Aielyn said:
Mazty said: I like how you presume Wii U sales will pick up, just as the sun rises and sets. With all this news of 3rd party devs fleeing (No EA, no UE4, no Insomniac, no Avalache Studios etc) and the PS4/720 on the horizon, I now believe we may have a contender for the dreamcast on our hands. |
Of course, when you look at it all, you find that there's quite a bit of the reverse, too. Activision is predicting that PS4 and the new Xbox may sell just as poorly as the Wii U has, during the launch period. Ubisoft, one of the biggest third-parties in terms of Wii support (remember the Wii? Outsold both competitors massively for about 5 years despite lacklustre support from companies like EA and Epic?), have been throwing full support onto the Wii U. Sega looks like it's doing the same, based on its financial statement. Indies seem to be flocking to the system, with every other Kickstarter game having "Port to Wii U" as a major stretch goal or even part of their main aim. The guys behind Eternal Darkness, whose only major game last gen was for 360, are making a Wii U game that is exclusive to the Wii U in terms of consoles.
Then you have third parties getting direct encouragement from Nintendo. We have Atlus making a crossover title between SMT and Fire Emblem. We have Namco playing a major role in development of a first party game that is pretty much guaranteed to sell in the tens of millions. And there's Platinum Games, which is making two games for Nintendo.
And there's more. Looks like Warner Bros is supporting the Wii U fairly strongly (pretty much all of their console titles coming to Wii U, including multiple exclusives), as is Disney (it'll be interesting to see what happens in terms of Star Wars).
E3 is what's going to tell us where the industry is heading in this regard. It'll be interesting to see.
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Yeah I read about that Activision comment as well but he's been a bit of a dumb ass:
"“There are still many unknown factors such as pricing, launch dates and quantities, the level of first-party support and, importantly, consumer purchase intent in a world where consoles are no longer just competing with each other, but also with new platforms, such as smartphones and tablets,” "
Firstly the good - Pricing, launch dates and quantities are vital. No one wants a repeat of the 360 again (short supply) or the absurd pricing of the PS3.
Now the medicore - first-party support is obviously something MS and Sony are going to push heavily. Sony have done the smart thing and gone with Killzone and Infamous as release titles ( I think the latter is one?) and Drive Club. That's three popular genres sorted out at release with two being part of popular franchises unlike the PS3's reliance on new franchises (Resistance and Motorstorm).
Finally, the crap - Consoles, or more specifically the PS360, are not competiting with smartphones and tablets. They don't play CoD, AssCreed, Halo etc. He may as well say the 3DS is competition to the 360. It's not. Not really a surprise that a CEO doesn't understand his audience though...
The Wii was gunning for a different market as opposed to the PS360 however, whereas Iwata wanted more of a core gamer focus for the Wii U. Without publisher support, he will not get that core focus for the Wii U. No Battlefield 4 or Fifa? Dayum, that'll hurt.
Kickstarter projects and one or two exclusives will not convince people to buy a Wii U over a PS4 or 720 as they are already invested in franchises on those consoles. I can guarentee that game will not sell in the "10's of millions" on the Wii U. Why? Because the market interest is just not there and will be over shadowed byt the PS4/720.
Warner Bros and Disney won't get core gamers behind the Wii U and casuals aren't interested in it. Without EA, the Wii U is isolating itself froma large selection of core gamers.