| Soundwave said:
This is kind of a unique first in Nintendo's gaming history, for the first time both their handheld and console divisions are not doing very well in the big US market. During the GCN/GBA days, the GCN never sold as low as the Wii U and the GBA was performing great until Nintendo had to start phasing it out in favor of the DS. The 3DS is sputtering now to 20k-ish weeks after a dissapointing holiday season last year (even with Pokemon X/Y and Zelda: LBW), one that was apparently (according to Iwata anyway) their worst holiday season in North America in a long time. The Wii U continues to sell horribly, even though the baseline is up this year, it's still far short of what the GameCube was selling even post Mario Kart 8. Case in point the GameCube sold 100k for August 2003, while the Wii U in the post MK8 honeymoon sold 59k for August 14. The Wii U has only beaten the GameCube in monthly sales once over a period of like 24+ months. Why is the US market so cold on Nintendo? Certainly they haven't invest a lot in Western development. Certainly the casual boom has been co-opted away from them by Apple/Android devices. It seems like the tablet boom has also stabbed them through the heart with the kids market as well. This may well be the biggest challenge Nintendo has ever faced in the gaming business. |
Price cut would help.... lack of quality software is the biggest problem.
People pick hardware with games.... doesn't help that Nintendo hasn't release anything big since Mario Kart... Hyrule Warriors and Bayonetta are not system sellers.
Super Smash Wii U, Price cut, Wii U Bundles and Holiday will make this the best Holiday season for Wii U... Nintendo has a pretty good backlog now on WiiU for new owner.... and the Super Smash Hype will generate hardware sales.
I think we must simply face the fact that WiiU will not do as good and will have a hard time getting to Gamecube numbers. The game pad is simply not innovative enough and there no game that make it a killer add-on. Nintendo needs a $199 Mario Kart WIIU bundle, then they trully got a casual friendly price point.
I wouldn't be suprise if you saw a $199 Nintendo White WiiU skylanders bundle and the main bundles @ $249.99.
