If Wii U had a different name would sales be higher?

[Nirvana_Nut85]

chakkra said:

Nirvana_Nut85 said:

Nintendo did not fail in the design that is not why the Wii U did not sell. The name and marketing of the Wii U were the largest factors.

I agree with you that the Wii U would have sold a little better if the name was different, but I do not believe that the name and marketing are the main reasons why the console has sold so little so far. 

Why not? Well, let's review the Wii for a moment. Who bought the Wii? Tentatively speaking I think the Wii market can be divided in 4 different groups:

1st) Fans of Nintendo games that always buy any console launched by the company.

2nd) Dedicated gamers who always buy more than one console and that saw the Nintendo console as the perfect secondary console.

3rd) New players (or parents of new players). In this category we also have parents, uncles, older brothers etc,  who decided to buy the Wii for their children, nephews, little brothers etc, because: a) It was the cheapest option, and b) The Nintendo games are more suitable for the entire family.

4th) Finally we have the casual crowd. All those people who felt for the motion control novelty.

Now, I could very well believe that people from the 3rd and 4th group do not know what a Wii U is yet, but it is very hard for me to imagine that all Nintendo fans and all the dedicated gamers do not know about it 18 months later. I just can't imagine that. 

Now, what remains to consider is how many people fall into the 1st and 2nd group? Obviously it is impossible to say but, I'd say maybe 30 to 40 percent would be a reasonable number. So we would be talking about 30 to 40 millions of people. Nearly 40 millions of people who should already know very well what a Wii U is.

And finally there is the question of how many people from the 3rd and 4th group would buy the console if they knew about it? And this is a very difficult question to answer because the Wii had two things that the Wii U does not have: and that is novelty and low price. I mean I think we can all agree that for a father, uncle, older brother, etc. it is much easier to give a $200-250 gift than a $300-350 one.

And about the novelty aspect.. Well, as much as Nintendo fans love their Gamepad (and I like it too) I think we can all I agree that there is not much there to attract a casual gamer (and make him expend $300-350).

Sooooo.. to summarize, yes, I do agree that a different name would have helped a little, but the impact wouldn't have been that much in the grand scheme of things (maybe 20-30 more sales?)

I agree. The Wii U wouldn't have sold substantially more (in comparison to Wii sales) and that was never my argument. If you read my previous arguments with "One flew over the coo coo'd nest" I provided Media, Analysts and Nintendo themselves who acknowledged the miscommunication of Nintendo in marketing the Wii U. If the Wii U was simply named Wii 2 it would have at least reached the 11-12 million units sold threshold by now. I'd say that under the Wii 2 name would would have seen  possible ltd sales of 40-50 million (even with the current fuck ups) whereas Nintendo will  now be lucky to surpass the GC.

I would rule out number 2 (Dedicated gamers) because they do not comprise of a large majority of the market. There are very few of these people percentage wise so it's almost relevant to cancel them out.

Alot of Nintendo fans who usually hop on the ship early haven't due to the lack of games. This will change over the next 6 months due to heavy hitters like MK8 and Smash but at the end of the day, Nintendo seems to have a smaller loyalty base than Sony & M$. I'd say maybe 20% of the Wii base was loyalists, 10-15% dedicated and the rest were casuals which is fine (Nintendo converts the younger casuals into gamers)
I would highly doubt and I mean highly doubt that 40 million people in the casual market have an understanding that Nintendo has a new console still and that it is not an add on. This will increase with the recent news of MK8 advertisements (Nascar, movie theatres,etc)buyt very well may go unnoticed now due to being overshadowed by the PS4.

Your claim that it does not have novelty is your own opinion. Touch screen gaming is a large market, except Nintendo took that and gave an interacted controller with a touchscreen that interacts and creates new gameplay as well as works as a second screen when the family wants the t.v. It may not been the innovation that the Wii mote was but every freind and family member of mine who is a casual has used it and found enjoyment from it (several have purchased). With the Wii seeing was believing where unfortunately playing is beleive for Wii U.

I disagree with the pricepoint as well. Many casual consumers are owners of tablets. My fiancee's Ipad retina I purchase for her was $419 (before tax) Canadian. Apple marketed the value of there Ipad efficiently and at a high price point they have sold exceptionally well.

As for 20 to 30 more sales? You have to be kidding me,lol. The general consumer needs things simplified for them in this day and age. Vita was an excellent product, new functionality and has sold terribly. Again, it's only speculation but it's a reasonable figure to say that 11-12 mill units would have been sold with a simple name change (Wii 2)