I don't think it's really so much the system that has to sell as much as it's certain games that have to sell.

If Call of Duty, Watch Dogs, Batman, produce big numbers on Wii U then that would change things. Publishers want to see if there's a market, a 100 million userbase doesn't mean much to a publisher that's making Grand Theft Auto, as we saw with the Wii.

A lot of it is about what types of software your console moves, not just the size of the userbase. The biggest userbase doesn't matter to the publisher if you don't have an audience for the games they like to make.

Hence why Activision got pissed at the Nintendo fans for not buying enough COD to make a profit. The head of Ubisoft also complained about Zombie U stating there would not be a sequel.

Misunderstood the OP, sorry f(^_^')> (I read current-gen)

The thing with Wii is there wasnt much effort on 3rd parties side to create that kind of audience. I understand they couldnt port most of those games from PS360 but its very possible that a build from the ground up installment of Assassins Creed, Grand Theft Auto, Saints Row could have pushed 1-2 million and made a nice profit. Resident Evil 4 was popular on Wii and instead of making an exclusive Resident Evil in that style, they chose to go with the on rails style for some unknown reason. They brought over Dead Space and again instead of making it play like the others, they made it on rails. Dead Rising got an installment but from what I hear is wasnt very high quality.

Assassins Creed, Grand Theft Auto, Saints Row, Dead Rising, Dead Space, Resident Evil all could have had success on the Wii with some effort.

It's really not a third parties job to market/define the target audience, IMO that falls on the shoulders of the console maker.

Asking a third party to do that is like asking your neighbor to raise your kids. Hey, borrowing the ketchup is one thing, doing that is quite another.

Nintendo doesn't make any games for that audience, nor do they spend any time marketing to them, it's not exactly a shock that things don't well in the long run.

(1) Preorders in this case are misleading. Nintendo IPs like Wii Fit are the types of games that people buy day one. Casuals don't preorder the way that hardcore gamers do. Even so, Wii Fit U has like 25K preorders. I'm surprised it has one, honestly. Once the ads come, the preorders will follow.

(2) Your judgement of Wii U owners is severely stereotypical. While of course fans will prefer Nintendo games in most cases, it's a fallacy to assume that fans will skip good 3rd party games. I'm buying 6 major Wii U games this year. All are 3rd party. Also, the Wii U is next gen, and many people feel that the Wii U is the best next-gen platform for innovative multiplatform experiences. Like me. Don't just raise a nose and ignore us as if our opinions don't matter. We're the ones who have the potencial the make 3rd party successful on the platform and are not a small number. I think 500K-1mil is a fair estimat of software sales, honestly.

The audience is definitely there. That isn't where my consern lies. However, you did list good reasons for being skeptical. I just don't fully agree with them.

This is something I have to kind of agree on. Kind of. I think that Nintendo is missing out on a huge market buy not investing in an online western-style first person shooter. There's no doubt about it. There's a weird science to this, however. They'd have to make the kind of shooter that attracts Nintendo fan's, attracts shooter fans, and doesn't cannibalize other shooters on the console.

I'm still of the opinion that an online shooter set in the universe of the Metroid series could do it. I also think that the Free-to-Play Ghost Recon Online would have helped EXPONENCIALLY. Nintendo could also release a completely new IP intirely.

I also think that they need to release a western RPG as well. X is a very good looking JRPG, but I think that a WRPG exclusive could help too. And a racing sim franchise. And a 3rd person shooter franchise. (and honestly, I think Nintendo would benefit from a Mario NFL Football and Mario Paintball 3rd person party shooter games)

I think marketing is Nintendo's biggest problem, though. The fact is Watch_Dogs, AC4, COD: Ghosts are all lacking ads that advertise the Wii U gamepad. I wasn't going to buy Splinter Cell until I saw how cool the Gamepad integration was. I wasn't going to get Black Ops 2 until I saw how completely mindblowing the local co-op with no split screen was. Heck, I'm going to get Madden 13 months later because my "dude bro" best friend who only games on the 360 like a few times a year with a wopping library of COD, GTA IV, Madden, and Batman (he just really likes Batman) thinks that drawing out your plays on the gamepad is the coolest thing he'd ever seen, only he never saw it until last night.

I want to get Watch_Dogs, but I can only hope that they will treat it as nice as they did Splinter Cell. I'm not really worried about COD because I use the Wii Remote, and I'm not really worried about Assasin's Creed because I'll probably use my Pro Controller. Those options should be ADVERTISED because it's honestly fucking cool.

Well all it could do is help, I fear the WiiU will suffer the same fate as the Vita.....Once the system starts selling well and companies think shit we should start making some games for the WiiU it will already be to late cause you'll have to wait ages to get the game and by then the sales will have probably dropped again.

This year fall is a big one for Wii U and 3rd party support. For future 3rd party support Wii U needs to sell, and the games need to sell. Looking back at the first wave, the titles sold comparably to to PS360 versions minus the first week sales. This makes sense since they were late to the scene.

This fall the user base should be at least double the size and the titles should be releasing on time, so we should expect about double the sales numbers. That's probably enough to justify the porting costs for multiplat titles, but it may not be enough to justify the egos of the third party publishers who are used to their titles being the #1 titles on the Sony and MS platforms. Ideally they will want to see there big titles like COD and AC selling upwards of a million or more.

I think if Wii U sales get a surge this fall, you could see 3rd party titles sell in greater numbers. If that happens, and PS4 and XBOne adoptions rates are somewhat slow, 3rd party support will continue for Wii U in 2014 from Ubisoft and Activision, and others will buy in.

Tech specs won't be an overly big factor, just money and sales. Most titles will continue to be offered on PS360 through 2014, and will need to be to pay for the cost of making them. Wii U will get these titles as long as there is enough hardware out there.

The question asked and the poll answer selections are not matching up well enough for me to answer with that.

But yes, if the Wii U gets healthier hardware sales this holiday, it would encourage more 3rd party support. Especially in Japan, where it looks like outside the biggest publishers, most developers would prefer to stick to lower costing development rather then gamble on trying to compete with the gambles of many more wealthy Western publishers that are trying to be the next Call of Duty or Bioshock or Mass Effect or Skyrim.

i asked for examples, not just one. and that was to try prove his false point that "PS2 games looked flat out embarrassing compared to GC/xbox games" which yet i havent seen any evidence of. one bad port surely doesnt prove shit. 

@bolded - ehh, i wont report you this time