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[AuthenticM]

Great article from Patrick Klepek. On point.

It's easy to forget this in light of Switch's early success, but it's worth remembering: no one bought a Wii U. I don't mean nobody, but in the grand scheme of things, nobody bought a Wii U. It helps explain how a souped up (but still excellent) port of Mario Kart 8 broke a franchise record last week, selling 459,000 copies in a single day. That's more than Mario Kart Wii's debut, 459,000 copies. Take a breath before predicting Switch will be a phenomenon in the same way Wii was, but it does underscore how much of a sales dud the Wii U proved to be.

...

Nintendo isn't the first company to embrace re-releases. When PlayStation 4 launched, Naughty Dog and Sony quickly decided to port both The Last of Us, a game that came out at the end of PlayStation 3's lifespan, and the first three Uncharted games. Sony noticed that "a huge proportion" of people playing The Last of Us on PlayStation 4 were entirely new to the game.

This was true for Uncharted, too.

"We did a lot of research and discovered that about 80 per cent of the people that own a PS4 have never played Uncharted, period," said Naughty Dog community strategist Eric Monacelli in an interview with MCV from 2015. "That was one of the reasons why we thought remastering it would be a good idea."

...

A big difference between PlayStation 3 and Wii U, however, is that while PlayStation 3 stumbled out of the gate because of a series of misguided and arrogant decisions by Sony, they turned the ship around. PlayStation 3 became a success, competing toe-to-tie with Microsoft by the end of the generation. Microsoft might have captured the mindshare of players early on, but after being humbled, years of hard work had Sony on solid footing before PlayStation 4.

This never happened for Wii U. Nintendo decided to axe it and move on.

The cynical way to look at Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is that it allows Nintendo to fill their release calendar with "new" games without actually releasing a "new" game. (To Nintendo's credit, they added new characters and tweaked the game's much criticized battle mode. It's a better game.) The cynics can be right and Nintendo can still be smart for releasing a game like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, all while the company works on brand-new games (ARMS) and needed sequels (Splatoon 2).

So many Wii owners had no clue the Wii U existed, or if they did, what it was. My own sister owned a Wii. She had some games for it, such as Donkey Kong Country Returns. Her boyfriend is also a hardcore gamer who plays every iteration of Call of Duty and plays GTA V: Online a lot with his online posse (he does not frequent internet forums though). When DKC: Tropical Freeze was released in early 2014, I sent her a trailer and told her she would have to play this. She was very excited and said she would. I told her she would need to buy a Wii U for it though. Her answer was "What's a Wii U? Is it an accessory like the Wii Fit? How much does it cost?"

Stories like this are plentiful. Nintendo royally fucked up the marketing for this console. Marketing courses in universities should have their students study that case to understand how not to market something.

 

[-shadow-]

It's rather surprising to me that after the userbase of the Mario Kart 8 on the WiiU, that it's still selling like crazy. The game already sold on that flop something like eight million copies, and that's considering that no one knew exactly what the console was outside of a small dedicated group.

But it really shows a change in Nintendo's attitude, they've learned they can't do things they they always did and have to keep the entire market in their mind when designing, developing and marketing a new system. Almost everything leading up to the system was done surprisingly well and everyone knew what it was. It's a bit of a shame that the WiiU had to die for the Switch to live.

 

[DNAbro]

Yeah Wii U sucked and it was a deserved failure. I'm so glad Nintendo seems to have a hit on their hands highlighted by great games.

 

[Servbot24]

I don't think anyone forgot that Wii U was a failure.

 

[Skittzo0413]

I honestly think calling it Wii 2 would have given it at least 2-3 million more sales. Maybe even more than that.

It's crazy how badly they marketed and presented the Wii U.

 

[Torokil]

Makes me wonder though, why did the GameCube flop as hard as it did? That first year was insane, far bigger than Switches first year (out of what we know).

 

[Shpeshal Nick]

I honestly think calling it Wii 2 would have given it at least 2-3 million more sales. Maybe even more than that.

It's crazy how badly they marketed and presented the Wii U.

It should have been called Nintendo U. That's it.

 

[AstroLad]

I don't think anyone forgot that Wii U was a failure.

Haha yeah. I like Waypoint but maybe they could make this a series like "Virtual Boy wasn't the megahit you might remember it as."

