The failure of new hardware peripherals.

[binary solo]

nitekrawler1285 said:

binary solo said:

But but but Kinect isn't a peripheral.

MoHasanie said:
The Kinect 1 was a big success and sold lots of 360's.

That is flawed though. It actually didn't sell many 360's at all outside of the USA. And clearly the fact that something is a one hit wonder merely reinforces the point that peripherals are not a good long term bet. Even Wiimote ended up failing. How can I say that you ask? Reverse back to 2008/9 Wii was selling faster than PS2 at the same time in its lifecycle. People were talking 200 million sales. The Source was even predicting Wii would reach PS2's LTD. Forward to 2011 Wii sales started bottoming out even before Wii U launched. The Wiimote ended up being one of the most successful fads in gaming, but it was a one hit wonder in the end. And it failed to secure Nintendo a solid  consumer base for multiple generations.

Just Dance 4(software that relies on the Wii remote) still sold almost 7 million was launched last holiday and Just Dance 2014 almost 3 million this past holiday both on the massively declining platform that is the Wii.  it most certainly looks as if there is still interest in the Wiimote.  I don't think consumers gave up on the Wiimote or that it was a fad. Those software sales indicate there is still demand and that demand is higher than anything they have released on Wii U.  Nintendo just gave up on those consumers.

Nintendo choosing to stop making Wiimote software is what caused the Wii's sudden decline.  A controller by itself doesn't do much. It needs good software and that software needs to be in steady supply. MK Wii, Wii Sports and Resort, Wii Play all sold well in part to how well the controller was integrated.  When those software hits stopped coming the market moved on because there were few other options on the platform cause 3rd parties shunned it. 

They didn't really give the Wiimote a chance this generation.  The moment Wii U was unveiled it was all about that pad.  Software shown focused on the pad.  So how could it have possibly helped for multiple generations if Nintendo themselves basically put it in the closet?  

You do make a good point that Nintendo really de-emphasised the Wiimote for WiiU and that may have been a mistake. But I think you're confused about the software thing. On the one hand you're quoting the latest Just Dance as selling very well, and on the other you're saying Wii has lost motion controlled software support. Maybe you're right that Nintendo dropped software support but Just Dance demonstrates that there has been popular Motion control games released in recent times. Maybe not lots of it, but there's still been software support for it.

Besides, why would I, someone who doesn't own a Wii, need new software to entice me to buy a Wii? It has a huge library of motion control games I've never played and no hope of me ever playing through that library, not even the pretty good games? No Wii started selling poorly because there are very few people left who want to play Wii and don't already have one.