| ViktorBKK said: The N64 sold 33 million units. I don't see the Wii U going anywhere near that. Right now, it is barely moving any units. A competitive system in terms of specs, would have at least secured some third party support. Along with their exclusive 1st party line up, Nintendo would stand a chance. As it is now, they are struggling to sell a million/year. It couldn't possibly get any worse. |
That couldn't possibly have anything at all to do with the fact that except for a small blip in March (MH3, Lego City, etc.), the Wii U had an unprecedented lack of software coming out for it during the first half of the year, could it? Fact is, the system sold rather well AT LAUNCH, and even into December. But as soon as the holidays were over, and there were no major games coming out in January onward, sales kind of hit the brakes. It's not rocket science. A lot of people were:
A) Waiting to see when the new Mario, Mario Kart, Zelda, etc. were coming out.
B) Waiting to see what the competition was doing and how much it was going to cost.
C) Waiting for the Wii U to get more games, period.
Before they decided to go and buy a console. The Wii U had a pretty solid launch, on paper one of the best actually. The PROBLEM was that no one could have forseen just HOW barren the release lineup looked for the first half of 2013. Nintendo fucked up BIG TIME when it came to that, and they've more or less admitted this. They put FAR too much focus into 3DS development, when the 3DS is selling great and actually has, if anything, a surplus of software coming for it last year and this year. Games like Luigi's Mansion 2 and Paper Mario 4 should have, no question, been Wii U titles. They not only would have been better, but could have given the system SOMETHING beyond a handful of March third party releases. The other issue was how shitty Wii U's initial ad campaign was. There was no major tv ad build-up before release, and the launch commercial was god awful: shitty dubstep and a bunch of shit that told people nothing about the console or why they should want one. With the system FINALLY getting games from June onward, and really picking up into the fall/holiday season, along with what will inevitably be a "Second launch" style ad campaign, along with what one would imagine will be some kind of new bundle deal for the console, sales will absolutely pick up. I've heard a LOT of people say they were waiting for Mario, or Mario Kart, or Smash Bros, or the Wind Waker remake, etc.
And as for your mention of 3rd party support, again, if you go back and bother to look at the launch lineup, it was stacked with a lot of 3rd party releases of the kind that Wii never got. Assassin's Creed, Darksiders, Batman, Mass Effect, etc. etc. Plenty of Ubisoft, Activision, EA, etc. support. The issue has been, after they saw how the sales dried up so quickly, companies like EA cut any plans for 2013 titles. But not all. COD is coming out, Watch Dogs, Splinter Cell, Batman, ACIV, etc. Several of the publishers have said that their support for Wii U will pick back up when sales pick up. And that is guaranteed to happen. Nintendo isn't stupid. If they wind up needing a price drop, they'll do it. Special bundles, they'll do it. Making more exclusive deals like with Sega (which I'm willing to bet they're already looking into), they'll do it. They done goofed with the first half of 2013. I seriously doubt they're going to let that happen again.
So no, I don't think there's any way that they could fail to hit 30 million lifetime sales. Not with Zelda U, and Mario Kart 8, and Smash Bros. coming out, etc. And the GamePad, getting back on topic, as I've said is an assett to the console, not a hindrance, and the mere fact that the system is Wii compatible and also uses the Wiimote, is also a huge assett. It's the best of both worlds, and it will work out fine in the end. If anyone thinks the Xbone is going to outsell the Wii U this gen, they're crazy.
