I do not think that Nintendo will lower the price of the Wii U until Sony and Microsoft announce the cost of the PS4 and new Xbox.

Nintendo failing to communicate they're doing something (beyond that Nintendo Direct) does not equal Nintendo not doing anything.

This article is alarmist and misses the point. The conversation we should be having, and the conversation I hope is happening inside Nintendo HQ right now, is: How do we better communicate our plans for Wii U to people? How do we assure our existing buyers they haven't wasted money, and give confidence to potential buyers?

More frequent Iwata Asks, developer diaries, and Nintendo Directs would help. A fuller Virtual Console schedule--introducing GameCube and DreamCast to the realm of VC--would help, acting as filler content for those already invested in the system. And for the love of all that is sacred, Nintendo, bite the bullet and announce release dates for Pikmin 3, Wonderful 101, Wii Fit U and Game & Wario. I admire Nintendo's philosophy of "it's done when it's done", but it's really hurting Wii U. Quarter 2 is weeks away and no major Wii U title is dated. The one two punch of Lego City and Monster Hunter is a good start, but it means nothing if it isn't followed up with more titles, titles already delayed once. Delays at this point are unacceptable. Plenty of other major publishers get quality titles out on time, and Nintendo need to begin to make sure they are capable of doing the same.

Wii U is by no means beyond the point of recovery, but sales post Christmas have been absolutely dire. Nintendo don't just need to have a plan, that plan needs to be seen and heard.

What almost everybody seems to be forgetting is that there isn't much Nintendo can do. Nor could.


"The Wii U is too weak!"

Game development is already disastrously slow at Nintendo. Now imagine if the hardware was even more advanced.


"All they got from third parties was old ports!"

True. But old ports were all they offered. And had third parties made newer games we all know they would have either lost more or gained less money in the end. Or at least that is the most likely scenario. Nintendo can't stop them from optimizing profits without cutting their own.


"The Wii U arrived too late! They should have released it one year earlier!"

That would have meant taking even less advantage of the Wii's massive success. The reason the Wii's support was cut short was because they needed to prepare for the Wii U, and yet it arrived one year later than the ideal. If anything, the Wii U should have arrived one year later to optimize Wii sales. But that would mean no head-start over the competition. Again, Nintendo made the best of the situation.


"Nintendo isn't building up any hype for their games!"

They make frequent Nintendo Direct episodes where they showcase software that is ready to be shown. The reason they aren't showing much currently is because there isn't much to be shown. Yet they are obviously working as fast as they can.


The only big mistake they did was to expect much higher sales of the Wii U, which lead to disappointment among the press and among the shareholders. Other than that, they did everything they could. Also, let the 3DS be an example that the console may still become highly successful once system sellers arrive. A price cut may also help but since they already sell the Wii U at a loss I don't expect that to happen any time soon.

So many good points in your post, I have to agree my confidence in Nintendo has taken a serious knock with the Wii U. Double if you count I was an early 3DS adopter!

We need release dates at this point, solid milestones we can look forward too, not knowing what's in store for the Wii U is probably the worst thing for myself at the moment.

Actually their biggest mistake was believing that they could get the same treatment as Microsoft or Sony from third parties.

Wii U doesn`t need a price cut. it needs better marketing and advertising and games. And speaking of games, it actually needs people who actually buy it on Wii U after demanding more 3rd party support.

This is almost the same thing 3DS went through and look at it now. it may have had a bad start but with time things got better.

We've already seen people say 'Nintendo have blown all their surprises for E3' after what they announced in that Nintendo Direct.

If they went all out and actually showed all of the games they teased for E3, that sentiment would be even worse, and those games would join Wind Waker HD in the complaint about being months away. It should be fairly clear that as they hadn't announced games for Jan/Feb months ago, that none were going to magically appear for release in those months.

Although the situation wasn't exactly helped by Rayman, Aliens (as bad as it is) and Scribblenauts (in Europe) disappearing from the February release schedule.

Its kind of a strange concept but 3D Mario sells systems while 2D Mario sells copies.  I never really expected it to carry the system but it will sell massive amounts by the end of the Wii U's life.

Nintendo is probably already in panic mode.

The real question is if their response will be the correct one.

Iwata needs to go and they need a price cut. A 2d Mario at launch didn't set the world on fire so they need to actually come out with exciting ip's. The frightening thing is, the years hardstart the Wii U has over the ps4/Nextbox will have been a complete failure.