 

[Adam Blue]

Nintendo isn't the first company to embrace re-releases.

Maybe they are.

 

[Exterminieren]

It's a very valid point, and it really underscores that, in terms of the wider market, Nintendo really came out swinging with the Switch- a new Zelda and a new (to them) Mario Kart within the first two months of launch.

Makes me wonder though, why did the GameCube flop as hard as it did? That first year was insane, far bigger than Switches first year (out of what we know).

Not a dissimilar story to the Wii U, honestly- undesirable, unwanted hardware. The perception of the GameCube, from the looks on down, wasn't appealing for the mass market, particularly with the PS2 eating everyone else's lunch.

 

[TheGreatMightyPoo]

Yeah Wii U sucked and it was a deserved failure. I'm so glad Nintendo seems to have a hit on their hands highlighted by great games.

The games aren't all that different.
The hardware and marketing sure is.

 

[Vic]

MK8 still managed to sell around 8.26 million copies worldwide though, but yeah.

 

[Triplicates]

I want niche games to get a second chance. If they were released on a dynamic, popular system like the Switch, they might have done well enough to justify sequels. Basically, Tokyo Mirage Sessions.

 

[gogogow]

This never happened for Wii U. Nintendo decided to axe it and move on.

Yeah, no. Nintendo definitely did not axe the Wii U. Nintendo supported the Wii U the best they could. I wouldn't call supporting it for around 4-5 years axing it and moving on. But yeah, no matter what quality games Nintendo released for it, the Wii U couldn't be saved.

 

[Patrick Klepek]

Yeah, no. Nintendo definitely did not axe the Wii U. Nintendo supported the Wii U the best they could. I wouldn't call supporting it for around 4-5 years axing it and moving on. But yeah, no matter what quality games Nintendo released for it, the Wii U couldn't be saved.

Fine, call it a mercy killing. Same thing. Agreed that Nintendo's best chance was a total reboot.

 

[YourMaster]

Great article from Patrick Klepek. On point.



So many Wii owners had no clue the Wii U existed, or if they did, what it was. My own sister owned a Wii. She had some games for it, such as Donkey Kong Country Returns. Her boyfriend is also a hardcore gamer who plays every iteration of Call of Duty and plays GTA V: Online a lot with his online posse (he does not frequent internet forums though). When DKC: Tropical Freeze was released in early 2014, I sent her a trailer and told her she would have to play this. She was very excited and said she would. I told her she would need to buy a Wii U for it though. Her answer was "What's a Wii U? Is it an accessory like the Wii Fit? How much does it cost?"

Stories like this are plentiful. Nintendo royally fucked up the marketing for this console.

Yes, WiiU marketing sucked, but it isn't the only reason the WiiU flopped. Tell me, after you told your sister the WiiU was a new console and what it cost, did she buy one?

The Wii started out as a phenomenon, but it really fizzled, at the end of the generation many users were disappointed. And even people regularly buying consoles found out that even if a nintendo console sells well, it doesn't get the games that playstation did.

Now come WiiU, a very expensive piece of tech, difficult to play for people only used to wii-motes, with very few games, and no games to showcase why you need such a crazy controller.

Surely many people did not know what it was, for many others it was simply not appealing and not something to put faith in.

 

[Skittzo0413]

MK8 still managed to sell around 7.3 million copies worldwide though, but yeah.

I thought it was over 8 by now? Also it looks like you're linking to a banned site.

 

[Twilight Princess]

i bought it and the dlc's. feelsbadman

 

[Exterminieren]

The thought occurs that if they wanted a big, casual-friendly game for very little effort, they probably couldn't do much better than porting New Super Mario Bros. U.

MK8 still managed to sell around 7.3 million copies worldwide though, but yeah.

Peanuts for a modern Mario Kart. Mario Kart Wii sold nearly five times that.

 

[TangoAlphaLima]

Her boyfriend is also a hardcore gamer who plays every iteration of Call of Duty and plays GTA V: Online a lot with his online posse (he does not frequent internet forums though).

We call those people filthy casuals 'round these parts.

 

[plasmawave]

Just let me buy the Switch, Nintendo.

 

[Zalman]

I thought it was over 8 by now? Also it looks like you're linking to a banned site.

