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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Does anyone still think Mario Kart 8/Smash Bros. 4/Price Cuts/etc. will save Wii U? <(o_O<)

 

Wii U doomed to Gamecube-like sales?

Yep, sadly... 340 49.85%
 
No! Believe it! 340 49.85%
 
Total:680
Lonely_Dolphin on 22 February 2014
superhippy420 said:
Right now the Wii U obviously isn't doing very well but there is still a long way to go before it can officially be written off as a failure.

- We all think of the Nintendo DS as one of the biggest successes in the history of gaming, and rightfully so being that it is the 2nd best selling console of all time by far, but in it's 1st 2 years it only sold 20 million consoles. At the rate it was going it was going to be Nintendos worst selling handheld of all time and the PSP was a serious threat to Nintendos handheld domination. After 2 years though they released the much nicer DS Lite model for only $150 and the fat model was dropped to $120. This was after games like Mario Kart, Nintendogs, and Animal Crossing were already releases, none of which had a massive impact on sales right away. Things radically changed though once their was a price drop, a new model, and a massive hit in New Super Mario Bros.

- We still don't know what Nintendo has in it's bag of tricks yet. Zelda Wii U exists. We have no idea what it is yet, but if the producers hints that he was very influenced by Skyrim, along with seeing how ALBW got back to basics, are any indication, this next Zelda could be freaking amazing. Pokemon U exists. It most likely is a fighting game, (not like that is a bad thing) but something is in the works. Animal Crossing U. For Japan atleast this would be massive. It's the 2nd best selling game on the 3DS and even outsold Monster Hunter 4 by a pretty decent margin. Metroid Prime U. In the day and age of the FPS, this really can't hurt, especially if it has a big online mode. New Miyamoto IP. Could be massive, could be a niche thing, who knows. The bottom line to me is that there are alot of unannounced titles that still have a chance of being that one game to really spark Wii U sales. For as much as everyone jokes about Pikmin, Wonderful 101, Wind Waker HD, etc. not saving it, those were all destined to be small beans games just by looking at past sales.

-2014 Lineup - DK didn't give a pop n Japan, but with the pile of Vita and 3DS games, The PS4 Launch, and the release of Final Fantasy XIII-3, I would imagine it was just buried in the minds of Japanese gamers. We will have to wait and see how the U.S. and Europe's sales are. I am in the camp that thinks Smash Bros will have a bigger impact then Mario Kart. Kart is great, and I am sure it will sell well, but Smash Bros is in greater demand right now. It's been 6 years since we have seen a new one, and that type of hiatus for a 10 million plus seller franchise could mean massive numbers. On top of that we are going to get X, which should help some with the hardcore gamers and Hyrule Warriors, which will no doubt be massive in Japan atleast. On top of that we should be seeing Bayonetta 2 and Yoshi's Yarn, both of which are solid B level titles.

-Price....It's too expensive for a Nintendo console. $299 with a $50 price cut already is still more then the Wii was at launch. Every time stores have price drops to $250 they sell much better. (Example: Store on ebay this past week had the NSMBU bundles for $270, sold 1100 in 2 hours.) It's true that games are not coming out fast enough, but at the same time your average person isn't buying 1 game a week anyways. Personally I buy 1 big title a month (if there is one), and then a will usually download a couple cheapie games from Xbox Live or the Eshop.

I have no doubt the Wii U could still be a very solid success in the 60+ million range, or could end up being a massive failure in the low 20 million range. It's all going to depend on whether or not Nintendo makes the right moves. As of right now they haven't but things can change quickly like they often do.



I wasn't paying attention to this kind of stuff during the DS's time, but I believe it sold so well because of the whole blue ocean/casual/whatever strategy they employed after the remodel. Same reason why the Wii did so well. That ship has sailed though, hence why the 3DS is only selling good, not amazingly, and why on the home console side they went back to the usual trend of selling less than the previous generation bar Wii. Now you say Pikmin, W101, Zelda HD, etc. were never expected to help the system, but really at this point, the same can be said of all of their franchises. Mario Kart, Smash Bros., Metroid, Zelda, you name it! They were all on the Gamecube afterall. Why would they save a home console now when they haven't in the past? So far we've gotten NSMBU, Wii Fit U, and SM3DW, all of which's previous iteration sold 10+ million, yet did nothing to change the Wii U's trajectory.



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chakkra on 22 February 2014
Slarvax said:
chakkra said:

Yes

I still believe they still have a chance of a turnaround (and pull up at least decent numbers) with this year's line up PLUS A PRICE CUT. Notice the emphasis on price cut here, as I believe that will be the key factor. If they have to release an alternative SKU without the Gamepad, then so be it.

I still don't understand why, out all companies, Nintendo is the more adamant about not selling hardware at a loss. I mean they have the software. The more units they put on the streets, the more people are gonna buy their games. So yes, I believe they can afford to lose a few bucks on every console to build an install base.

