Yup. Panic-mode Nintendo is king, so I welcome mediocre Wii U sales.
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Wii U Launch Sales Age- What went wrong?
- Thread starter schuelma
- Start date
Yup. Panic-mode Nintendo is king, so I welcome mediocre Wii U sales.
MasterSheen
Member
In September, I saw the launch lineup and thought it was good enough to help propel Wii U through the holidays, in all territories. I believe the main problem was bad marketing, lack of awareness and system confusion.
Narpas Sword0
Member
in which month?
The vita is overpriced for a handheld. As a console the wiiu would have been given more leeway, especially if its an advanced piece of tech.
Who says it didn't? If it was less powerful it might have sold even worse than it did.
Power is very unlikely to be the primary issue, but disregarding it as an issue entirely is also wrong. Especially since we are talking about a launch here, where the goal is to entice the early adopter crowd.
MisterHero
Super Member
It really isn't. Expecting it to take off like Wii is pretty wild, considering vast differences in value.
Still, there's things Ninty screwed up on.
StreetsAhead
Member
For those curious, here is Japan's current line-up
From this thread: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=46298886
Poimandres
Member
How many months does one need to judge a launch?
This. Price is also a issues for more people as well because of the economy. The 360 and PS3 simply presented far more value. If I had to choose between them or the Wii U I would have gone with either one of them but I already had them.
I think we'll see more announcements from Nintendo sooner rather then later. People buy systems based on the games available for it (if I can get it on hardware they already own or not) and the what games will come. Even if we know Zelda, etc will be there that's different then knowing what will be coming this year. Sure Zelda, Mario, etc are coming. For a lot of people they'll consider buying when they heard actual information about them. So that means even a Nintendo gamer might not have a strong reason to buy a system anytime soon since Nintendo likes to stay quiet until a game is ready for release. That crap needs to stop and if Nintendo is smart it will stop now.
Nintendo will be really stupid if they wait until E3 or around E3 to announce new games for the system.
Like the 3DS it's about games. It's always about the games and the games represent what type of future the hardware might have. The more that is coming the brighter it is. That's why the price cut on the 3DS alone didn't save it. It was the announcement of all those games that did. Power isn't the concern. Games are and should be.
However I think people are losing their heads regarding the December NPD numbers. 460K is not bad. It's not great but it isn't bad. Making more money by selling less then the Wii isn't bad. The key here is to make money. At the moment they are making more with the Wii U then they did with the Wii. Don't ignore the numbers it did in November as well. No one should have expected a million units moved in one month. That's just not realistic. It was never going to do Wii numbers. That should have been accepted from the start given the buzz around it compared to the Wii. Nintendo does need to get it's ass in gear though. Advertise the hardware, announce games, and communicate with the public more.
...It's a fair bit more expensive than the Wii was :/
metalslimer
Member
Dead
I really, really, really doubt this. Same with 3DS and DS. It doesn't mean they'll fail, but expecting them to pull the same numbers as beasts like Wii and DS is way too high a bar.
Official expectations have been to high, sales have been decent.
Vita owners are living in 10 year circles
. First year didn´t really happened for them.
Vita owners are living in 10 year circles
. First year didn´t really happened for them.I know you said you don't want to talk about power, but seriously, you can't talk about the Wii U's current state without talking about power. Third parties didn't bring their A game to the Wii because of power. If that repeats with the Wii U, it'll be because of power, again.
Also, Nintendo screwed up making a console / portable hybrid. Two screens isn't as appealing as motion controls, and the Gamepad won't work by itself. Maybe next gen Nintendo will cross the streams, and produce just a portable that ALSO plugs into your tv and acts as a controller when you want to play on the big screen too. I know all the arguments about why Nintendo should not do this, but that is where the market is already moving, so, we'll see.
Also, Nintendo screwed up making a console / portable hybrid. Two screens isn't as appealing as motion controls, and the Gamepad won't work by itself. Maybe next gen Nintendo will cross the streams, and produce just a portable that ALSO plugs into your tv and acts as a controller when you want to play on the big screen too. I know all the arguments about why Nintendo should not do this, but that is where the market is already moving, so, we'll see.
Is this sarcasm? Power does not sell consoles. Software sells consoles.
