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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - What Went Wrong? Wii U Edition

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Why did the Wii U failed?

Poor Marketing 15 23.44%
 
Outdated Hardware 7 10.94%
 
Lack of First Party Killer Apps 6 9.38%
 
Lack of 3rd Party support 0 0%
 
The tablet controller 6 9.38%
 
The Price 0 0%
 
All of the above 27 42.19%
 
None of the above 0 0%
 
The Wii killed the Wii U! 1 1.56%
 
WTH! The Wii U was a success! 2 3.13%
 
Total:64
SammyGiireal said:

My point remains valid, the Wii U failed as a home console in part because it was released in 2012 with out dated hardware. At 300-350 dollars  no one in their right mind was going to support the system knowing that the PS4 and Xbox One were around the corner. It is a valid point when even Metro's developer stated they wouldnt make ports for it because the CPU was terrible.  

Power isn't the only reason the Wii U failed but it is one of the reasons it did. That is one of my points. It proved true.

How about at $200-$250, more Wiimote controls, and no gamepad? Would it still have failed due to lack of power? 



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Cerebralbore101 said:
SammyGiireal said:

My point remains valid, the Wii U failed as a home console in part because it was released in 2012 with out dated hardware. At 300-350 dollars  no one in their right mind was going to support the system knowing that the PS4 and Xbox One were around the corner. It is a valid point when even Metro's developer stated they wouldnt make ports for it because the CPU was terrible.  

Power isn't the only reason the Wii U failed but it is one of the reasons it did. That is one of my points. It proved true.

How about at $200-$250, more Wiimote controls, and no gamepad? Would it still have failed due to lack of power? 

It might have sold a little better, you solved the price issue by removing the controller. But the power issue, lack of killer apps, and lack of third party support remain. Nintendo was successful with the Wii, but even the Wii had run its course by the start of the decade.  Without the controller and a 199 dollar price point we might have seen sales in the 20-25 mill range. 



Cerebralbore101 said:
SammyGiireal said:

My point remains valid, the Wii U failed as a home console in part because it was released in 2012 with out dated hardware. At 300-350 dollars  no one in their right mind was going to support the system knowing that the PS4 and Xbox One were around the corner. It is a valid point when even Metro's developer stated they wouldnt make ports for it because the CPU was terrible.  

Power isn't the only reason the Wii U failed but it is one of the reasons it did. That is one of my points. It proved true.

How about at $200-$250, more Wiimote controls, and no gamepad? Would it still have failed due to lack of power? 

It remains the software question. If Nintendo out of the box supported it with nice software, especially something like Wii Sports Resorts, things might have been different. But a lot of things indicate that Nintendo struggled getting in HD-development (something that struck also XBox360 and PS3 in the beginning) and had also too much resources into 3DS-development. So the main problem may have remained.

Restructuring the development helped. Also Switchs good launch year was helped a lot by completely neglecting the WiiU a yearor so before.



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Cerebralbore101 said:
SammyGiireal said:

My point remains valid, the Wii U failed as a home console in part because it was released in 2012 with out dated hardware. At 300-350 dollars  no one in their right mind was going to support the system knowing that the PS4 and Xbox One were around the corner. It is a valid point when even Metro's developer stated they wouldnt make ports for it because the CPU was terrible.  

Power isn't the only reason the Wii U failed but it is one of the reasons it did. That is one of my points. It proved true.

How about at $200-$250, more Wiimote controls, and no gamepad? Would it still have failed due to lack of power? 

That would make it Wii HD, the very thing Pachter was saying Nintendo should release around 2010 or so (sort of foreseeing the mid-cycle consoles that came later in 8th gen).



SammyGiireal said:
Cerebralbore101 said:

How about at $200-$250, more Wiimote controls, and no gamepad? Would it still have failed due to lack of power? 

It might have sold a little better, you solved the price issue by removing the controller. But the power issue, lack of killer apps, and lack of third party support remain. Nintendo was successful with the Wii, but even the Wii had run its course by the start of the decade.  Without the controller and a 199 dollar price point we might have seen sales in the 20-25 mill range. 

That tells me that you think price to performance/features wasn't a large factor in sales. "We might have seen 20-25 million range.", isn't a very confident statement. That's about 5-10 million more units sold. 

