Nintendo fans don't seem to be listening to this.  I heard this yesterday from my own step-son (12) who commented that he didn't understand the gamepad. 'Why would anyone want to use something so bulky and uncomfortable?'     He hasn't tried it, so that's merely his perception but that IS the fundimental problem.  People's perception.  There is zero hype for the WiiU.  People don't want to play on the gamepad.   Maybe if they tried it for a while it might grow on them but good luck getting millions to do that when they are happy with PS360/iOS/Android/Wii.    Price cuts and games will convert some, but the fundimental problem is built into the system.

The longer Nintendo does nothing (although I've seen lots of Lego City ads so they are doing something) the more I become convinced they are already working on WiiU's replacement.  But that will take years so expect a lot of WiiU games in the meantime as they make the best of it.

To be honest even with 2D Mario, 3D Mario, Mario Kart, Paper Mario, lol, the 3DS isn't selling *that* great in the West either.

The Wii U at best even when it gets all those Nintendo franchises IMO will still struggle, especially because I don't think it will have the Japanese market to fall back on like the 3DS does (which has Monster Hunter and Dragon Quest to impact hardware sales too).

Wii U is another GameCube. It will be a niche console supported by Nintendo fans and pretty much no one else.

They would have to dramatically shift their software priorities and start making new IPs left right and center that invite different audiences from the usual Mario/Zelda fans to have a chance at a break out, but I don't think Nintendo is willing to do that. The old Japanese men that run the company are too conservative to invest in risky, unproven IP.

So Nintendo has basically trapped themselves.

Ahh, alarmism. It was apparent from the beginning that Nintendo essentially conceded the 1st quarter of 2013 (their fiscal 4th) to try and boost the rest of the year.

The only thing that's concerning is the absolute silence surrounding Pikmin 3, which was, at one point, supposed to land next month.

Is Pikmin 3 really going to sell a $350 piece of hardware? I doubt it. If Pikmin 3 were out right now, I don't think Wii U sales would be much better at all. 

They need Mario Kart U asap. 

Even the best of us cling to the myth that third parties are rational, forward-thinking groups sometimes.

"It seems Nintendo’s management is simply waiting and riding this one out, as if magically, things will turn around by themselves."

doubtful. i'm sure plenty is going on behind closed doors but you don't communicate everything externally. it's not like nintendo (or anyone) can just just magically snap there fingers and epic games suddenly are complete and ready to ship.

no matter how many times you say it..  doesn't make it true.

I would suggest the following as realistic options that they have the next few months

- Kill the 8GB model entirely, 32GB Nintendo Land bundle should be $299.99. Everyone and their grandma knows this is going to happen, so just get on with it. Give early adopters a free downloadable copy of Xenoblade HD or something.

- Position Wonderful 101 as a franchise, there are 100 superheroes in the game (right?) so make NFC toys and market the f*ck out of this on Cartoon Network, Nickeldeon, etc. Maybe it takes and if it does you might have the next Skylanders or Pokemon on your hands. You desperately need something new to drive hardware sales, take a chance on this.

- Bring Dragon Quest X to the West, make the online free for 3-4+ months, include a free voucher for a downloadable copy of Zelda: The Wind Waker Reborn for anyone who buys Dragon Quest X. Need to start getting more DQ/MH fans in the West if they're the only two third party franchises you can get exclusive.

- Start buying up indie exclusives for your platform. There's plenty of indie devs in the West who are working on games for the PC/iOS/360/PS3/Steam as we speak. Start buying some of those titles and quickly move them to the Wii U platform. You need content, and you need unique exclusives, this is a cheap way to do it. 

The marketing division should be fired, as should half of Nintendo's board of directors IMO. They should be replaced with people who understand the Western market. 

Ask anyone who knows anything about business. Investing in Wii U now is not rational. Sad but true. Look at the CoD and ACIII sales, look at ZombiU sales. Doing what Ubi did with Rayman is 100% rational, even if it makes a few Nintendo fans angry. There is no market on Wii U, so why pump money there, when the economy is so bad and so many studios go bust all the time? 3rd parties don't care about Nintendo, Sony or MS and about which one of them is going to win or lose. They care about themselves. It just so happens that right now Nintendo is on the wrong end of the stick. You just got LEGO City. A very good exclusive game. I hope it does well and brings profit, but if it doesn't sell well, what argument would you have to convince a 3rd party dev to invest in the console?

Would you risk your own money in a Wii U game?

Folks, first of all, I am not sure which is more "upsetting" -- Over-the-top doom and gloom on a Nintendo-focused or someone without any Nintendo games listed in their ownership starting a thread about it.

That being said, the article and the thread are relevant, The WiiU sales have fallen off for a variety of reasons since the "Holidays"/First of the (Western) Year -- lack of new games, lack of advertising, lack of understanding as to what the WiiU is, etc. It does not help that Nintendo nerfed Wii sales by announcing the new console a year (or at least six months) too early. It also does not help that the top third-party publisher, EA, is all upset because Nintendo decided it did not want to make the WiiU an Origin-only machine (which would have been the "unprecedented partnership." Related to this, Nintendo tried to be kind to third parties which have treated it like a poor choice for two decades. In general, these monolithic corporations want things their own way, even when they are wrong.

(On a side note, relying on the stock market as the ultimate barometer can be folly. Stock prices actually go up when leaders are fired or workers are laid off. They can go down when near-record profits are announced.)

What are the solutions?

First of all, get games out there. Nintendo is working in that direction. As has been the case since the N64 days, it will have to "carry the load" with first party titles. My guess is that Mario Kart will be out for Christmas. That game WILL move product. A 3-D Mario would also be nice, provided you will have Zelda and SSB for Holiday 2014. However, Nintendo cannot release everything all at once. That makes it difficult for people to buy and you cannot over-compensate for several bad months by taking actions that leave you without product several years down the road.

Second, Nintendo needs to get the word out. And it needs to reach the right audience. It is doing some of that in North America. Did you know that WiiU and SMB-WiiU are the sponsors of the 2013 Kids Choice Awards. That rolls on every promo for the event on the US cable channel Nickelodeon (and possibly in other markets too as Nick is a global channel.) It fits the demographic profile that is a main target of Nintendo. It is a good start. Now get a game where you can run ads like are being done for the new Luigi's Mansion on 3DS and you will be in business.

Third, Nintendo has to be be ready to promote what your competition won't let you do. Is their price point too high? (The rumored $429/$529 without a game for the PS4 makes the $350 WiiU Deluxe look like a good deal.) Do they have content control? (The rumored prevention of locking games to consoles or always having to be on of the NextBox fits into this category, meaning that the WiiU lets you "try before you buy" or "invite friends over to play.")

Fourth, Nintendo needs to keep working to improve the experience. This includes getting the Virtual Console up-and-running, improving load times, and creating a mechanism for people to transfer items from one WiiU to another akin to what it has for the 3DS).

Five, Nintendo will need to change its product offering. The basic model is not desired. So look for that model to be eliminated. The current deluxe model will get NintendoLand pre-loaded and be offered at a lower price, at least $100 lower than the competition. There will also be bundles at Christmas (Mario Kart). And eventually, colors and greater memory (hence the reason for the transfer mechanism noted in Item 4. Nintendo needs to be able to get people to buy "upgrades" just as Sony and Microsoft have done).

Mike from Morgantown