Has the Wii U irreparably damaged Nintendo's image?

[Soundwave]

Yes and no.

I think the Wii U damaged more the image of the "lets make a console based around a controller!" concept. That's the main thing with the Wii U's legacy is the controller will be seen as a failure.

In terms of the console itself though, that's a little trickier because I think Wii U has become a kind of hip thing for game connoisseurs to enjoy. Much like the Sega Dreamcast. Most people look at the Dreamcast in hindsight favorably.

It's not the Dreamcast itself that people look down on.

I do think though 3/4 consoles now that have failed to sell above 35 million and declining hardware sales for every Nintendo console if we move out the Wii craze, does present Nintendo with an overall serious credibility issue with a good number of consumers.

Like the third party thing in particular is kind of past the point of "well maybe this can get better", I think most people are going to be very jaded towards Nintendo going forward with regards to that.

Wii U certainly has not done anything for the "Nintendo consoles are for a limited range of Nintendo games only" label which isn't a good one to have.