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Forums - Sales Discussion - Wii U beaten by the Dreamcast - what now?

Looking at the sales figures, the Dreamcast, a console widely seen as a failure and the downfall of Sega, sold better than the Wii U to date. As Nintendo has the cash assest to survive a failed console, where will they go from here? It seems that they do not want to adapt to the demands of the modern gamer, and their core user base is smaller than ever. This being said, will this force Nintendo's hand out of the console business just as the Dreamcast did to Sega? How can Nintendo repair the publicity damage the Wii U has done to them in the eyes of gamers? 



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Didn't the Dreamcast set records when it was launched but cost Sega too much money?



What do they do now? The continue supporting and selling the Wii U until the generation is over.



"I think it will be the HDS"-Me in regards to Nintendo's next handheld.

Dreamcast sold well for instance i think its tracked above ps4 in japan for dame time frame. Sega Had two.failed consolrs in a row and there handhelds wernt selling brilliantly either plus shenmue been so expensive. How does any of that compare to nintendo on any way



ps4tw said:

Looking at the sales figures, the Dreamcast, a console widely seen as a failure and the downfall of Sega, sold better than the Wii U to date. As Nintendo has the cash assest to survive a failed console, where will they go from here? It seems that they do not want to adapt to the demands of the modern gamer, and their core user base is smaller than ever. This being said, will this force Nintendo's hand out of the console business just as the Dreamcast did to Sega? How can Nintendo repair the publicity damage the Wii U has done to them in the eyes of gamers? 


The dream cast was the downfall of saga because each unit didn't sell at a profit. Therefore apples and oranges. But yeah, just another forum about Doooooooooooōøõòôöóm. This is getting so old. I'm starting to wonder if people are paid to write about the same topic over and over. 



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Yeah, I think at this point people asking these kinds of questions just aren't paying that much attention.

With Wii U, they'll aim to profit and sell plenty of software and amiibos. I wouldn't be surprised to see more DLC to help with high profit margins. I wouldn't write them off. The Dreamcast forced Sega out of hardware because Sega had burnt money on the Mega-CD, 32X and Saturn before lurching onto the Dreamcast and losing money on that. Nintendo still have billions in the bank, and while they have had a rough few years financially, they should return to profit this year.

Nintendo have already said their home and handheld console strategy will be different next time around, and they're expanding outside of gaming for the first time in over 30 years. They're not going to throw more money at Wii U in an aggressive attempt to gain marketshare. They'll write it off as a failed experiment and move on.



"Looking at the sales figures, the Dreamcast, a console widely seen as a failure and the downfall of Sega, sold better than the Wii U to date."

try saying that again in another week or two. and wii u is actually profitable for it's company.



Well, Nintendo is coming off of a VERY successful console (Wii) and is still raking in the revenue off of their handheld division (3DS) as well as the Wii U and it's software are turning a profit, so in a way it's absolutely in no way like Sega. But I didn't expect you to know what you are talking about anyways so...



I'm under the impression Sega couldn't afford the losses on each sale of the console. Nintendo is breaking even or above water on WiiU for each console sold if I'm not mistaken. That creates two completely different scenarios for decision making. If Sega had been making a small profit on each console, I'm sure they would have kept the Dreamcast alive for the generation.

The definition people are using as failure for WiiU is it isn't 1 in sales or isn't keeping up with Wii. Obviously the situation is not optimal, but Nintendo is in a stable position with WiiU and they are making money on that console. In their eyes it's presently marginally successful after being a huge drain. We won't be able to render the final verdict for another couple of years.



Now? Dreamcast 2, obviously.