Ka-pi96 said:
mountaindewslave said:
RolStoppable said:
The controller is the most obvious part of any video game console. People realize that the standard controller determines what kind of games are going to be made for that system.
The GameCube had a dual analog controller and flopped. The Wii didn't have a dual analog controller and was a raving success. Logically, the sound business decision would be to build on the success instead of the failure.
But I am interested, what makes you believe that the dual analog controller made the Wii U sell better than it would have otherwise?
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if you're really too dense to see that the reason the Wii U failed was marketing and confusion relating to its name then you're hopless :O the controller was far from its issue, and if it was part of the issue it was due to the tablet feature (a lot of users don't care about having that feature and don't want to pay the extra money for it) not the dual analog sticks. Dual analog sticks are on virtually every controller these days
you're confused entirely it seems
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eh? While they didn't help they certainly weren't the only, or even main reason. Let's see, a list of reasons why the Wii U isn't doing so well...
- Is barely better than PS360. No reason to upgrade and for any new customers it just can't compete in library. It needed to be a lot better than them and it just wasn't.
- Lack of regular controller. The tablet controller isn't necessarily an issue, it being the only one available however is the issue. That means anyone who wants a more traditional controller has to pay extra for it.
- Lack of 3rd party support. This is a pretty big one. Sure it got some 3rd party games to start with, but not all of them and they soon dried up. If it had all the 3rd party support that PS/Xbox gets then I have no doubt it would have done better than it is now. Again, not the only issue so maybe not a huge amount better, but definitely a bit better.
- Lack of must have exclusives. Can't see a single must have exclusive in it's launch line up and it took a long time after that to get one. Not a huge issue since games, exclusive or not, sell consoles but considering the lack of 3rd party games as well as the lack of improvement over PS360 it becomes a bigger issue.
- Lack of momentum. The Wii started off strong but it's last few years were pretty bad. All the big games in that period were on PS360 and so that's where most of the gamers were. Some of those franchises came to Wii U with late ports or sequels, but that doesn't really help when the audience for those games are already on other consoles and happy there.
All of those and probably a few others are probably bigger reasons than marketing and definitely bigger reasons than because of its name.
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I would say the lack of momentum and lack of 3rd party support all tie back to image. When a publisher looks at platforms for publication, they are always consciously looking for platforms that are compatible with their goals. If the image of the platform is opposed to the image that they feel is compatible with their offerings, they are going to be hesitant to support it. And halfbaked support hamstrings future efforts and it snowballs from there. And a poor launch marketing campaign is a huge, huge, HUGE momentum killer. People don't telepathically know what your product is.
As for the controller, I think they could have sold it better. I don't think the Wii U had a chance at first, the product is just too rough around the edges. If the gamepad were refined with features stripped out to reduce the form factor to something more resembling a traditional controller, it could have done better.
But basically, on the bolding, I have to disagree. Those other factors contributed, but some had their roots in marketing and image. And more importantly, fixing all those issues woudl be for nothing if the launch campaign was still of this abysmal quality:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dbGJieRaH0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fxQx7ZT-5k
No one is buying a console with THOSE commercials in their heads. Only people who frequent gaming sites and know all the news about the system are going to give it a second thought. The Pitch campaign probably drove a number of consumers AWAY with how utterly embarrassing it is. And worst of all, these ads didn't even air for very long. Most of 2013 was complete radio silence.
