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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Will The Same Strategy For The 3DS Work On The Wii U?

I have had a similar experience to some of the comments above. Several of my friends who have played my Wii U have gone and bought the system, and then their friends etc but until seeing one they had no idea Nintendo even had a new console out. The ads here in Australia are simply terrible and the failure to communicate the stengths of the console to the mainstream has been a massive problem for Nintendo in this generation....



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Dunban67 said:
Nintendo should drop the price of the Wii U now or at the very least by Holiday sales season.

The strategy used successfully for the 3ds plus the holiday sales will help the Wii U sell more units than previous, but it will not have the same impact as it did for the 3ds-

Nintendo seems to be betting big on this strategy and I do not think it will do near enough for the Wii u. The lineup of games they are betting on are similar and/or the same as games already out on the 3ds (and/or games coming out on the 3ds), so the lineup will not be nearly as fresh and exciting as it was for the 3ds.

Although Mario and Donkey Kong are the big names and big sellers, I honestly think a mix of the "old standbys" along w games like Metroid, Zelda (new Zelda) and/or other less used Nintendo franchises would have done more to build excitement-

So far Nintendo has not shown much confidence in the Wii U- so it is difficult to expect 3rd parties and potential purchasers to be confident enough to invest in the console as well

Another big problem I see is - even if the late 2013 and early 2014 Wii U sales do well enough to interest 3rd parties again- most of them seem to have scaled back or emptied their Wii U development pipelines after the holidays at least- so even if sales do well and 3rd parties get interested again- how long will it take them to get decent to good games ready for the Wii U?

Does Nintendo have enough development resources to keep feeding the Wii U software after 1st Q 2014 and before 3rd parties can get raped up again?


The thing is the 3DS only had 2 significant games, being MK7 and SM3DL, whereas the Wii U will have SM3DW, Wii Fit U, DKCTF, Pikmin 3, W101, Sonic LW, and more, meaning a price cut in it's first year will not be nearly as necessary as it was for 3DS. Plus from what I've heard, they were making money on each 3DS sold before the cut, while they're losing money on each Wii U sold. They may want to wait until the Wii U breaks even before doing a big cut like with the 3DS. Also, there's already a good amount of 2014 games in MK8, SSB4, X, Bayo 2, Yoshi Yarn, and SMT x FE, with more to be announced later.

Einsam_Delphin said:
The thing is the 3DS only had 2 significant games, being MK7 and SM3DL, whereas the Wii U will have SM3DW, Wii Fit U, DKCTF, Pikmin 3, W101, Sonic LW, and more, meaning a price cut in it's first year will not be nearly as necessary as it was for 3DS. Plus from what I've heard, they were making money on each 3DS sold before the cut, while they're losing money on each Wii U sold. They may want to wait until the Wii U breaks even before doing a big cut like with the 3DS. Also, there's already a good amount of 2014 games in MK8, SSB4, X, Bayo 2, Yoshi Yarn, and SMT x FE, with more to be announced later.

You're kind of scraping the bottom of the barrel on your list for Wii U.  The last three on your list will probably be lucky to sell combined what MH Tri sold, yet you neglected that.  The 3DS also had a Sonic game as well that sold moderately.

The other problem is the rest of your list doesn't release until November and December.  After retailers have ordered their holiday supplies.  I'm not sure if it is finalized, but I recall an image of release dates for the Wii U and 3D World and Wii Fit U were listed as December 12th.  Now if you're a retailer, are you going to base your orders on the current tepid sales, or are you going to take a risk and order more on the faint hope that you can sell them in the brief period between those releases and Christmas?



Yakuzaice said:
Einsam_Delphin said:
The thing is the 3DS only had 2 significant games, being MK7 and SM3DL, whereas the Wii U will have SM3DW, Wii Fit U, DKCTF, Pikmin 3, W101, Sonic LW, and more, meaning a price cut in it's first year will not be nearly as necessary as it was for 3DS. Plus from what I've heard, they were making money on each 3DS sold before the cut, while they're losing money on each Wii U sold. They may want to wait until the Wii U breaks even before doing a big cut like with the 3DS. Also, there's already a good amount of 2014 games in MK8, SSB4, X, Bayo 2, Yoshi Yarn, and SMT x FE, with more to be announced later.

You're kind of scraping the bottom of the barrel on your list for Wii U.  The last three on your list will probably be lucky to sell combined what MH Tri sold, yet you neglected that.  The 3DS also had a Sonic game as well that sold moderately.

The other problem is the rest of your list doesn't release until November and December.  After retailers have ordered their holiday supplies.  I'm not sure if it is finalized, but I recall an image of release dates for the Wii U and 3D World and Wii Fit U were listed as December 12th.  Now if you're a retailer, are you going to base your orders on the current tepid sales, or are you going to take a risk and order more on the faint hope that you can sell them in the brief period between those releases and Christmas?



What you or anyone thinks these games will sell is besides the point, as those are all just assumptions. The fact is the Wii U will be getting a lot more quality titles in it's first year than the 3DS did, so there should less need for a price cut in that same timeframe. Not sure what you're getting at with that last sentence as games can and will be sold even beyond the holidays.

I don't think it would sell as fast as the 3DS but I do think it would sell better.. The Wii U just has to much competition..



Nintendo Wii by generations...

1. Wii

2. Wii U

3. Wii O U

Predictions made by gamers concerning the current Nintendo line up of games.

Pikmen 3= Little Bump to nothing. (Got Little Bump)

Wind Waker HD= Won't sell anything (The explosion happened here and at one time 4 Wii U games was in the Amazon top 100)

Super Mario 3D World= Won't help at all looks cheap. (Currently the most sought after Wii U game and continuing the Wii U increase.)