Yeah, it's at 8.3 million.

 

[AuthenticM]

I honestly think calling it Wii 2 would have given it at least 2-3 million more sales. Maybe even more than that.

It's crazy how badly they marketed and presented the Wii U.

They should have called it the Super Wii. People would have understood.

 

[Vic]

I thought it was over 8 by now? Also it looks like you're linking to a banned site.

You're right. I've updated my post.

 

[Ridley327]

Makes me wonder though, why did the GameCube flop as hard as it did? That first year was insane, far bigger than Switches first year (out of what we know).

It's a combination of Nintendo's own poor image the console (it's a... purple lunchbox?), the PS2's divine lineup of games during the period the Gamecube launched in, and inadvertently driving away the devoted shooter audience that the N64 had built up towards the Xbox, which launched with a revolutionary FPS that nevertheless shared a lot of common traits with those N64 classics.

It didn't help that the launch lineup lacked a real killer app. Rogue Leader was the closest it got for the mainstream, which otherwise had to contend with a Mario spinoff that wasn't a new Mario platformer, a ho-hum update on Wave Race, and a bunch of games that were either ports of stuff you could already get on PS2 or more niche titles like Super Monkey Ball, which wasn't a known quantity at that point. They were smart to get Melee out by the end of the year, but even at that point, it was a little too late to fix the damage that they had done to themselves.

 

[phanphare]

I don't think anyone forgot that Wii U was a failure.

oh I don't know, I've seen plenty of people on here conveniently forget that the Wii U was a huge flop when talking about BotW and MK8D in regards to the Switch

 

[BatDan]

This is why they need to put all their first party Wii U titles on Switch.
DKC TF and Pikmin 3 will actually sell
People will actually play Bayo 2 and W101
TMS: #FE will get a bit more exposure.

I imagine Smash is happening so no need to worry about that

 

[Milly Osworth]

People around me still dont know what wiiu is. It was such a bad product that was marketed even more poorly.

Hail Switch!!

 

[Obliterator]

They aren't wrong. A lot of people buying Switch / MK8DX are people that totally skipped Wii U. It wasn't just a joke that the "mass market didn't know what the Wii U was." Like that's straight up true, and haunted the platform through its lifespan.

Nintendo did a great job of making Switch unique in the market and different enough from the Wii U as well as the PS4 / Xbone to attract consumers. And now their reaping the benefits of it. The messaging / marketing has been clear and concise from the beginning which was very important with what happened last gen.

But yeah, the Wii U really was abysmal from a sales perspective.

 

[Throwaway123456789]

It's rather surprising to me that after the userbase of the Mario Kart 8 on the WiiU, that it's still selling like crazy. The game already sold on that flop something like eight million copies, and that's considering that no one knew exactly what the console was outside of a small dedicated group.

But it really shows a change in Nintendo's attitude, they've learned they can't do things they they always did and have to keep the entire market in their mind when designing, developing and marketing a new system. Almost everything leading up to the system was done surprisingly well and everyone knew what it was. It's a bit of a shame that the WiiU had to die for the Switch to live.

Almost 30 million MORE people bought Mario Kart Wii than 8. There's seemingly a ton of people that never bought the Wii U that is getting back on board now.

 

[blakep267]

This is why they need to put all their first party Wii U titles on Switch.
DKC TF and Pikmin 3 will actually sell
People will actually play Bayo 2 and W101
TMS: #FE will get a bit more exposure.

I imagine Smash is happening so no need to worry about that

MAybe not bayoneta 2, but smash tropical freeze, Pokémon and wonderful 101 and that FE idol game would all get revitalized

 

[Foffy]

I could imagine that if they ported every first party game to Switch, they'd all likely sell more there too.

Dayum. Poor Wii U.

 

[Creamium]

I've heard stories from someone in retail and he said WiiU was a nightmare for him because people just didn't understand how it worked. He'd get WiiU games back because people were surprised it didn't work on the Wii. I bet some of us even have similar experiences by just overhearing things in stores. I once saw a family picking up the red Wii mini and a WiiU game. Clerk had to explain it wouldn't work. It was never clear that this was an entirely new system. You can't blame people either, it was confusing if you're not following the news closely.

