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Aielyn said:
oniyide said:

the launch games bombed.

How many of those launch games were actually good? EA's only half-decent game on Wii U was NfS, it was released something like 5 months late on the Wii U, and EA had announced they were ceasing support for the system before it released.

What people always ignore when making these threads is that people aren't going to buy inferior games. They also aren't going to wait 6 months for a game that releases everywhere else without the delay.

The only Wii U games rated over 90 on metacritic that aren't first party are Rayman Legends (sold best, or at least equal-best, on Wii U, despite Ubisoft's shenanigans) and Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition (an eShop title that had released for PS3 and PSV more than a year earlier, and for PC a little less than a year earlier). Close to 90 (but not eShop-only, thus without sales data) includes Skylanders Swap Force (also available for Wii, so people aren't likely to upgrade for it), Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Director's Cut (two-years-late port), Need for Speed: Most Wanted U (delayed as mentioned above, and EA had already ceased support for the platform when they released it), Mass Effect 3: Special Edition (rated 85... PS3/360 version was rated 93, PC version was rated 89, ME Trilogy was released around the same time containing this game plus the two before it for PS3/360/PC, and the game was 9 months late on Wii U)...

This brings us to the first game that rated comparably and released at least close to the original (less than a month delay) - Assassin's Creed 3. See if you can find a single sign of AC3 being advertised for Wii U. All of the advertising I can find shows only PS3 and 360 (here's the "available on" part of the launch TV commercial) .

Then NBA 2K13 was rated lower than the PS3/360 versions by a significant amount, Darksiders II was three months late, Batman: Arkham City - Armored Edition was a year late, Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Wii U Edition was more than two months late and still managed to sell about half as well as the 360 version, and I think you're starting to get the idea.

The ONLY notable, decent-quality Wii U multiplatform retail title that released day-and-date with the other versions, with decent advertising including the Wii U version, sold well on the Wii U (relative to the other versions). And *that* was a game that was meant to be a Wii U exclusive before being delayed 7 months with the publisher specifically saying it was so that other systems could get the game at the same time, thus moving the release from right in the middle of a drought (and thus getting all of the attention squarely on it) to a release right in the middle of the time when Nintendo was releasing all its big titles. And even the developers themselves thought the publisher's decision to delay the title was bullshit.

Third parties can't put out half-arsed efforts, and then expect spectacular sales.

The classic third parties never tried argument. What more do you want? Wii u got a semi decent launch exclusive "zombiu", definitive ports of games (nfs, darksiders, Rayman legends), new ip only on wii u (lego city undercover, wonderful 101), and a full blown partnership game that went on to achieve game of the year awards (bayonetta 2). I can understand if some of these attempts didn't do well, but literally all of them were flops, and none went on to go beyond 1 million sales, while mario kart single handidly claims 50% attachment rate. This problem goes far far beyond "third parties never tried," and even if that was the case, it's Nintendo's job as a console maker to make third parties try harder. You can't tell me that the wii u missing Gta V, Destiny, and other insanely big titles has nothing to do with Nintendo