The Wii U is sold at a loss.

Then I guess they should try an alternative SKU without the Gamepad. Of course, this doesn't mean they have to entirely drop it, but have a second option.



stlwtng4Dmdrxip on 22 February 2014
Wright said:

I keep thinking that people overestimate Mario Kart. It will move units, but they won't make a difference in the long-term and it will be the worst selling MK ever.

 

Smash Bros, on the other hand. That might give WiiU a chance! :3


This. Also if there isn't a significantly price drop this year i predict the wiiU will be over by 2016.



DevilRising on 22 February 2014
Einsam_Delphin said:

I think most of us have come to realize that the Wii U will be thankful just to pull Gamecube numbers, but is there anyone who still thinks a turnaround is possible? If so, post why you think so! Maybe it's something we've all overlooked!


Kindly speak for yourself only. "Most of us" does not represent MOST of us, and certainly not most Nintendo fans.

So saying that "most of us have accepted that the system is doomed" is pretty pointless to say.



TravenousMaximus on 22 February 2014

More frequent exclusive releases and stronger ad campaigns will do the Wii U good; still think it will surpass the Gamecube.



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Lonely_Dolphin on 22 February 2014
DevilRising said:
Einsam_Delphin said:

I think most of us have come to realize that the Wii U will be thankful just to pull Gamecube numbers, but is there anyone who still thinks a turnaround is possible? If so, post why you think so! Maybe it's something we've all overlooked!


Kindly speak for yourself only. "Most of us" does not represent MOST of us, and certainly not most Nintendo fans.

So saying that "most of us have accepted that the system is doomed" is pretty pointless to say.



Kindly read the first words of my post! I said I think! This based of what I've read people saying around here, but of course that's not truely telling. Hence the poll, which currently shows that I'm wrong, but hey, I could still be right among people who actively post! :L

archbrix on 22 February 2014
chakkra said:

Yes

I still believe they still have a chance of a turnaround (and pull up at least decent numbers) with this year's line up PLUS A PRICE CUT. Notice the emphasis on price cut here, as I believe that will be the key factor. If they have to release an alternative SKU without the Gamepad, then so be it.

I still don't understand why, out all companies, Nintendo is the more adamant about not selling hardware at a loss. I mean they have the software. The more units they put on the streets, the more people are gonna buy their games. So yes, I believe they can afford to lose a few bucks on every console to build an install base.

On the topic of Ninty selling consoles at a loss, that is inherently a bad strategy for them.  Sony and Microsoft do it because they want to appeal to third parties, and at this point they know they're going to have a massive amount of support for their consoles.  So to ensure that support, they cater to what the industry is asking for; a pretty powerful box that is priced low enough that consumers will buy a lot of them.  This, of course, incurs losses for the parent company up front.

With Ninty, they can't rely on this kind of support from the vast majority of the industry's games.  With the Gamecube, they catered much more to this idea, but the Gamecube was also only sold at around a $9 loss per unit at launch (from what I've heard, anyway).  When you consider how well many of their games sell that's not too bad, but since the GC was selling so poorly the price was continually slashed prematurely, which of course incurred bigger losses.

WiiU's problem is astronomically worse because it incurred a much bigger loss than the Gamecube at launch all while selling for a much higher price - and not because of power (which at least might have helped with support) but because of the Gamepad.  WiiU is the complete antithesis of the Wii, which, even without support from 3rd parties, was profitting nicely right out of the gate and was priced to sell.  Now add to that the selling/profiting power of Ninty's IPs (not to mention the killing they were making off of Wiimotes/nunchucks) and Nintendo was just rolling in dough last gen.

However, having said that, I agree with you that they need to make the pricing/bundling attractive at this point because selling as little consoles as they are now is doing nothing for them.  Unless they do offer a SKU sans Gamepad, it's gonna cost them to drop to $250, but the idea of being able to sell more games because they're selling more consoles (and just gaining some damn interest in the console) should be their focus at this point.



MonstaTruk on 22 February 2014

Fire Iwata. Hire someone with more of a modern vision, someone who realizes that their system needs to COMPLIMENT/PARALLEL the Playstation brand instead of trying to topple it. Or...do you think Iwata giving a sincere apology will change Nintendo's vision?

If someone is convicted of robbery, and they give a sincere, heartfelt apology...should he be let go, scott free? Are YOU confident that he'll change his ways, now? Why? Because...he cried? lol



Nintentacle on 22 February 2014

They will not save the Wii U.



etking on 22 February 2014

Dropping the tablet, cutting the price and buying 3rd party developers and exclusive games could easily save the Wii U. Nintendo could hand over some money to Rockstar, Bethesda, Blizzard and Square Enix and they would be more than happy to bring out all their upcoming AAA-Titles for Wii-U and port over the existing ones. Or even better, Nintendo could buy a small percentage of these companies and even EA's shares to ensure future support.