We often say 'it's all about the games', and it definitely is, but look at these Switch software sales out of the gate... It's like people didn't know there was something in between the Wii and the Switch.

The Switch made it abundantly clear that the WiiU was like a ghost system, only visible to the hardcore.

 

[InterMusketeer]

The Wii U hardware was just unappealing, even if you knew exactly what kind of device it was. The games on it were actually fantastic. In that regard I don't think you can say Nintendo axed the system. They kept putting resources into it for a while ( it lasted about 4 years, which is decent) and continued to make fantastic games. The fact that people are only discovering this now with re-releases is a bit sad.

 

[Maximo]

WiiU deserves to be forgotten it, port those games over Nintendo so I might actually play them..WiiU to me was the combination of all the bad decisions all the ignorance of Nintendo coming together into one abomination.

 

[Skilletor]

Yeah Wii U sucked and it was a deserved failure. I'm so glad Nintendo seems to have a hit on their hands highlighted by great games.

It's hilarious to me that you say it was a (deserved failure), and then talk about the great games on Switch when the two biggest games are both on Wii U.

I'm glad the switch is doing great and these games are selling.

It's still funny.

 

[phanphare]

WiiU deserves to be forgotten it, port those games over Nintendo so I might actually play them..WiiU to me was the combination of all the bad decisions all the ignorance of Nintendo coming together into one abomination.

those games tho

::salivates::

peak Nintendo

 

[TheDinoman]

It's hilarious to me that you say it was a (deserved failure), and then talk about the great games on Switch when the two biggest games are both on Wii U.

I'm glad the switch is doing great and these games are selling.

It's still funny.

The console itself was bad and bogged down sales potential for the great games on it. Not that hard to understand.

 

[NOLA_Gaffer]

The Wii U was the best console nobody cared about for sure. The pure flexibility of what it's capable of astounds me to this day.

But nobody cared, so whatever.

 

[Moff]

I think that's true and I hope we'll see more wiiU ports in the future, there are some games I'd still like to play

 

[ZeoVGM]

Yeah Wii U sucked and it was a deserved failure. I'm so glad Nintendo seems to have a hit on their hands highlighted by great games.

Wii U is a great system. It certainly did not suck as it has a damn good lineup of games.

What sucked is the GamePad idea. It was half-assed as you couldn't even bring it into the next room without it losing a signal and the marketing was terrible. No one knew what it was and Nintendo wasn't able to communicate it to people.

But it's definitely a good system with many great games.

 

[Spukc]

Good to see those wii u titles getting played on a good console.

Srsly fuck the wii u may nobody remember you.
Only console from nintendo i have ever sold.

 

[DNAbro]

It's hilarious to me that you say it was a (deserved failure), and then talk about the great games on Switch when the two biggest games are both on Wii U.

I'm glad the switch is doing great and these games are selling.

It's still funny.

Comparing what Switch launched with to the Wii U and the comparison becomes more apparent. Strong launch window games(even though they are on the Wii U) versus Wii U's launch window. Like there was NSMBWiiU and then...?

 

[Skilletor]

The console itself was bad and bogged down sales potential for the great games on it. Not that hard to understand.

If you say so.

Comparing what Switch launched with to the Wii U and the comparison becomes more apparent. Strong launch window games(even though they are on the Wii U) versus Wii U's launch window. Like there was NSMBWiiU and then...?

I'm just talking about the games. Not comparing launches.

 

[timberger]

An argument could also be made about how it underscores how few options the Switch has on the software front though. MK8 was plenty successful on Wii U as well as I recall.

 

[TheMink]

If you say so.




I'm just talking about the games. Not comparing launches.

Very very clearly, the games no matter how great they were did not result in success for the Wii U so it must be other factors.

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

Mario Kart 8 broke a franchise record last week, selling 459,000 copies in a single day. That's more than Mario Kart Wii's debut, 459,000 copies.

Huh?

 

[True Fire]

There's always a negative spin on Nintendo's successes lol

 

[lupinko]

I recall one Boxing Day many years ago, seeing a young couple pick up a Wii Mini instead of a WiiU (which was actually on various sales due to different bundles).

That's when I knew Nintendo was completely tone deaf with the WiiU.

 

[professor denim]

There's always a negative spin on Nintendo's successes lol

Always, its so predictable