By your logic Wii should have sold negative numbers. By your logic DS should have sold 1 console and PSP 1 billion consoles. Replace DS with 3DS and PSP with Vita etc.
Lol if that happened, people on GAF, /v/, gamefaqs, etc. would have bought it but that has no bearing on the general public.
It sold ~23% less than the Wii did in their first Decembers.
To me, it just doesn't seem to be a well thought console. It seems like Nintendo wanted to repeat the success of the Wii by having an underpowered console with an appealing gimmick. I loved the motion controls of the Wii, but this time, it seems like Nintendo just couldn't think of anything really clever so they just went with their safety card (touch screen). The execution of the thing just didn't seem well designed. Most importantly, there just aren't many appealing games for it, either.
I should not have been so dismissive- it is absolutely relevant, but it really cannot be changed now and I think Nintendo made so many other mistakes that just reducing it to a lack of power lets Nintendo off the hook for all the other mistakes it made.
MoonLightWave
Member
- Not next gen in terms of power.
- 2 wii's duct taped togheter.
-Too similiar name to wii, sounds like an accessory of some sorts.
- 2 wii's duct taped togheter.
-Too similiar name to wii, sounds like an accessory of some sorts.
pieatorium
Member
So we have
890k for NA
690k for Japan (inc 1 week of Jan)
??? for Europe (likely lower than either of those 2)
lets be generous to EU and give it the same 690k as Japan
That would be around 2 and 1/4 million for the holidays worldwide
890k for NA
690k for Japan (inc 1 week of Jan)
??? for Europe (likely lower than either of those 2)
lets be generous to EU and give it the same 690k as Japan
That would be around 2 and 1/4 million for the holidays worldwide
Kai Dracon
Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
Probably so. There is a stigma surrounding Wii U relating to power, to the point that even though the system is sold at some loss (however small) people think it is "overpriced". As people mostly focus on the perception of hardware power, ignoring items like the gamepad which are disregarded and thus "free" in the mind of observers.
Nintendo also should have been prepared for some backlash by allowing 3rd party ports to be released on the system performing worse than the PS360, and Reggie's panicked statement in which he lied about 3rd party software was bad form.
And equally big problem IMO is software scheduling though. I don't think NSMB U and Nintendoland were mistakes for launch, and feel constantly reiterating Nintendoland is no Wii Sports is entirely the wrong tact - Wii U does not need a Wii Sports.
The bigger problem is that while there are some interesting games known to be in the pipeline, such as Lego City, Pikmin 3, W101, Bayonetta 2, and a few others, they're too far out.
In fact, I wonder if they should have worked far harder with Capcom to have Monster Hunter Ultimate out as a simultaneous worldwide release - make it the big game for Wii U in December in North America and Europe as well as Japan. It's not a game that draws in the COD audience, but it might have turned many more heads among enthusiast gamers.
Past that, leaving January and evidently February empty of 1st party goods is a mistake. Most of the interesting games are floating around nebulously on the horizon - people do have notice of them, but they're not building much hype without solid release dates / being closer to launch.
IMO the system exists in a bizarre netherworld where in some ways, it has an incredibly mature launch line-up out of the gate and a wide variety of software, no matter how unimpressed the enthusiasts may be since too many of the launch games are "old". In other ways it is as soft a launch as the 3DS, with as much of a looming chasm after launch as the 3DS which isn't good.
The economy's changed. Not many people are going to pick a Wii U over a PS3 or 360, assuming those people don't have a 360 and/or PS3. The HD twins are cheaper and have bigger libraries.
Not only that, you've got tablets and phones to compete with for people's money, the Wii U software lineup doesn't have a killer app (IMO), and there's bad worth of mouth regarding online and patches.
If I was a smart consumer, I'd wait til Nintendo sorts their shit out, gives me one or two killer apps that I won't be able to play elsewhere, and maybe lower the Wii U price point.
I'm confident the Wii U will be OK in the future, but right now there's a lot of issues that makes me feel that it's better to wait a while than to be an early adopter.
Not only that, you've got tablets and phones to compete with for people's money, the Wii U software lineup doesn't have a killer app (IMO), and there's bad worth of mouth regarding online and patches.