I disagree. I think it would have done 35-40 million had the price been $250 instead of $350, for the 32 GB model of the Wii U. It still would have been a console with sad sales. Just XB1 levels of sadness. Switch probably wouldn't have released in 2017 with sales like that so it would have an extra year or two to get those kind of sales up. So something like 30-35 million by 2017, and another 2-3 million or so in 2018 and 2019 each. 

Why? Because the software for the Wii U just wasn't there. It had 2 years of good games bookended by two massive droughts. 

What if Nintendo had released the Wii U as a machine rivaling the power of the base model PS4, for $400? How much better do you think it would have sold then? 

Please answer before viewing my own opinion on it below...

Spoiler!
I think a PS4 level Wii U, with  a 32 GB HDD, and Wiimote/Nunchuck controllers (no Gamepad/Tablet included) would have sold 20-25 million. In other words, I think it would have been better for Nintendo to release an underpowered Wii U at $250 than bother trying to make a Gamecube 2.0!
Last edited by Cerebralbore101 - on 30 September 2019

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Cerebralbore101 said:
SammyGiireal said:

It might have sold a little better, you solved the price issue by removing the controller. But the power issue, lack of killer apps, and lack of third party support remain. Nintendo was successful with the Wii, but even the Wii had run its course by the start of the decade.  Without the controller and a 199 dollar price point we might have seen sales in the 20-25 mill range. 

That tells me that you think price to performance/features wasn't a large factor in sales. "We might have seen 20-25 million range.", isn't a very confident statement. That's about 5-10 million more units sold. 

I disagree. I think it would have done 35-40 million had the price been $250 instead of $350, for the 32 GB model of the Wii U. It still would have been a console with sad sales. Just XB1 levels of sadness. Switch probably wouldn't have released in 2017 with sales like that so it would have an extra year or two to get those kind of sales up. So something like 30-35 million by 2017, and another 2-3 million or so in 2018 and 2019 each. 

Why? Because the software for the Wii U just wasn't there. It had 2 years of good games bookended by two massive droughts. 

What if Nintendo had released the Wii U as a machine rivaling the power of the base model PS4, for $400? How much better do you think it would have sold then? 

Please answer before viewing my own opinion on it below...

Spoiler!
I think a PS4 level Wii U, with  a 32 GB HDD, and Wiimote/Nunchuck controllers (no Gamepad/Tablet included) would have sold 20-25 million. In other words, I think it would have been better for Nintendo to release an underpowered Wii U at $250 than bother trying to make a Gamecube 2.0!

I still think it would have failed but it would have sold more than the meager 13 million. Because many gamers would have seen it as a future proof machine. 

Third party support wouldn't have been as dreadful, but the issue remains as killer exclusives would still have been a problem. BotW didn't see the light of day until 2017. We would be seeing 30 million units here. An under powered Wii U at 250 would still sell less than 30 mill...no Xbox One numbers. Some said at 2010 release...I can actually see the cheaper, HD Wii U selling better then.



I will add a point that only recently realised. Forgive me, If anyone else mentioned it before. Just look at the logo. What you see. The name Wii with a U in a blue frame (excuse me for the word, I couldn't know how to express it more acccurately) shown as an... exponent. Why, please tell me why. How will the customer understand that we speak about a whole new console when even the logo is designed to indicate that we talk about something which is a little more than a regular Wii. If xbox360 had the same logo, it would give the customers the same impression. The same with any other name for any other console. Even GBA SP had the SP with capital letters. You will say that this maybe a detail, but is it really? What I want to say is that the logo of Wii U was very insufficient and disorienting to support a new console. What do you think?



Quodam_Diem said:
I will add a point that only recently realised. Forgive me, If anyone else mentioned it before. Just look at the logo. What you see. The name Wii with a U in a blue frame (excuse me for the word, I couldn't know how to express it more acccurately) shown as an... exponent. Why, please tell me why. How will the customer understand that we speak about a whole new console when even the logo is designed to indicate that we talk about something which is a little more than a regular Wii. If xbox360 had the same logo, it would give the customers the same impression. The same with any other name for any other console. Even GBA SP had the SP with capital letters. You will say that this maybe a detail, but is it really? What I want to say is that the logo of Wii U was very insufficient and disorienting to support a new console. What do you think?

