Wii U: Nintendo's Dreamcast.
Trying to decide if I should keep mine literally just for Smash Bros. That's the only game on the horizon I care about. Not even 3D World or Mario Kart is exciting me.
Should I just cut my losses now?
As others have been pointing out, the problem with people saying "You can't judge yet! Wait for...." is that there is only so much physical room in a B&M shop. It's not just that the XB1 and the PS4 will take up a lot of advertising and mindshare, it's that stores such as Gamestop, Target and Walmart have to find somewhere to put the consoles, the games and the accessories. And if I'm in charge of making that decision, I damn well know where that space is coming from.
So you already have a console that has the stench of death on it, and now it'll be difficult to find in a store. Unless Nintendo can demonstrate to these retailers why they should make the effort pushing the Wii U when all it's done for them is gather dust on their shelves, pretty soon it'll be only those who are actively hunting it down who will be able to find it. And at that point it doesn't matter how many games are out, the general market will never know about them and the system is dead.
I'll be very interested to see what the average Gamestop will look like this November. I wouldn't be shocked if the Wii has a more prominent placement and more shelf space than the Wii U.
Once again, Nintendo depending on Nintendo Directs and the Miiverse to get the word out is preaching to the choir. That's not the audience they need to reach.
Aw come on man.
Don't insult the Dreamcast like that.
Out of 160k shipped units, how many have they sold?
lol this is actually true right now.
I'm not necessarily happy about this but this bodes well for me getting one for a little cheaper come next year. They need to up their internal storage though. I don't want to tether an external HDD. Give me a 500GB internal HDD.
Can it be saved?
Yikes! Amazon is currently offering $205 for the deluxe model here in the U.S.Trade in price for the Wii U here in the UK is less than a hundred quid. I have no choice but to keep mine, as selling it would make me feel horrendously ripped off.
This should highlight Nintendo's incompetence at managing software development:
Nintendo has spent 2+ years developing Wii U Fit when it takes an iOS/Android developer a couple weeks to come up with something similar for free.
Until Nintendo can compete with the fast pace of the appstore and google play market, they need to step out of the casual realm and concede that their model of game development is not fit for the casual gaming market. Once they do this and focus on newer IPs that inspire gamers, their sales will increase.
I didn't say that. I said the wii sold to people with no interest in PLAYING games.
stay with me here.
buying wii sports or wii fit to enjoy the novelty of motion controls and waggle isn't really an audience who likes playing games. this is an audience attracted to the novelty of motion control. there's a big difference. People who fire up a tablet to fool around with songpop or candy crush for 15 minutes and nothing else aren't really an audience who like playing games either. it's simply the most convenient way to waste time for 15 minutes.
people who enjoy playing games *gasp* keep buying them! This didn't happen with the wii.
The Wii's attach rate is only respectable because nearly all of it's software was sold up until 2010...then sales collapsed and their audience got tired of playing games. This has never happened to any other console in gaming history, and didn't happen to their two closest competitors.
I'll be very interested to see what the average Gamestop will look like this November. I wouldn't be shocked if the Wii has a more prominent placement and more shelf space than the Wii U.
The storm of the holiday is going to be too much for the Wii U to take. Maybe they should just take the Wii off of the market totally, drop the price of this thing (like hard) and pray to god Santa is being cheap this year and just wants to buy the kiddos the least pricy system?
No that won't work either
In a way, the limited-time 30 cent Virtual Console downloads and retailer price drops functioned as a sort of stealth Ambassador program. But with no imminent release of franchise titles like the 3DS got with Mario Kart 7 and 3D Land, it didn't make much difference.Now's the time to release the Ambassador program for early adopters while the iron is hot!
somewhere in an alternate universe, Sony learned their lesson about the PS3 and released a $500 cell powered vita that looks visually worse than 3ds.
I think one of the biggest problem for the WiiU is the overlap with the 3DS, I can find all the Nintendo major franchises on the handheld for a way better price: Mario 2D, Mario 3D, Mario Kart, Donkey Kong, even Smash Bros will be on the 3DS. And the third party is better too. There was a big distinction between N64 and GB, GameCube and GBAdvance, Wii and NDS, while WiiU and 3DS softwares are too similar.
Yep. Its all over. Shutter the windows. Close the doors.
Iwata and Miyamoto murder Reggie and then commit seppuku.
oh gaf,,,,you never change.
Have you seen this image? Definitely reinforces your point.I think one of the biggest problem for the WiiU is the overlap with the 3DS, I can find all the Nintendo major franchises on the handheld for a way better price: Mario 2D, Mario 3D, Mario Kart, Donkey Kong, even Smash Bros will be on the 3DS. And the third party is better too. There was a big distinction between N64 and GB, GameCube and GBAdvance, Wii and NDS, while WiiU and 3DS softwares are too similar.
I think another quarter of these level of shipments (which I fully expect) will lead to a forecast revision. To leave the forecast as is would imply they expect 8.5M+ systems to ship in 6 months from Oct-Mar.It is absolutely ridiculous. I have half a mind to call up NCL's Kyoto office and complain.
12.45 million through March, when the Wii U only managed 0.16 on barren stock refreshers, is literally impossible to achieve (for the console).
Does Nintendo really expect us to believe that the Wii U will actually ship 8.84 million consoles in NINE MONTHS?
Is the European number an extrapolation of French sell-through?60,000 Wii U units shipped in the USA
90,000 Wii U units shipped in Japan
10,000 Wii U units shipped elsewhere
~112,000 Wii U units sold in the USA
~94,907 Wii U units sold in Japan
~52,000 (estimated) Wii U units sold in Europe
As aforementioned, the "sold" figures are from existing stock.
The Wii is currently outselling the Wii U, so retailers would likely rather keep the Wii and ditch the Wii U.
Isn't this a bigger fall from grace than Sonys PS2 -> PS3?
Isn't this a bigger fall from grace than Sonys PS2 -> PS3?
Is the European number an extrapolation of French sell-through?
If all else fails, drag Vita into WiiU's failure.
I'm being half serious. Every time I see some kind of WiiU criticism about sales, Vita gets dragged in.
Not sure what the point is but I know as far as consoles go, WiiU is floundering terribly.
Isn't this a bigger fall from grace than Sonys PS2 -> PS3?
Point is if sony "learned their lesson" the same way nintendo did with the 3ds launch, then the vita would still be powered by cell and expensive and underpowered, to be clear, im basically saying "nintendo learned nothing"
VMU? I display on the controller might be bad luck(/sales).Wii U: Nintendo's Dreamcast.
Vita is screwed too but I guess my statement might have come off as bitter. It's hard to articulate and just say "don't bring Vita up in WiiU's failings".
I don't disagree with your sentiments.
At least Dreamcast sold more than its predecessor.
Exactly. That's why Nintendo would say "Hey, send us back all of those Wii consoles"
Think it's still too soon to say it'll be like the dreamcast. I suspect price cuts + Smash, next mainline mario, zelda, etc come out, it will still do decent sales.
Would buy a bundle with an elite Wii U and game for $99.
Have you seen this image? Definitely reinforces your point.
Nintendo is "expecting" to have 12.45 million shipped LTD by next March.