I care about BC. Not a deal breaker but rather a selling point. I get that BC would only add to the cost of the machine and it might be better to leave it out. I mean we still have our old consoles right? But the way I see it, BC is a nice addition to a console I already wanted to buy and a valuable feature to have for consoles early in their life cycle as a means of attracting new customers.
Not everyone can afford to have every console and some might choose one over the other. Let's say someone only went with the Wii and now they are interested in the PS4. They missed a whole generation's worth of PS3 games and now they are stuck between two options. Get a cheaper PS3 or a brand new PS4? But maybe they are only really interested in a handful of PS3 games, which is why they went with the Wii in the first place. But then again, the PS4 will only have just launched, so there are only a select few launch titles to choose from. They would have to wait at least an year or two before some games really start showing up. Should they wait an year or possibly two before getting a PS4? What games will they play during this seemingly long period of time? Only Wii games?! Well since the Wii U has BC, they can still play their backlog of Wii games and play some Wii U games they were interested in. In the end, they never buy the PS3 or PS4 and stick with the Wii U because it keeps them occupied enough and they have limited spending money.
So long story short, BC ended up being the selling point for a console they weren't expecting to get in the first place. BC is valuable from a business standpoint for attracting new customers because it adds a huge ass catalog of games for your new console without having to actually have them made. And this is important for consoles early in their life cycle when there are so few games to choose from. For old customers, it's a nice convenience and you basically buy two consoles in one. If your old one happens to die out, no problem! Obviously, if there is some huge hurdle to overcome in order to have BC, like with the PS4 and its completely different architecture, then it might be better for both the company and the consumer to leave it out if it means raising the cost of the machine unreasonably. Again, not necessary, but definitely nice to have and definitely helps to sell consoles!
