So says Sam Mattera of the Motley Fool investment website. Now before you decry his opinion, let’s see Mattera’s arguments in short form:
- The Wii U has been a total failure.
- Microsoft will steal Nintendo’s core market.
- Unlike Sony, Nintendo can’t afford to support a failing console.
- This holiday season will be crucial for Nintendo.
- Got iPad?
Okay, now you may decry his opinion. I’ll start. First, the Wii U hasn’t been a total failure; that honor goes to the Sega Nomad. Haven’t heard of it? There’s a good reason for that. Second, I am curious to see if the Xbox One, a $500 console, will steal Nintendo’s core market. I doubt it. Expect to see people playing games on more devices not fewer, as Nielsen found in a 2012 survey.
I actually agree with the third and fourth points — to an extent. 3DS has done phenomenal, making up for languishing Wii U sales. But this holiday season will be critical to Wii U’s success. Last, but certainly not least — Got iPad? No, I don’t. But a lot of people do apparently. As people become platform agnostic, competition will become keener than ever. The company that finds its niche will succeed. Nintendo has that down. The Wii U’s problem — other than its name — is that its biggest competitor is a Nintendo product. That’s right. 3DS is a big reason Wii U hasn’t taken off. Also, those Wii U ads.
Well, those are my thoughts. What do you think? Is Wii U doom to fail? Will it rise to the top of the NPD’s charts? Sound off in the comments.
Source: Daily Finance
Yeah, none of those seem like tangible reasons. Total failure is way too subjective of a term for people to be throwing it around like a fact.
The Wii U's core problem thus far has been it's lack of games, and the horrific name selection. Reading Destructoid's story the other day on what console each of the editors were looking forward to in the next generation, the Wii U seemed to have a much greater representation than any of the others, due to one game specifically; Super Mario 3D World. Nintendo needs to crank out some first party system sellers, and fast. Pikmin is cool, NSMB is ok, but needs a break, Mario Kart can be one of them, if the scale back on the blue turtle shells, and some return to form Zelda and Metroid. The Wii was a third party wasteland; the Wii U could be comfortable in that mold too, but it needs that Nintendo magic first.
I would have loved to see the Wii U have a different name with PS4 graphics & x86 chip and a $449 price tag. That way it could get the same mainstream games as the XB1 & PS4 as well as the unique games from Nintendo and games that use the Gamepad
This all seems very familiar to the 3ds….even one of the old bloggers here would say how that system was dead on arrival and couldn't compete against iphone ipads. Lets wait and see how the system does with a 3-d mario, dkc, kart, and smash bros. If the system is not selling after these games come out then it will be the time to worry. I said the same thing about the 3ds, wait until Pokemon to judge if the 3ds will be a failure or not, turns out we didn't even have to wait that long.
What Tanner and MikeIsaPoet said.
@Ishmoo21 : I agree with everything but the price tag. $449 is too close to the competition's price.
@TheIceManCometh: I despise blue turtle shells, too. Wii U needs consistent, solid third-party support and a return to form for some series. Nintendo decided to play it safe on the software front. NSMB embodies this approach the most.
The console gets one percent, which is within margin of error, so technically it's possible that no one wants the Wii U.
Of the three new controllers, the gamepad is dead last as well. So this is what I've been saying for a year – Nintendo should have focused on games instead of the gamepad. You could have had a cheaper console with more games at launch.
So anyway, fire Iwata.
Anyone remember the gamecube or N64? Both were systems that didn't set the world on fire, but Nintendo didn't stop supporting them. The only system I can remember Nintendo discontinuing fast is the Virtual Boy, and even that was on the market for a year or so.
I don't think Nintendo will "win" this gen, but I don't think they'll pull the plug either.
I've never heard a compelling explanation for how the Wii U can succeed.
The, "Well the 3DS was slow…" comments aren't accurate. The 3DS struggled, not because of outside competition, but rather because of the DSi's enormous success. People didn't feel compelled to upgrade with the 3DS's steep price and their satisfaction with the DSi. The price cut, natural up-graders and new purchasers turned it around eventually. The Wii U is in an entirely different conundrum.
