The Wii U, released 7 weeks ago in North America, has had an underwhelming response by gamers and media alike to say the least. Though the console has outsold the Xbox 360 and PS3 if one compares launch windows, and sold approximately 2.5 million worldwide to date, it seems that the Wii U simply does not resonate much with the gaming community and the general public. I believe one can attribute this to the poor marketing efforts and direction of NOA (EUR as well). Please see the below video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dbGJieRaH0

The ads simply do not aspire much confidence, are confusing, and are lifeless. Furthermore, concentrating on the controller throughout the whole add portrays the product as simply an add-on for the Wii (showing Wii remotes as well does not help), not a brand new console.

I genuinely believe that the Wii U can be a success for Nintendo; however, their marketing efforts need to take a different spin. One only needs to look at the Japanese commercials and capitalize on that. Please see the below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyT1AC5PiGM

The commercial conveys what the product is: a new HD console, enhances the gaming experience with the tablet controller, and gives the player the option to play on the gamepad while someone watches the TV; it's simple, effective and informative. Why hasn't NOA and EUR taken that approach?

In the end, do you think the Wii U's performance is due to poor marketing efforts or is it simply dead on arrival? I'd like to know your opinion.

There is certainly a marketing problem.

Let me use Australia's situation as an example. In 2006, Nintendo set up a massive tour, which visited pretty much all of the major retail locations in the country, with a significant lineup of games, and therefore got experience with the Wii out there to large numbers of people. And they pushed the hell out of that tour, so that there were queues everywhere that the Wii went.

Jump forward to 2012. They announced an understated tour where a couple of fixed locations, one in Sydney and one in Melbourne, would get continuous Wii U demo stations. Other than this, for a week at a time, the Wii U would be taken to each of the other major cities, where there would be a tiny little outdoor inflatable structure that would house five demo stations - two with NSMB U, two with Nintendo Land, and one with another game (in Brisbane, it was Scribblenauts - can't be sure that it was the same game in the other cities). There was no real advertising of its presence, and so, unsurprisingly, there was little attention paid to it. Remember, these outdoor locations weren't in the middle of retail space, they were out of the way places - the Brisbane one was in a small concrete park outside of the city hall.

Beyond the tour, in 2006, Nintendo ran a massive ad campaign for the Wii, with the main ads being great demonstrations of what the Wii was about. In 2012, I think I saw two ads for the Wii U prior to launch - the same ad, mind you, but I saw it twice... and it did nothing to really help you to understand the Wii U.

Simply put, the Wii U marketing to date has been woeful, at least in Australia, and from what I hear, it's not much better anywhere else, perhaps outside of Japan. And it's not just the ads themselves, it's the overall marketing.

Doom thread 10?

Anyway, the problem is the problem that any struggling console (except the Dreamcast) had. Games. The Wii U's sales were consistent with the quality and diversity of its launch lineup. Somewhat above average, but not great. If and when more and better games that show off the system's features arrive, sales will improve as they did with the DS and the PS3. If those games don't arrive, then the system will fail. It's pretty simple.

Blimey, not another one lol. It's selling fine, around 80% of the Wii's sales is quite an achievement. I really don't know where people are getting the idea that it's selling badly from. It's not doing great in Europe but that's generally a Sony territory anyway. Seriously, these threads need to stop.

I just think people aint that interested in it yet. It really does nothing that the PS360 cannot do. Apart from playing on the tablet whilst someone is watching tv, but why would someone really be excited over that when they can do it with the 3DS?

Pricing: People look at the Wii-U then look at the PS360 and think, same graphics, same but far fewer games. I will grab a PS360. The Wii was mainly a kids/casual console. I do not believe many of the people who paid 179 pounds for the Wii + a game at launch will get a Wii-U basic for 240 pounds without a game or a Wii-U premium without a game for 300 pounds.

It just don't make sense.

The problem isn't Nintendo of America/Europe, the problem is NCL in Japan micromanaging everything related to marketing and PR outside of Japan. I bet they also handle E3 as well (which explains why their conference was downright crappy). The fact is, they DON'T know what people in the west want. The Japanese ads went straight to the point, and made the whole "next gen console" thing understandable.  According to some employee reviews of Nintendo of America, NCL doesn't trust their European/Amerian divsions at all. 

One thing that I have noticed is that they haven't had a partnership with a studio in Europe since Rare left, and they only have a couple of studios in NA.  There are so many hardcore Japanese game released on the 3DS, but what about the west? For Nintendo, Japan is their first priority, but nobody else gets anything. This is Nintendo's main problem right now, and they won't get the hardcore in NA until this changes.

People are saying it is selling poorly because how the sales are spread across regions. Check how much the Wii has sold in europe and you will think twice about brushing your shoulders. 

The main problem is, people who know about sales trands and stuff know that europe is a far more important market to have over Japan. Japan starts off strong but sales tend to drop off quick. The Wii-U will probs sell like around 10 million or so in japan when all is said and done. The Wii is over 30 million sold in europe. It needs that market.

But the Wii-U has many years for its sales to increase. The console will do alright for itself, no matter what way people try and spin it, but the concern is justified. 

'In the end, do you think the Wii U's performance is due to poor marketing efforts or is it simply dead on arrival? I'd like to know your opinion.'

difficult to answer this question seeing as though the console seems to performing about on track with nintendo's projections...ive or take a little...or is there something I'm not seeing?

I don't see there being a "problem", as such, it's just that, except for hard-core Nintendo fans, there is very little reason as of yet to buy a Wii U if you already have a PS3 or 360. Even if you're just talking games announced for 2013, the 360 and especially the PS3 beat the Wii U easily.

Most people buy a gaming console for the software, not the hardware, and the Wii U, at the moment, loses on that front. Sure, the marketing could be better, but that still wouldn't change the underlaying reasons. Also, unlike the Wii, casuals aren't really interested in the Wii U's control scheme, so it doesn't have that to fall back on.

While I wouldn't buy a Wii U yet, I also wouldn't judge it too harshly until Nintendo has its E3 conference.

I agree. I think the day 1 patch and lack of games is what makes it look unappealing to the public.