse than Wii U in the majority of Europe, not that Wii U is doing well. I mean, both are doing bad.

 

[KratosEnergyDrink]

Do you? You saw Wii and DS sales at christmas and a long with everyone else decided that was the norm. Did you see how Gamecube did at christmas? Or WiiU in its first 2?? Stop assuming because it's the holidays it automatically equals big wins for Nintendo. Their sales were awful last holiday, and they'll be awful again this holiday (WiiU).

Last years Wii U holiday sales not "awful" and the Wii U had only one big game for holidays (Mario 3D World).

This holiday Wii U has MK8 and Smash Bros. On top of that Hyrule Warriors and Bayonetta 1+2. Wii U and has the outlook of games like Xenoblade X, Splatoon, Fatal Frame 5 and Zelda for next year. Wii U will sell very well this holiday.

 

[MisterGrey3000]

Nintendo should have gained more 3rd party support to get more people to choose Wii U. Now, they made it hard for gamers to choose Wii U as primary console because of no 3rd party support, so they will buy Wii U only when they have their most wanted game or price drop to buy that as a secondary console for their exclusives.

Unless they wanted to spend obscene amounts of money while awkwardly shifting their focus towards a completely different demo (that they've never manage to appeal to) they couldn't really do much about gaining PS4/Xbone-like 3rd party support for the WiiU in 2013.
Tbqh I'm pretty sure Nintendo is done with the majority of the western AAA PS/Xbox-style 3rd party industry; I think it's very likely that iOS/Android, and indie devs are going to be their main 3rd party priorities from now on. They're also probably gonna continue to strengthen their relationships with Japanese 3rd party devs as well.

 

[Bluth54]

Do you? You saw Wii and DS sales at christmas and a long with everyone else decided that was the norm. Did you see how Gamecube did at christmas? Or WiiU in its first 2?? Stop assuming because it's the holidays it automatically equals big wins for Nintendo. Their sales were awful last holiday, and they'll be awful again this holiday (WiiU).

I think the Wii U will do fairly well this holiday season with the combination of Smash and Mario Kart.

 

[SolidSnakex]

This holiday Wii U has MK8 and Smash Bros. On top of that Hyrule Warriors and Bayonetta 1+2. Wii U and has the outlook of games like Xenoblade X, Splatoon, Fatal Frame 5 and Zelda for next year. Wii U will sell very well this holiday.

MK8 already isn't really moving hardware, it's selling to people that already own a Wii U for the most part. Bayonetta and HW are also unlikely to really do anything. That just leaves Smash Bros. It may very well move hardware, but I can't imagine a scenario where the Wii U outsold the PS4 and Xbox One outside of them having an unbelievable collapse in sales. The holiday lineups for both of those consoles are significantly stronger than what the Wii U has to offer.

 

[Pie and Beans]

I didn't pretend that, I just said that MS is probably doing worse than Wii U in the majority of Europe, not that Wii U is doing well. I mean, both are doing bad.

I don't get the comparisons between WiiU and Xbone really. Comparing a platform in its first year without its 'heavy hitter' library to the WiiU at this stage is fairly disingenuous. Then its the fuzzy 'majority of Europe' qualifier jammed in for good measure when EU figures arent as regular as any others to compare and not to mention the damn thing isnt even released across all of it! Just seems like wishful thinking to cushion any "dead last" emotional weight.

Japan is the main bone to pick of course, but I think its easy to see the healthy continued future of the Xbone for a full generation by virtue of that shared third party library compared to what the WiiU can eke out.