WiiU hardware sales seem to have gotten a pretty good boost with the price cut + WW HD bundle.

[benji232]

Soundwave said:

benji232 said:

Soundwave said:

Miiverse doodles are fun, but it's not worth risking your console business over such a feature. People who want to play Wii Sports want to play the game, not to make doodles in between games. It's not like you can't communicate or send a "I'd like to play!" message without needing a touch screen.

If sales are not up to expectations through this holiday it's fair to say Nintendo gave the tablet idea a fair shot -- it's just not a feature people are willing to buy a console for.

There are ways to update Miiverse so people with Wiimote's can interface with it easier as well via a firmware update.

Like the 2DS it would be time to change gears. You can still have an SKU with the tablet, nothing wrong with that.

Wii U (32GB + Wii Sports Club + Wiimote) - $199.99
Wii U (32GB + NSMBU/NSMLU + tablet) - $279.99
Nintendo Land Plus (add a few new minigames) + Wii U tablet - $99.99 (standalone)

Alongside Mario Kart 8 next April would be smart IMO. Some people just want Mario Kart, they don't care about Miiverse, at $199.99 they might bite on impulse.

How exactly are they risking their console business? The only risk I see is losing this generation of console, but if the wiiU fails, I highly doubt their just going to ditch their console business as a whole.

You can't just write off an entire console generation, if Wii U flops, I think Nintendo will probably shy away from the console business going forward or what will follow will be a very different type of future.

Even if they do decide to make another dedicated console if Wii U never takes, it's not worth doing all this for a controller that people don't seem to be responding to.

The point of hardware first and foremost is to simply get into people's homes so you can sell software on it. Period. It's not to make a point about how a controller is neat or something. 2 holiday seasons is enough, if it's still not selling up to expectation, it's time to offer a cheaper option without the tablet.

You win some, you lose some, the Wiimote was a brilliant idea that sold consoles, the tablet has been problematic. I give it one more holiday season, but if sales are still below par, at some point you have to open the discussion to at least 1 SKU that ships without the thing. If people don't want it, why keep banging your head against the wall.

I completly agree with you on the fact that they can't just write off an entire gen of consoles but where I disagree is the fact that you say that this could be their last home console if they fail, which let's be realistic, they most likely already have another home console in RD. Obviously, if the wiiU flops hard, they ARE going to re think their strategy moving on in the future just like they did when the gamecube flopped but does that mean that they are just going to exit the console industry due to 1 flop especially after having 2 systems (DS/Wii) that sold like hot cakes.