I partly agree with the people that say the WiiU was a necessary evil to get to the Switch. There are multiple points for this argument:
- Nintendo needed to make the step to HD development, obviously it was difficult as the slow pace of releases showed.
- Nintendo developed multiple games that helped the Switch succeed, either as sequel to a new IP created for WiiU, a cross-gen release or a straight up port: Zelda, Mario Kart 8, Mario Maker and Splatoon.
- Nintendo clearly learned the lesson, that 3rd-party development will never help them sell their device.
- They needed to open up to Indie devs, which already happened on WiiU. Many early Switch Indies had either their previous game on WiiU, or the same they released on Switch. The contacts were made in the WiiU era.
But there are some things that could have been changed, without impacting the Switch. As you see in the points above, there was no need of the gamepad to lead to the Switch. They could've ditched the gamepad in favor of packing in a slightly upgraded Wiimote. Many say motion gaming was dead, but this is untrue. My indicator is Just Dance, as Nintendo stopped releasing games, but Ubisoft consistently made yearly releases. Ubisoft never pushed the envelope, after they conceived the concept of Just Dance, they just stayed with the formula. So they didn't increase the userbase. But for this exact reason the sales of Just Dance show the efforts of other companies selling motion controls. Take a look at the Just Dance sales on Wii (according to VGC) over time just until the release of Switch (I bolded total sales and the major Just Dance release each year):
| year | Just Dance |
sales | other casual games on Wii |
| 2009 | Just Dance | 7.21M | New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis, Wii Sports Resort, Wii Fit Plus, Mario&Sonic at the Olympic Games, Guitar Hero 5 (and other GH), Virtua Tennis 2009, EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis |
| 2010 | Just Dance 2, Just Dance Kids | 11.79 = 9.54M + 2.25M | Endless Ocean: Blue World, Wii Party, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, Rock Band 3, Trauma Team, Rabbids Party Collection |
| 2011 | Just Dance 2: Extra Songs, Just Dance: Summer Party, Just Dance 3, Just Dance Wii, Just Dance Kids 2 | 11.76 = 0.20M + 0.42 + 10.14 + 0.73 + 0.27 | Wii Play: Motion, Fortune Street, Mario Sports Mix, Virtua Tennis 4 |
| 2012 | Just Dance: Greatest Hits, Just Dance Wii 2, Just Dance 4, Just Dance: Disney Party | 7.52M = 0.20M + 0.29M + 6.89M + 0.14M |
Rhythm Heaven Fever, Mario Party 9 →WiiU |
| 2013 | Just Dance 2014 | 3.89M | |
| 2014 | Just Dance 2015 | 2.09M | |
| 2015 | Just Dance: Disney Party 2, Just Dance 2016 | 1.12M = 0.01M + 1.11M | |
| 2016 | Just Dance 2017 | 1.00M | |
| 2017 | Just Dance 2018 | 0.39M |
Remember, the Wii and Wii Sports started three years earlier in 2006, so according to most people on the Internetz, the fad of motion control was already nearly over as Just Dance started. I bolded important Nintendo titles here. As you can see, in 2009 Nintendo still supported the Wii with important releases like Sports Resort, Wii Fit Plus and Mario&Sonic (or this one was Sega). Later on the support dried up. But even with that, Just Dance was still pretty strong as the WiiU started. The complete lack of support and the availability of the successor to Wii brought on decline in Just Dance sales. But even with that, in 2013 it sold still more than half of the previous year.
So the motion gamers still were sticking to the Wii, although it was abandoned by Nintendo. So my argument is, that if Nintendo dropped the gamepad and instead packed a Wiimote as standard controller and launched with a simple motion game like Wii Sports, the WiiU could've been a lot stronger. Probably not Wii strong. But stronger than WiiU in any case.
All that was needed was Nintendo showing some level of support for motion controls and these 7 million Just Dance players could've come to WiiU. Instead Just Dance on WiiU never got to a million sales. And 7 million more users would have been significant to WiiU sales. Instead Nintendo was doing everything to show that WiiU isn't Wii: no motion controller packed in, no motion game until late (and even then it was an half-assed port of Wii Sports and selling it at a high price in single chunks download only - what was Nintendo thinking), a tablet as standard controller which basically made motion control impossible while holding (meaning each motion game needed the user not only buy extra controllers but abandon the packed in controller), a focus on more classical "hardcore" games. Nintendo was going out of their way to show motion gamers that they were unwelcome on WiiU.
So, for a different timeline that still ends up with Switch, all needed was:
- similar power level as the WiiU had (this was fine)
- HD
- no tablet controller
- packed in motion controls
- simple motion game as launch game
Ubisoft was obviously willing to port Just Dance. They did with the actual WiiU. So combined this would've drawn in at least part of this crowd, leaving Wii behind as they had a different newer option. The other games would have still matched such a device, I never saw a meaningful use of the gamepad. Even ZombiU could be ported to different consoles eventually. We would've still ended up with Switch, but Nintendo could have seen slightly better hardware and software sales in the meantime.
