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How is Wii U going to do in 2013?

H

hatchx

Banned
Yes, another Wii U thread.

I'm wondering what the thoughts are on the console going forward into 2013. I know we may be a bit premature to discuss this without December/Holiday analysis, but there is still some significant data to look at.

As of now, the Wii U's big games for the first half of 2013 are Rayman Legends, Lego City Stories, Game and Wario, Pikmin 3, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, Wii Fit U, and maybe the Wonderful 101. This isn't a bad list of exclusives, but sales wise, how is this going to fair in the North American market? Outside of Lego City Stories and maybe Wii Fit U, the lineup seems ill fit for the western market.

The more concerning thing to me is the strength of the software lineups on Xbox 360 and PS3, games that are entirely missing the Wii U. Are the previously mentioned Wii U exclusives big enough to stand against GTAV, Bioshock, and Tomb Raider?

The data we have so far puts ZombiU as Wii U's top 3rd party seller, at 40-50k sold at retail in launch month. Pachter, yes pachter, just painted a bleak picture for third parties. Meanwhile Reggie smiles and acts as if everything is just dandy.

I think it's safe to assume there isn't a Nintendo Direct coming that is going to magically announce a big handful of 3rd party games we were hoping for. We will most likely wait until e3 to know the holiday software launches. I doubt Retro's big AAA project will suddenly be ready for May or June.

I think watching the recent VGAs really opened these questions for me. Wii U seemed to be completely irrelevant, and this is mere weeks after it's launch. The lineup for the first half of 2013 is moderate, but appears to be aimed at a limited audience.

I own the system and I'm quite happy with it (ZombiU and Nintendo Land are great if you ask me) but I don't think the first half of 2013 is going to be kind to it. Nintendo is losing relevancy to the hardcore gamer market, but it seems as if they almost are losing touch of the western market entirely.


Thoughts GAF?
 
James Sawyer Ford

James Sawyer Ford

Gold Member
It's going to be a pretty bad year for Nintendo with a huge lineup of AAA multiplatform games and exclusives on PS360, followed by the launch of next-gen systems in the fall most likely.

Nintendo's only real chance is to strike it big with a breakout casual hit, but that seems unlikely.
 
S

-Stranger-

Junior Member
I'll be buying a Wii U along with Pikmin 3 next year.
Hopefully the next Zelda will release as well.

Overall i don't think the Wii U will be the commercial success that the Wii was.
 
E

EloquentM

aka Mannny
James Sawyer Ford said:
It's going to be a pretty bad year for Nintendo with a huge lineup of AAA multiplatform games and exclusives on PS360, followed by the launch of next-gen systems in the fall most likely.

Nintendo's only real chance is to strike it big with a breakout casual hit, but that seems unlikely.
Click to expand...
Con me, conman.

Honestly I think it's too early to say.
 
S

speculawyer

Member
Who knows? I think it has been a weak start out of the gate but things may change when Nintendo puts out editions of their big IP on it.
 
S

Sandfox

Member
It depends on the games announced. The first quarter of the year has a decent line up and Q2 has Pikmin so far but we'll have to see what else is coming before we can predict how its going to do.
 
P

prwxv3

Member
I think it will do fine because of the great nintendo games but games like Dark Souls 2 not coming to the system (right now anyway) despite obviously being able to run it, is not a good sign.
 
R

RyanReedyMusic

Banned
A friend and I have been talking about this for days. In the eyes of developers right now. Especially 3rd party. There is no interest. They are working on next gen titles. They have no reason to look to Nintendo for their titles. It will be a ghost town where there will be Nintendo exclusives and nothing else. Its sad they didnt put a little more power behind it to at least win the 3rd parties over. I own a Wii U and I look forward to some interesting titles. Its success is short lived. Unless they have something else up their sleeve.
 
J

jrDev

Member
This does not look good from a sales standpoint at all. But I'll get one using tax returns and perfect timing with monster hunter release...
 
R

RyanReedyMusic

Banned
There needs to be a lot more from Nintendo than just their exclusives which is all they have got. Seriously I still believe that they will have to release a new console. A Super Wii U if I may say.
 
I

I NEED SCISSORS

Banned
Judging by how many games were announced for it at the VGAs, not well. Third party is already highly sceptical and the numbers will dwindle even more once next-gen hits. Some might say that reliance on third party isn't necessary, but in a multiplatform focused world - especially when Wii U is competing directly with PS3/360 - i'd say it most definitely is. Nintendo's seemingly low output in 2013, an assumption based on the trend that usually games for the next year are announced in the previous one and also take years to develop, is also cause for concern.
 
Z

zroid

Banned
I'm not that optimistic for third party support and sales, but got damn it has some great exclusives.
 
S

shinobi602

Member
Well, mysteriously all the games we saw at the VGAs didn't include the Wii U as a platform.

Really sad going forward. Either Nintendo isn't making the effort to get these devs in or the devs are just completely ignoring the damn thing.
 
B

BrokenEchelon

Banned
It will be identical to the Wii in every way except for sales numbers:

Tried and true Nintedo games.
Weak 3rd party support.
Technologically inferior to the PS4/720 when they come out in 2013.
 