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Einsam_Delphin said:

What you or anyone thinks these games will sell is besides the point, as those are all just assumptions. The fact is the Wii U will be getting a lot more quality titles in it's first year than the 3DS did, so there should less need for a price cut in that same timeframe. Not sure what you're getting at with that last sentence as games can and will be sold even beyond the holidays.

You are the one who orginally stated which titles are and are not significant for the Wii U and 3DS.  Now you are also naming them as quality before they have even shipped.  That probably requires a bit more assuming than their sales potential.  Two of the games you listed aren't even out in the Wii U's first year.

The necessity of a price cut this year is presumably tied to the impact it would have on holiday sales this year.  You seem to think the Wii U can persevere this holiday with software alone.  My point is the software that could make the difference is coming too late.  Even if it does cause a boost, retailers won't have enough stock in mid-December to fully utilize it.  Now, perhaps Nintendo could maintain that momentum into next year (though they don't have the best track record with that lately), but that wouldn't really be relevant to how they'll perform this holiday season.



The 3DS's price cut was basically slightly below break even. The Wii U is also being sold slightly below break even and Nintendo can't afford to take a major loss on hardware, therefore Nintendo cannot and will not drop the Wii U's price. Nothing else to it.



Einsam_Delphin 2 hours ago:
said:
"The thing is the 3DS only had 2 significant games, being MK7 and SM3DL, whereas the Wii U will have SM3DW, Wii Fit U, DKCTF, Pikmin 3, W101, Sonic LW, and more, meaning a price cut in it's first year will not be nearly as necessary as it was for 3DS. Plus from what I've heard, they were making money on each 3DS sold before the cut, while they're losing money on each Wii U sold. They may want to wait until the Wii U breaks even before doing a big cut like with the 3DS. Also, there's already a good amount of 2014 games in MK8, SSB4, X, Bayo 2, Yoshi Yarn, and SMT x FE, with more to be announced later."

Dunban67 reply:
The 3ds has had a stream of very good games since MK7 and SM3DL
I think if they had stopped w those 2 games sales would have eventually slumped again- but there have been an ever increasing flow of 1st and 3rd party games coming out for the 3ds- the 2 you mentioned surely kicked off the sales surge but it is the continued flow of games that have kept sales strong

The Wi U also has a lot more competition than the 3ds as well and will have far less 3rd party support for the foreseeable future tan the 3ds- the 3ds and Wii U are 2 different consoles in 2 different type markets- I don t think you can expect that executing the same strategy for both in 2 different time frames will generate the same results.

Since I bought a Wii U at launch for my Son s b day and it is the only home console (in addition to the Wii) that we own- I want the Wii U to do well- I have a vested interest like anyone that has purchased or who will purchase a wii u- Nintendo has not "lost the game" as it relates to the Wii U but it is well into the 2nd half, they are many touchdowns behind and they are still using the same game plan as if it was 0-0 early in the 1st Q- they do not seem to want to make adjustments as needed and they do t seem to be willing to invest a dime more in the console than they absolutely have to until they are certain it will be successful- but if Nintendo does not make it happen for the Wii U no one else will nor should they-



Yakuzaice said:
Einsam_Delphin said:

What you or anyone thinks these games will sell is besides the point, as those are all just assumptions. The fact is the Wii U will be getting a lot more quality titles in it's first year than the 3DS did, so there should less need for a price cut in that same timeframe. Not sure what you're getting at with that last sentence as games can and will be sold even beyond the holidays.

You are the one who orginally stated which titles are and are not significant for the Wii U and 3DS.  Now you are also naming them as quality before they have even shipped.  That probably requires a bit more assuming than their sales potential.  Two of the games you listed aren't even out in the Wii U's first year.

The necessity of a price cut this year is presumably tied to the impact it would have on holiday sales this year.  You seem to think the Wii U can persevere this holiday with software alone.  My point is the software that could make the difference is coming too late.  Even if it does cause a boost, retailers won't have enough stock in mid-December to fully utilize it.  Now, perhaps Nintendo could maintain that momentum into next year (though they don't have the best track record with that lately), but that wouldn't really be relevant to how they'll perform this holiday season.



Fines, quality "looking" titles, though I did get to see first hand SM3DW, DKCTF, and WWHD so I can safely say those will be good games. And comes ons, they come out close enough Mr. Technical.

And yeah I do think the Wii U can make it through the rest of the year without a price cut. Loads of games, inevitable bundles, and the holiday boost should make this happen. SM3DW and WiiFitU may not count much towards this years numbers, but thankfully the Wii U wont suddenly stop selling after the year ends. I say this is actually a good move as it'll help keep up momentum through the beginning of next year. Hopefully they'll have Yoshi Yarn or something in between SM3DW and MK8, and then a big price cut coinciding with MK8. Should be good to go from there on.

I think that Nintendo's strategy with the Wii U was completely wrong. The name, the price, the hardware, the release date, everything. The announcement of the system at 2011 didn't cause as much excitement/publicity as the PS4 and Xbox One announcements.

And why do people buy Nintendo systems? To play their great first-party games. In my opinion, the GameCube's lackluster sales could be better if there were more Nintendo games for it. We had only one Mario and one Zelda (Twilight Princess only came out in 2006), both of which divided opinions. The Wii U is definitely looking better, so it should outsell the GameCube.

That being said, I don't think the announced games are THAT great. Not to say they look bad, quite the opposite (I wish I could play SM3D World and DKC Tropical Freeze), but it doesn't seem enough for the system yet. I'm not sure if Wind Waker HD is gonna do anything, sales-wise. A brand new Zelda would do wonders to the system though, I think.