The Wii U Has It Failed?

[nsanesk8er16]

Now let this be clear before i start my little rant of sorts, I love nintendo and have been a fan of theirs ever since i was 5 years old and I would love to see them do well. That being said I can't help but notice that the wii u may be falling flat on its face and it isn't because of the weaker hardware. While the wii u may be weaker than both the xbox one and ps4, the main reason that the wii u is not doing well is because of the lack of games that have been released in the year it has been out. I mean really nintendo? You had a head start on both sony and microsoft and you have still released less than a handful of first party titles for your console. Sure Mario 3d world may be out now and may be selling a few consoles but that does not make up for the fact that it took a whole year for nintendo to release something original. Another way the wii u fails is its advertising or lack there of in the states. No matter how you look at it nintendo's approach to advertising the wii u is just awful. I mean come on, terribly acted commercials, lack of presence at e3, streaming nintendo directs that barely anyone knows about except core nintendo fans. I could go on but I think you people get the idea. I'm sure once smash bros is released we will start seeing sales for the wii u go up, however, we will probably not see that released or a new zelda released until sometime in 2015 which in my opinion is unacceptable and is certainly not making me want to buy a wii u. I mean I'm sure the new Dk country game will be kind of fun but I honestly look at that game as being in the same boat as the New Super Mario Bros. series to which it doesn't really add anything new to what has already been established and certainly doesn't revolutionize a damn thing. So what are your opinions? Has the Wii u failed or do you see it making a foreseeable comeback?

 

[Shadow Blade]

We've gone over this a few times now in other threads, its too early to say it has failed but I do think Nintendo can save the wiiU, and I'm pretty sure they said the new smash bros will be released in 2014 not 15 and there's no info as to when Zelda wiiU will be released so we shouldn't assume anything just yet.

 

[JuicieJ]

It's barely been out for a year. Premature question, much?

 

[JuicieJ]

The WiiU still has a chance, but it can also turn out like the GameCube. The GameCube apparently did fail in sales and quantity of games in its generation, and was spanked silly by its competitors. However, there are 20 or so GameCube games that people absolutely love. Despite its apparent failure, a lot of people adore the GameCube. The WiiU could turn out like that; a technical overall failure, but not unlovable.

The Cube turned Ninty a profit, actually. It may have been decimated by the PS2, but it was, by definition, a success.

 

[Cfrock]

Though, I do hear it's sold at a loss.

It is, but the loss is so small that as long as the console is sold with just one game then Nintendo make profit on it. And who's buying a Wii U without any games? (Everyone LOL, Wii U doesn't have any, snort snort). I actually have 9, myself.

 

[DarkestLink]

I'm sure it'll make Nintendo a profit...but yes, it will lose the console race.

 

[Shadow Blade]

There's no doubt that it will lose the console race partly because Nintendo had horrible timing with its release and partly because it just is not and won't be viewed as at the same level as the other two consoles, that said if Nintendo makes the right decisions the wiiU could still make a pretty good profit.

 

[Clank]

Before we can judge on whether or not it is a failure, we need to decide what Nintendo was aiming for when they made the Wii U.

 

[Shadow Blade]

Also as I've said before, not enough time has gone by in order for us to say if it has failed or not.

 

[Sydney]

It's still far too early to tell as to whether or not the Wii U has failed. If we're going to analyze how it has fared in its first year on the market, there's a possibility that it's not favored as much when compared to other Nintendo consoles. Nonetheless, I don't think it's necessarily correct to say that the Wii U has failed. Just give it time before we all jump to conclusions.

 

[JuicieJ]

It's been out for over a year and has already been outsold by both the PS4 and Xbox One in several regions. It's sales figures over the long-term matches the Dreamcast right now. You'd have to be pretty blinded to say that it's not failing.

1) It's failing at the moment. It won't be the entire generation.

2) Don't even try comparing it to the Dreamcast. People's faith in Sega was shaken beyond belief because they abandoned two major peripherals and a console prior to, which people spent good money on. Nintendo hasn't done anything like this.

 

[Mercedes]

It has failed, yes, but it's only been out a year, there's plenty of time for it to recover. It may not be doing as good as the pisser or the bone, and I doubt ever will to be brutal, but I do kinda hope it picks up a bit cos it's just getting sad now. If Nintendo's barrage of games don't help, well, things will be looking grim.

A good Zelda U, Metroid Prime 4 and Lylat Wars 2. That's all I want from my Wii U Ninty. It might bomb in sales but give me those and I will love you. <3

 

[Justac00lguy]

No, failed implies that it has failed in its overall aims. It hasn't. Anyone knows that the overall aims and objectives of a business are long term. You can't say something is a failure based on premature analysis.

Technically, when you launch a product/service you are in negative figures because of your total costs. With a huge product, such as a console, it takes a long time to break-even and turn over a profit. So it's to be expected that costs will outweigh revenue. However, it's still very early in the Wii U's life cycle and it's bound to turn a profit as most mainstream consoles do.

Though if you define success by critical analysis of the hardware itself then sure it is a success. The console has had great reviews from critics and it has many great games now something with the two other console lack.

 

[Curmudgeon]

As others have said, the ultimate success of the Wii U will be determined on the strength of Big N's first party games. Looking at sales for the past four Nintendo consoles shows that they live and die based primarily on in-house efforts.

If you're judging 'failure' by a measure of whether the console is going to compete to win the generation... then yes, it's a failure. But I suspect Nintendo doesn't really care about that any more. It's possible to carve a relatively niche market that caters a specific experience and still make a tidy profit.

Dominance - or even participation - in an industry isn't a permanent proposition. The two leaders now didn't start making consoles until the fifth (PS1) and sixth (Xbox) generation. Barring a 1983-esque disaster that completely resets the playing field, Nintendo will probably have to be happy making money in third place.

 

[Dio]

Depends what you mean by failed. It's failed to generate as many sales in a year as Xbox1 and PS4 Have in their first 24 hours of release. So I would say the console has failed in the short term to produce a favourable result for the company and it has failed the gamers out there who want more games to justify actually getting the console. It's not a console anyone would actually want to buy for its hardware. If I wanted a good all round console, I'd go for the Xbox One myself. Nintendo's pull factor is it's games and they have not done enough there. Nintendo has failed the console, with it's pitiful amount of hard hitting games and it's sh**y advertising for the console itself. Also with the fact that so many people are calling the Wii U a failure and seeing it as a joke. Type in Wii U on google news and you'll see exactly what I mean. Already people are determined not to like the Wii U.

Long term I see it could recover from it's initial failure. The XBOX One was hated upon announcement however it seems to be very popular amongst people now. Nintendo could go the same way, when they reveal and release a few more heavy hitting titles, Zelda U and Smash Bros I am thinking about. I am annoyed at the way things have been handled by Nintendo so far, but I hope they can make it up to me soon. I have not given up on the Wii U just yet.