I did talk about the name and bad marketing. But the point you make about the logo is a very valid one, that I don't think has been brought up yet . It did serve to aid in costumer confusion.



SammyGiireal said:
Cerebralbore101 said:

That tells me that you think price to performance/features wasn't a large factor in sales. "We might have seen 20-25 million range.", isn't a very confident statement. That's about 5-10 million more units sold. 

I disagree. I think it would have done 35-40 million had the price been $250 instead of $350, for the 32 GB model of the Wii U. It still would have been a console with sad sales. Just XB1 levels of sadness. Switch probably wouldn't have released in 2017 with sales like that so it would have an extra year or two to get those kind of sales up. So something like 30-35 million by 2017, and another 2-3 million or so in 2018 and 2019 each. 

Why? Because the software for the Wii U just wasn't there. It had 2 years of good games bookended by two massive droughts. 

What if Nintendo had released the Wii U as a machine rivaling the power of the base model PS4, for $400? How much better do you think it would have sold then? 

Please answer before viewing my own opinion on it below...

Spoiler!
I think a PS4 level Wii U, with  a 32 GB HDD, and Wiimote/Nunchuck controllers (no Gamepad/Tablet included) would have sold 20-25 million. In other words, I think it would have been better for Nintendo to release an underpowered Wii U at $250 than bother trying to make a Gamecube 2.0!

I still think it would have failed but it would have sold more than the meager 13 million. Because many gamers would have seen it as a future proof machine. 

Third party support wouldn't have been as dreadful, but the issue remains as killer exclusives would still have been a problem. BotW didn't see the light of day until 2017. We would be seeing 30 million units here. An under powered Wii U at 250 would still sell less than 30 mill...no Xbox One numbers. Some said at 2010 release...I can actually see the cheaper, HD Wii U selling better then.

How much more though? Would a PS4 comparable Wii U have sold just 16 million units lifetime? Or 20 million lifetime? Or even more? I'd just like a an official number from you. Even an estimated range like 60-77 million would do. 

Or to put the question another way. What do you think would have sold more? An underpowered $250 Wii U with no Gamepad, but with Nunchucks/Wiimotes instead? Or a $400 Wii U with no Gamepad, but a regular controller instead, and power rivaling the base model PS4?

You've said an underpowered Wii U at 250 would have sold less than 30 million. 



Cerebralbore101 said:
SammyGiireal said:

I still think it would have failed but it would have sold more than the meager 13 million. Because many gamers would have seen it as a future proof machine. 

Third party support wouldn't have been as dreadful, but the issue remains as killer exclusives would still have been a problem. BotW didn't see the light of day until 2017. We would be seeing 30 million units here. An under powered Wii U at 250 would still sell less than 30 mill...no Xbox One numbers. Some said at 2010 release...I can actually see the cheaper, HD Wii U selling better then.

How much more though? Would a PS4 comparable Wii U have sold just 16 million units lifetime? Or 20 million lifetime? Or even more? I'd just like a an official number from you. Even an estimated range like 60-77 million would do. 

Or to put the question another way. What do you think would have sold more? An underpowered $250 Wii U with no Gamepad, but with Nunchucks/Wiimotes instead? Or a $400 Wii U with no Gamepad, but a regular controller instead, and power rivaling the base model PS4?

You've said an underpowered Wii U at 250 would have sold less than 30 million.

An under powered Wii U, without a killer exclusive in 2012 sells about 20-25 million if cheap I am talking 199.99 cheap. A PS4 like machine in 2012 should sell more than that. some of the big third party games would have arrived in better shape than in the 360 and PS3. We are talking about a real 1080p machine (which was a big selling point then) capable of running MGSV, GTA etc. Ports which it might have had. 

I can't see it doing much worse than Xbox one which also lacked great exclusives. So for arguments sake with third party support based on the console being competent enough to compete with the PS4 I can see it reaching the 30-35 mill threshold.  No where near as successful as the hybrid Switch is/will be but not near the disaster it ( the WiiU) actually was.