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bonzobanana on 30 November 2014
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CaviarMeths said:
bonzobanana said:
However the userbase is too small and gamers like myself may only make up a small percentage of wii u owners. It may be casual young/family gamers make up 80% of the install base.

I think you're thinking of the Wii.  The Wii U hasn't sold well to casual audiences at all.  The majority of its owners are the core Nintendo fanbase, the ones that loved the Gamecube.  Most Wii U owners want to see Metroid and F-Zero, not another Wii Sports or Just Dance.  In a lot of ways, the Wii U is basically the Gamecube 2, except with much fewer multiplats.  Low installed base, software line-up generally known for fantastic 1st party and 3rd party exclusives, etc.

I agree with you that Nintendo's core audience isn't necessarily opposed to M-rated 3rd party games though.  There just has to be something there that convinces them that they would rather have it on Nintendo than another console.  Looking back to the Gamecube again, RE Zero, REmake, and RE4 all sold pretty fantastic, some of the best selling games on the system.  RE2 and RE3 on the other hand sold terribly on the GC because they were garbage ports.  And now on the Wii U, M-rated 3rd party games aren't selling well, with exception to well-marketed exclusives like ZombiU and Bayonetta 2 that are designed with the Wii U in mind, games made for that core Nintendo fanbase that loved the Gamecube.

But if someone is just buying a Wii U to babysit their kids, or just buying a Wii U to play Mario Kart and Smash, then no, they're not going to buy any of these M-rated 3rd party games no matter how good they are.

This is the wii u top 20. Of the 20,  16 are suitable for young players, 3 are mature and all sub 1 million, 3 are casual. Young/casual makes up 17 of the positions.  I think if you were to analyse the core audience I suspect it would be families with young children with either the wii u console available in the main living room to all or perhaps young children having the console in their bedroom. Myself I have 9 of those games. 1 mature (zombiu) and intend to buy 3 more on that list. The main criteria for selling games on wii u appears to be games suitable for young/all people published by Nintendo. 

PosGameYearGenrePublisherNorth AmericaEuropeJapanRest of WorldGlobal
1. New Super Mario Bros. U 2012 Action Nintendo 2.00 0.85 1.22 0.24 4.32
2. Nintendo Land 2012 Action Nintendo 1.78 0.76 0.43 0.22 3.19
3. Mario Kart 8 2014 Racing Nintendo 1.28 0.82 0.72 0.20 3.01
4. Super Mario 3D World 2013 Platform Nintendo 1.07 0.57 0.59 0.15 2.39
5. New Super Luigi U 2013 Platform Nintendo 1.07 0.46 0.15 0.13 1.81
6. Wii Party U 2013 Action Nintendo 0.22 0.31 0.80 0.06 1.39
7. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker 2013 Action Nintendo 0.63 0.29 0.11 0.08 1.11
8. Pikmin 3 2013 Strategy Nintendo 0.35 0.17 0.26 0.05 0.83
9. Lego City Undercover 2013 Action Nintendo 0.40 0.26 0.11 0.06 0.83
10. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze 2014 Platform Nintendo 0.35 0.23 0.12 0.05 0.76
11. ZombiU 2012 Action Ubisoft 0.38 0.25 0.05 0.06 0.74
12. Hyrule Warriors 2014 Action Nintendo 0.26 0.15 0.12 0.04 0.56
13. Monster Hunter Tri 2012 Role-Playing Nintendo 0.15 0.13 0.22 0.03 0.53
14. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS 2014 Fighting Nintendo 0.46 0.00 0.00 0.03 0.48
15. Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games 2013 Sports Nintendo 0.21 0.12 0.09 0.03 0.44
16. Wii Fit U 2013 Action Nintendo 0.15 0.08 0.18 0.02 0.43
17. Rayman Legends 2013 Platform Ubisoft 0.17 0.18 0.02 0.04 0.40
18. Disney Infinity 2013 Action Disney Interactive Studios 0.20 0.15 0.00 0.03 0.38
19. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed 2012 Racing Sega 0.13 0.19 0.01 0.04 0.37
20. Bayonetta 2 2014 Action Nintendo 0.20 0.08 0.06 0.02 0.36