C

ChaosXVI

Member
It's doing fine with ME personally, but I do see what you are getting at. The Wii U is out, it is (more or less) comparable to PS360, and yet the big games still aren't coming. The thing is though, this isn't anything new for Nintendo, and they somehow always find a way out of it. I'm expecting a stronger first party line-up for the Wii U than Wii, and with Japanese devs supporting it with key franchises (Monster Hunter), I am sure Wii U will be just fine. Will they reign supreme like Wii did from 2006-2010? Too soon to tell, but its not impossible. Certainly, "hardcore" (really beginning to hate that term) western gamers are going to move more and more to Xbox with the more niche gamers sticking around, as they always do.

Really the only way I see Nintendo returning to 2006 levels is to become number 2 in the West, and prevent Sony from making any headway in Japan with PS4/Vita, which the way things are going, Nintendo will barely have to try.
 
F

Fox318

Member
Because of market confusion with the Wii U it won't do as well with the average consumer as compared to the Wii as far as hardware sales go.

On the software side it really depends on if the quality of ports and if Nintendo fixes some of their OS and network problems.
 
Meesh

Meesh

Member
It's fine, it's all gonna be A-O-K, 2013 is already destined to be full of win. Bayonetta, MHU, DQX...If wiiu can continue to push more titles like these I'm sure things will be peachy...right guys?





....right?...
 
pants

pants

Member
Going to tank without a pricedrop and or massive nintendo releases and fixing their account system + OS.
 
H

hatchx

Banned
RiccochetJ said:
I'm thinking Gamecube level.
Click to expand...


Yeah, I'm thinking somewhere between Gamecube and N64. Maybe 20-25 million lifetime sales.

With so much time between Nintendo's big 2010 software calender, I'm surprised they didn't have more planned for launch especially catering to the hardcore market. My fear is that Iwata and Reggie honestly think Lego City Stories, Panorama View, and Wii Fit U will sell this system.
 
Z

zroid

Banned
hatchx said:
Yeah, I'm thinking somewhere between Gamecube and N64. Maybe 20-25 million lifetime sales.
Click to expand...

I think it will surpass N64, but not by much. Unlike N64 and GC, Wii U actually does legitimately have innovative features and ideas that *should* appeal to wider audiences. Unfortunately, I believe they will largely be obfuscated by an inability to market the system well, and general apathy towards the Wii brand by consumers.
 
K

kassatsu

Banned
lnYLC.jpg
Click to expand...
This
 
A

Ashes

Banned
hatchx said:
Thoughts GAF?
Click to expand...

= 0.65((p+x)/2)

where p=first twelve months of ps3 sales, and x=first twelve months of 360 sales.

Look, I got no idea. :p

It's the first to market but it has to deal with the launch announcements of the HD juggernauts and their millions of PS+/xblive gold subscribers.


Edit: to be clear, I think it's too early for third party developers to go all in on the console.
 
P

piteru

Banned
i think its too early to say for that..
my biggest concern is how nintendo promotes it right this moment..
this e3 is going to be the most important e3 of all the e3s and the next holiday the most important of all..
right now as a nintendo(3ds+wiiu) gamer and an xbox360 user my wallet is going to cry....
but yeah,although nintendo is having a lot of nintendo exclusives,isnt doing anything right now for us gamers to ensure that there are games(big games)from 3rd parties that are coming..
im in love with the nintendo directs,but other than these nintendo is having a big communication problem that NEEDS to be fixed..
also IF big 3rd party games are not coming to wiiu,is a major loss for both the consumers and the 3rd parties..
IF wiiu is wii all over the place as far as multiplatform games,i dont think nintendo can do anything else.
Lets face it we cant blame nintendo for every single generation for this kind of situation..
do you believe that iwata or miyamoto doesnt want games from 3rd parties on the system?
Only future will tell....
.. but right now its too early too say
 
S

speedline

Banned
I think it will do better than Gamecube levels, but really could use a price drop. The basic sku needs to go away and the deluxe should be $299 tops, maybe even $249 to grab impulse buyers. The main attraction to the Wii was not just the controller, but also the affordability with a pack in game like Wii Sports.

Wii U will have a difficult time paired against the new Xbox nest year if MS can compete with it's pricing. The Wii was generally perceived as a supplementary console to one of the HD twins and Wii U won't be any different. It doesn't help that Nintendo didn't do very much to impress us with graphics either.

I want a Wii U eventually, but not right now and not at its current price.
 
R

RyanReedyMusic

Banned
I think E3 is completely irrelevant anymore. Its about bringing the games and thats what they really need to do. It doesnt matter what time of the year. Bring the games year round and you can stay in the game.
 
A

Averon

Member
It will be a repeat of this gen...except that Nintendo will not have the massive sales or the causal crowds backing them as they did with the Wii. Which means I can see 3rd party support being at best equal to the Wii but most likely worse.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
Hard to say... All I know is that I have zero interest in any of the released and announced software thus far.
 
C

cloudyy

Member
It's going to do better than vita. And besides, we still don't know anything about the 720/ps4 and I'm not optimistic at all. Last time the so called "gamers" waited for next gen, the Dreamcast died.
 
C

CrunchinJelly

formerly cjelly
Was there even a single Wii U game at the VGAs? Even the new MGS and DS2 which just got announced are for everything but.

Third party's seem to have given up before they even start.
 
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