| RolStoppable said: Because the caveat to the fundamental premise of "software sells hardware" is that the hardware itself cannot be offputting. The premise holds true for hardware that is either appealing or neutral, but when the hardware itself presents a problem, then software is facing an uphill battle with virtually non-existent chances for success. |
Basically this. Software does sell hardware, but the Wii U's hardware was such a disaster that even Nintendo's amazing AAA games that came out for it were not enough to make it appealing to the average gamer.
Also, even when Nintendo's amazing software started coming out for the Wii U, the games really did very little to justify the gamepad's existence. As amazing as MK8 and Smash4 were, it felt like the Wii U's gamepad was a lead weight tied around the feet of these games. It wasn't until Super Mario Maker came that the gamepad's existence was finally justified, but it was so late in the console's life that it did nothing to change the momentum. I really believe that if SMM had been a launch title it could have changed the fate of the Wii U to a degree. Nintendo should have branded the Wii U as a sandbox level creation console and heavily targetted how the Wii U could enhance games like Minecraft which were extremely popular back then. Having the touch-screen really is amazing for level design and Nintendo could have even released it's regular titles like Mario with aspects of level design integrated with the gameplay to solve puzzles the same way that the Wii implemented motion controls everywhere. This could have shown developers what they were supposed to do with the hardware at least as a jumping off point instead of leaving everybody scratching their heads.
Last edited by Illusion - on 15 January 2021
