What Went Wrong? Wii U Edition

[Mr Puggsly]

theRepublic said:

Mr Puggsly said:

We are seeing virtually the same software thrive on Switch.

If those same games were downgraded for the original Wii, they would have succeeded there as well.

Launch titles matter.  Where was the Wii U's Breath of the Wild?  If it came out in the first year of the console's life instead of the last, it could have made a difference.  Not to mention Super Mario Odyssey followed up as another hit title only about 7 months later.  That was just in time for the Switch's first holiday season.  Two hit games during the console's first holiday season is huge.  Around 40 to 50%% of game sales happen in just November and December.  Being so early in the console's life, that is going to move a lot of hardware as well.

Wii U had Nintendo Land and New Super Mario Bros U for its first holiday.  Super Mario 3D World for the second holiday (and a remaster of Wind Waker if you want to include an, at the time, 11 year old game).  The third holiday finally had two big hitters in Mario Kart 8 and Smash Bros.  But that is already the third holiday season for the console.  Basically too late at that point to make a big difference.  And none of those games were the massive hit Breath of the Wild was.

Do we have sales numbers on the Wii U to Switch ports?  I would love to see the numbers.

While I agree BotW and Super Mario Odyssey would have helped the Wii U sell more units, but we're talking about a console that only sold about 13 million units. Would those games have pushed it to 20 million? 25 million? Not everybody buying a Switch has Mario Odyssey or BotW. People were much more hyped about the Switch hardware in general versus the Wii U.

Basically I'm gonna stress the fact the Wii U sold horribly in spite of have notable content. If the console was closer to $199 at launch and simply used Wiimotes, I feel more people would have been willing to buy one even with the software complaints you mentioned. I don't believe the hardware ever went below $249 officially and that tablet control looked cumbersome and useless (fun fact: it was mostly useless). If the Wii U was just console and a Wiimote, it could have hit $99 to $149 at some point.

But again, it probably best the Wii U failed as it did because it was inspiration for the Switch. I'm also glad Nintendo has technically exited the home console market.

VGChartz has numbers for some Wii U to Switch ports. The Wii U had strong content that does well on Switch, but people weren't will to get the hardware.