The Wii U isn't doing well. We all know that. But some of the things I've heard people say about its best chances lifetime are crazy. "The Wii U will be lucky to sell 20 million units lifetime" and stuff like that. I disagree. I don't think the Wii U has a bright future exactly, but here are a few reasons why it's going to have a better life than, say, the GameCube.

1. Hardware Prices

People often point out how the GameCube outsold the Wii U during their respective first years. What they forget is that for much of this time, the Wii U was $200 more expensive. See, the GameCube launched late 2001 at $200, but much like the 3DS a decade later, had a major price cut to $150 in Spring 2002. Since the minimum price for a console is basically $100, this means that the GameCube only had room left for a single major price cut in its life.

The Wii U, on the other hand, retained its initial price of $350 for a Deluxe bundle for aa few extra months and even after its $50 cut, Nintendo can cut off $50 every year or two for quite a while and still make money after shipping and whatnot. In other words, the Wii U's initially high price gave it a slower start, but hide its momentum.

2. 2D Super Mario

Remember that 2D Mario game for the GameCube? Me either. Hate the latest NSMBU for the Wii U all you want, it fills a niche that was unfulfilled on the GameCube. Remember, this was almost the best-selling Wii U game BEFORE it got bundled, and is still the best-selling console game of Gen 8. The addition of the Luigi DLC/bonus disc/expansion/whatever is a nice touch, but ultimately, it comes down to this: if a GameCube game sold lifetime what NSMBU sold in the past year and a half, it would be the #6 GameCube title ever.

3. Mario Kart 8

Sure, the GameCube had Double Dash. But MKWii didn't simply double the series sales; it roughly quintipled them. Even if Mario Kart 8 crashes compared to the Wii iteration, it only has to sell a fraction of what the Wii version did to push a lot of hardware. I'm personally betting on it selling 10 to 12 million copies lifetime, especially if it's actually a better game than that unbalanced mess of a Wii version.

4. 3rd Parties Don't Matter as Much as you May Think

That heading is a bit of an overstatement, but some people claim that the GameCube's strong 3rd party support helped it a lot. I, however, think that the GameCube proved that even better than average third party support is meaningless on a system that doesn't sell. Remember, out of the Top 10 GameCube games, the only third party entry was an enhanced Dreamcast port. So the Wii U having poor 3rd party support won't make it suck worse than the GameCube in terms of sales.

5. Previous Hardware Declines are not THAT Severe

There's no denying that many series of platforms become less popular over time. The PS3 versus the PS2, the Vita versus the PSP, every Nintendo console compared to its predecessor except for the Wii... it happens all the time. However, for the Wii U to sell less than the GameCube, it would need a roughly 80% lifetime drop in sales. For context, the PS3 is something of a 45% drop from the PS2, Nintendo consoles drop about 30% a lot, and even the much-maligned Saturn was only a roughly 65%or 70% drop. If Wii U sales were to truley never top those of the GameCube, it would be one of the fastest market declines in the history of the industry, on par with the fall of Atari in the mid-8-bit era.

6. eShop

The eShop performs several roles that aid the Wii U. First, it provides a means of buying games that may not be on store shelves, allowing for more software to be bought. Just as importantly, it provides indie developers, recently the biggest 3rd party group to ever support Nintendo consoles, a means of selling their games. The Ouya proved that a couple of indie games alone can't sell hardware, but they certainly won't hurt. And of course, the eShop makes localizing games easier, as shown on the 3DS with games like Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies. So even if VGChartz shows low software sales, not all would be lost.

7. It will have the original Advance Wars on Virtual Console

A killer app if I ever heard of one!

I am surprised that you didn't put Smash Bros as a part of your reasoning but yea, I do agree that it will outsell the gamecube

But with that being said, since its April Fools, its hard to tell if your serious or not so...


8/10

A couple of your points don't back up your main argument.

Point 2 you talk about a game that released almost a year and a half ago. It is not moving consoles in any real numbers now.

Point 5 you say that the Wii U won't sell less lifetime than GC because that would be one of the worst generation to generation crashes in history. That isn't really an argument, just an observation that has no affect on Wii U hardware sales.

Point 6 doesn't really back up your argument, as like you said indie games don't sell systems, they are a nice feature only if you already have the console.

These april fools threads need to end

Almost got me Lol

2, 4, and 6 aren't good points. 2D Mario isn't a system seller. 3rd parties are more important than ever, 3rd parties are where most games come from, and they provide a steady supply of games. The Wii U, as much as I love it, only comes out with 3-4 must-own games every year, while the PS3/PS4 come out with something every couple of weeks. The e-shop is terrible, it has some good games but the inability to tie your games to an account makes it hard to upgrade your console, and it's really frustrating that Nintendo sticks to this model.

I believe the same thing, and also, that starting next year Nintendo will make a profit every year for at least 5 years.

Yes please.

Of all the April Fools Day threads, this is the most sad. Even if it weren't a joke, it would still be sad. We are either joking about the Wii U not selling as well/selling more than the GameCube or we are being serious. Either way, you are putting up a cripple against a cripple, and that is never fun.

Poor Wii U.

Cripple Fight was a great South Park episode though.