If I was a smart consumer, I'd wait til Nintendo sorts their shit out, gives me one or two killer apps that I won't be able to play elsewhere, and maybe lower the Wii U price point.
I'm confident the Wii U will be OK in the future, but right now there's a lot of issues that makes me feel that it's better to wait a while than to be an early adopter.
Kazuma Kiryu
Member
did you just include
Wii U Panorama View (Download)
Google Maps (Download)
Demae-kan (Download, delivery service)
YNN (Download, video service)
to make that list look longer?
Sammy Samusu
Member
Pokémon XY worldwide release, anyone? I love it.
Biggest month of the year.
MisterHero
Super Member
Hardware fans would've complained it wasn't ready for SuperHD/4K. ;P
metalslimer
Member
I don't think the problem is that there are no appealing games, otherwise Wii U would be a Vita level. There are just no games right now to convince people to abandon their PS3/360/PC. If half your lineup is going to be ports, at least make sure those ports play better than the other consoles where they are cheaper.
AlphaStriker
Member
Software was definitely the problem. Perhaps Nintendo was thinking having games like Assassins Creed and Call of Duty would make for a solid lineup, but the launch only appealed to consumers whom were Wii only owners.
They were launch constrained and one was 600 dollars.
Wait it doesn't do 4k? I want my money back.
StreetsAhead
Member
No, I wanted to show just how barren the schedule is.
would it really killed their pocket to use better hardware and stick the Wii chips inside for BC? (iirc, 3DS is set up like that). i think they need new engineers.
i think they should have prepared a better launch lineup, should have used a different name and launched earlier with a lower price (hard to believe they are losing money on this right now)
i think they should have prepared a better launch lineup, should have used a different name and launched earlier with a lower price (hard to believe they are losing money on this right now)
:lol
gunstarhero
Member
I agree - I think Nintendo is taking a slow and steady approach, however with a potential new MS system releasing around that time, this may not be a great idea.
The bottom line is right now, nobody knows what a fucking WiiU IS. Calling it the WiiU was be of the dumbest things Nintendo has done in a while - this system really needed an identity of its own. It would have helped considerably IMO (though it wouldn't have alleviated all of the other issues)
They didn't even set up a date with Nintendo.
I would be happy if it ran PS360 ports slightly better, but most (all?) seem to run worse and have other technical issues. While my expectations weren't high for the Wii U, I'm baffled Nintendo put out a console with less hardware grunt than 6 year old machines.
Wii U should be $200/$250, it's overpriced at $300+. I won't be picking it up until a price drop. On the flipside I'll be fine with shelling out $400-500 for the next Xbox/PS4 if they deliver enough of an advancement over current gen.
These are my exact thoughts on the system right now.
The biggest reason why I personally haven't bought a Wii U is the software. On my gaming budget, I personally just can't justify throwing anywhere between $300 - $400 (considering tax) on a system that only has one currently released exclusive launch game that is intriguing to myself, which is New Super Mario Bros. U.
I really hope that we see some neat Wii U games at E3. Whether it be Smash Bros, a 3D Mario, Retro Studios' Project, a Zelda (probably too soon anyways), etc.
Look at the buzz of the Wii. How it was all over TV leading up to the release and right after it. The Wii U had none of that. There were FAR more important things taking place in the US this past Fall. There was no way any attention was going to be put on a game console. The Wii didn't launch in presidential election year.
Kazuma Kiryu
Member
well then, it's easier to just take that stuff off because then it's smaller!
and i agree, it's a fucking wasteland.
A complete failure. Lets not lose focus here
metalslimer
Member
It sold less than the PS3 at 600 dollars with no software and that was in 2006.
Apple happened.
Games on the iPad have been getting better and better. Games being super cheap doesn't hurt either. I'm a pretty big Nintendo fan, but I have a hard time spending $300 on a system plus $60 for most games nowadays. I'll pick one up when it's under $200 and there's a line of cheap Nintendo Selects titles.
Games on the iPad have been getting better and better. Games being super cheap doesn't hurt either. I'm a pretty big Nintendo fan, but I have a hard time spending $300 on a system plus $60 for most games nowadays. I'll pick one up when it's under $200 and there's a line of cheap Nintendo Selects titles.
