| h2ohno said: The problem is not who Nintendo made games for or pandered to. Nintendo tried to make a system for both hardcore and casuals and made a series of mistakes along the way. Their marketing was the worst its ever been, turning off the hardcore and confusing the casuals to the point where many did not even realize it was a new console - hard to sell a system people don't even realize is a system. They underestimated how hard HD development was, causing one of the worst post-launch droughts any system has ever had and killing its momentum. They gimped the CPU, making third party development more difficult and not worth the effort after a while. And the gamepad made the system too expensive for its entire lifespan, preventing it from having the appeal of a second console the way other Nintendo consoles have had. It was a perfect storm of bad moves that had nothing to do with whether Nintendo Land wasn't hardcore enough or Xenoblade casual enough. Many of the games that were made for the Wii U were made specifically because Nintendo had realized they were in trouble and were desperate to get something, anything out, hence why Hyrule Warriors, Captain Toad, Bayonneta 2, and Tokyo Mirage Sessions exist. |
I have to agree with this. The Wii U had so many problems right off the bat that even the hype for open world Zelda and Mario could not save the console.
Nintendo botched the marketing with both the name and the presence of the console. Not enough ads, both TV and internet, and it catered too much towards children. Of course, Nintendo is more kid friendly than Sony or Microsoft, but with the Switch, they were able to provide a good balance in their marketing. With the Switch, they first marketed it towards young adults and then added children and families later on. If you looked back on their recent demographic data, most Switch owners are young, adult males. Now, with games like Mario Tennis, Super Mario Party, Smash Bros. Ultimate, Pokemon, and Animal Crossing, which is notably more popular among women than men in Japan, among others, Nintendo can continue to expand the demographic of the Switch userbase.
As mentioned, the Wii U was difficult to work with for indies and third party developers. When sales declined significantly in its 2nd-3rd year, third parties no longer cared. Now with the Switch, we're seeing ports left and right, both from first- and third-party, partly thanks to an easier infrastructure to work with. Yes, it helps that the Switch is selling like gangbusters, but seeing more and more games come out for the Switch (almost reaching 1000, if it hasn't already), the library is getting more established and prestige, which intrigues new consumers.
And ultimately, while I like the Wii U, its not an attractive console (or one that made sense to consumers) compared to the Switch or even the Wii. I talked with a few consumers at various outlets recently, and they still either never heard about the Wii U or weren't sure if it was an extension of the Wii.
The games were great, but most of them came at a time the Wii U was obsolete. As great as Bayonetta 2, Splatoon, Pikmin 3, DKC: TF, Mario 3D World, Hyrule Warriors, Smash 4, Mario Kart 8, Xenoblade X, Fatal Frame V, and Tokyo Mirage Sessions were, they were too late. The only way Nintendo saved face was being able to release those games on Wii U no matter what happened to their bottom line, including Breath of the Wild. Could they have dropped the price? Maybe. But as we saw from their financial reports, they barely made much profit by sticking with the price. If they cut the price, would they have improved returns? Probably not. Improved sales may have not been worth it for them.
I mean, if you think Nintendo was pandering too much to their fans, why didn't they release a new Metroid or mainline Animal Crossing title? In fact, didn't they piss off the hardcore fans with E3 2015 alone?
