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Forums - Sales Discussion - Nintendo & The UK: No WiiU/3DS software in the top 40 for 2 weeks in a row now

Now we now WiiU isn't doing to hot in Europe what with negative shipments twice in a row, but why is the UK really shunning the WiiU? It seems to be the worst place for it??

I heard a lot of "UK Has never liked Nintendo" which seems like damage control to me. DS sold 12m+ and is best selling video game system here ever, Wii did 8.3m+, gameboy ect did very well. It's just Gamecube and WiiU that have not done very well, but then they did bad across the globe not just UK.



 

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Marketing. It's been rubbish.

That's not just the marketing guys fault though, it's Nintendo's. Donkey Kong releases, we get a few adverts, then nothing, because there's no new releases. March goes by with no Wii U adverts, then so does April as will most of May before MK8.

Sony and MS don't let that happen. MS had constant adverts throughout Jan and Feb that had no new software to show but kept people aware of X1. Then there was Titanfall, now there is Kinect Sports Rivals. Sony are the same, lots of adverts at launch, followed by adverts for Thief and then inFamous and then some adverts previewing what's coming up in the future like Destiny. This snowballs with people and gives the impression of a constant stream of games even if there isn't.

I still think Wii U would be a distant third if this was improved, but it wouldn't be as tremendously bad if they had upped their marketing



but does US/Europe get loads of advertising? I don't think they do. I think the fact there are adverts at all in the UK surprising, I've never seen one!

Can some US folk chime in and tell us if WiiU is advertised loads there?



 

Wii U ain't got no FIFA 2014, so the UK and Europe aren't interested...

Seriously though, as an Aussie I'm not sure why UK is so apathetic towards the Wii u, it hasn't lit the charts up here either but it does sell (and I would have thought our consumer trends would be similar), and as you said the DS and Wii were successful. Do Nintendo advertise in the UK, is Nintendo UK just incompetent or is there a particular negative image that Nintendo has let develop over time that turns people away?



No Fifa, that might be a reason actually, did Fifa sell ok on Wii?



 

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del.



Just do a photo op of the queen playing the new Strikers on WiiU. It will be flying off the shelves.



If you demand respect or gratitude for your volunteer work, you're doing volunteering wrong.

Seece said:
No Fifa, that might be a reason actually, did Fifa sell ok on Wii?

Highest was Fifa 11 i believe which sold just over 1 million, so not great but not bad, it was a downwards trend from there though. Fifa 13 on Wii u sold 0.15 million so obvious why Fifa 2014 never got a guernsey. I'd say the downward sales trend for Fifa on Nintendo consoles is a symptom of the drop in support rather than the cause though, it definitely wouldn't be helping the Wii u now though.



This is quite sad to hear.



Wii U has a terrible reputation here. Across my circle of friends, from my home town and the university where I work/study, I only know one other person with a Wii U. Most gamers--usually the less enthusiast ones who buy a few major multi-platform titles a year--react with horror when I tell them I have a Wii U. The more enthusiast gamers react with mild interest, usually commenting that they'll wait for Smash/Kart/X/Bayonetta 2/a new Zelda before they jump in.

Nintendo did nothing to stem the barrage of negative press Wii U (some deserved, some undeserved) received in its first few months on the market, and based on my own experiences, that seems to be something that in the UK at least, has really stuck. Just as Wii had a great reputation through word of mouth, Wii U seems to have become stuck with a terrible reputation it's going to struggle to remove.

As for 3DS not being present, Nintendo's own figures show that the UK has consistently been 3DS's weakest European market. I can only speculate that the shrinkage in the handheld sector has been particularly acute in the UK, and thus the 3DS is suffering to a higher degree than in other European markets.