So Why is the Real Reason WiiU Failed?

[MikeRox]

zorg1000 said:

MikeRox said:
It's interesting that barring the Wii, the chart goes predictably in chronological order.

This would lead me to conclude that the market itself changed, while Nintendo didn't. Which actually makes me sad, as I love Nintendo consoles and think the Wii U certainly offers the most interesting software lineup of the 8th gen home consoles so far (to me).

One thing I find pretty interesting is that Pre-Wii/DS, the handhelds have grown at close to the same rate as the consoles have dropped.

NES-61 million, Game & Watch-43 million

SNES-49 million, Gameboy (Apr 89-Mar 96)-54 million

N64-33 million, Gameboy (Apr 96-Mar 03)-64 million

GC-22 million, Gameboy Advance-81 million

Each generation sold roughly 100 million, perhaps this is simply a coincidence or maybe it shows that as console gaming became more complex, people started to move onto handhelds which still predominately offered smaller/simpler, pick up and play style games which have historically been Nintendo's biggest selling games.

That is interesting. Did Nintendo's audience migrate to their handhelds. Or was it just the market itself continually growing? Or is it that the majority of Nintendo users had their system purchased for them by a parent, and handheld was a more suitable choice as it didn't take up the TV and allowed kids to be occupied whilst out of the house too?

I certainly think accessibility has been a key factor in the Wii's success and it will no doubt be something they are very seriously looking at again now. The more accessible their software is, the better it seems to sell. Which is why 2D Mario sold so well vs the much more complex 3D based ones.