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[Nuvendil]

Kai_Mao said:

Nuvendil said:

What?  The Wii U had Wii Sports!  Wii Sports Club launched in November, 2013.  And no one cared.   No one rushed out to buy it.  No one saw it on shelves and freaked out.  It has sold less than half a million copies to date retail, Bayonetta 2 tops that and it's a niche Platinum game. The Wii-game brand is practically dead.  The fact you didn't even remember Wii Sports Club and that it sold so poorly is proof of my point that it has no pull whatsoever with the current market.

Now yes, Wii U's marketing was a disaster, said that myself countless times.  But the Wii brand was severely damaged well before then.  By 2012, many associated the word Wii with motion controlled gimmickery.  And Wii Sports was instrumental to that: it firmly tied the Wii to motion controls to almost the exclusion of all else.  When motion controls fell out of fashion and the audience that still cared left, the Wii brand's strength crumbled away.  The Wii U had an uphill battle from day one.

You may be right, but it's telling when you still have customers, years later, who don't even know the Wii U actually exists or are confused with what it can do and why it's separate from the Wii. 

Oh I didn't say the marketing wasn't really bad cause it was really bad.  But it did have its moments.  2014 and 2015 had some decent efforts.  Not nearly enough mind.  But if a product has a really strong brand behind it, then it can grab some of its own sales.  Good little example is comparing Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze to Bayonetta 2.  Bayonetta 2 had a decent marketing campaign all things considered.  DK had none.  Like I don't remember seeing or hearing about it anywhere.  Yet it sold better in the end cause it has the superior brand power.  And the Wii was famous for that in 2007 to 2009 and early 2010.  Everyone talked about how it and everything with the Wii name sold itself.  Well that certainly isn't the case now.  Wii U sold miserably and Wii Sports - once the mightiest exclusive IP in all of console gaming - can't even muster a paltry half mil at retail. Mrketing or no, a franchise going from tens of millions to less than half a million is a sign of catastrophic brand decay.