Also, does anyone find it weird that Nintendo is walking backwards? The 2DS? The Wii Mini (that doesn't even have wifi/internet access). Those things are very bizarre to me.
As for Nintendo creating a more robust Wii U in short order; that's not going to happen. To much consumer animus and a massive PS4/XbowOne install base will make that an impossibility.
Pachter was predicting a revamped, HD-capable Wii within 2 years of its launch, despite the Wii's massive success. Of course the pundits are going to dole out the doom and gloom headlines. It's what gets clicks and ad impressions.
Any of the situations he posits are at least plausible, except one: that the Xbox One will steal Nintendo's core market. What on earth is he smoking?
Not only does the XB1 cost almost double what the Wii U does, but the people who make up Nintendo's bread and butter customer base chose the Wii over the 360 despite its grainy 480p (480i, unless you bought a special cable, and I don't know a single person in real life who did) output and weird control scheme. Most are not going to notice their textures being a little blurrier or their shadows less detailed than what the Xbox One can do. All they're going to know is that they can't play Mario or Pokemon or Zelda on the Xbox One — they're not going to care about Halo 5 or Ryse or pretty much any other Microsoft exclusive, as demonstrated by Rare's abject failure to get Microsoft any Nintendo converts in the last two generations — and that Skylanders and other cross-platform games look almost as good in their Wii U's 720p as they do in Microsoft's 720p.
All I can think is that he considers Nintendo's core market to be the people who played Wii Sports at parties, who'd gladly jump over to Microsoft's "look at the camera and flail your arms wildly" control scheme for the same kind of experience. But mistaking those people for Nintendo's core audience is one of those botched analyses that can get a guy fired if they're presented to your company's investors rather than just blathering on a blog.
I could believe that the PS4 is going to come out on top, but if it does, it'd be the first video game generation ever in which the most powerful console took first place. (Don't believe me? Look it up.) But it's also the first generation in which two out of the top three competitors include mandatory, expensive, controversial hardware, allowing the most powerful console to not also be the most expensive. So maybe it still has a shot.
@Stuart said: "Also, does anyone find it weird that Nintendo is walking backwards? The 2DS? The Wii Mini (that doesn’t even have wifi/internet access). Those things are very bizarre to me."
I agree it is bizarre and the executive staff are making backward looking investments with Nintendo's resources. The Motley fool article is missing the point because they are a stock market investment organization. Instead, the Motley fool should be suggesting that Nintendo's board of directors fire Iwata and clean house in the executive staff. Let's face it: Iwata botched the launch of the 3DS but had to quickly turn that around. Then he botches the launch of the Wii U by not providing great first party games in it first year.
Think of this guys… What if Nintendo had gotten their act together and completed Mario Kart and Smash Bros for the Wii U so that they would be available right now for the Christmas season? I think the Wii U would have been in much better shape if they did this. Stuart is correct, that instead they spend their resources on 2DS and older Wii technology instead of investing in 1st party franchises that can sell the Wii U.
@Gern, I'm pretty sure the people who work on first-party Nintendo software are not the same people who designed the 2DS. Also, if you were also referring to the Wii Mini, it was designed and released well over a year ago — everywhere else but America. What Sony did with the Vita TV, Nintendo did with the Wii Mini, using it to cover their bases in markets where many people can't afford the latest and greatest. (I kind of hope Sony releases the Vita TV here a year later, like Nintendo did with the Wii Mini, since 99 bucks is the most I'd pay to play PSP/Vita games.)
I think Nintendo made the right call, delaying their games to polish them enough to ensure Metacritic scores well above 90. If they'd released three big games in November, we would have seen the same articles we're seeing now, just instead of "forget the new consoles, Nintendo has the best game this fall", it would have been "forget the new consoles, Nintendo has the best games this fall". At this point it looks like Nintendo will hold their own against the "cheap PC" options in the holiday bloodbath, though the marketing debacle of the name "Wii U" will be with them for the rest of this generation.