It's possible, but it's going to be VERY difficult! Maybe a miracle happens and Mario Kart 8 saves the WiiU?

too early to really say. I still think it'll outdo the GameCube. Couple of reasons:

Price. GameCube launched for far less than the Wii U currently retails after a few price drops. It's still around £250 in the UK. GameCube LAUNCHED at £130.

Games. GameCube had pretty much blown it's load on the major 1st party sellers by this point in it's life. Smash Bros was a huge factor in early GameCube sales.

However it really is the price that I think is the sticking point. It's still significantly more expensive than the Wii launched and I think the price although cheap by "next gen system" standards, is very high for a lot of Nintendo's audience who have been used to much more affordable launch prices.

Nope, no way. MK8 and SSBU aren't enough to spur sales beyond the diehard Nintendo fanbase and the dwindling number of casuals who still buy Nintendo's products. And once PSOne start kicking things into high gear with huge titles this holiday season along with the inevitable price drops in '15, being the cheapest of the three on the market won't matter much for the Wii U.

saying they needed better planing would be a better choice of words. anyway, i think the biggest problem was nintendo being naive by trusting third party companies.

How many casuals paid the current Wii U retail price for previous Nintendo consoles? ;)

No, at least for now I don't think that will beat GCN. I thought it would in the past. And no offense, but I knew you were the creator of this thread before I clicked :P

Those casuals initially bought the Wii for one thing only... Wii Sports, which came packed in with the system.  If the Wii U had a "Wii Sports"-like title packed in with it, instead of charging full price for the likes of glorified shovelware like Nintendo Land, then you can bet it would have flown off shelves at $300-$350.  Price alone had nothing to do with it... you'll notice those same casuals had no problem dropping an additional $100 on the likes of Wii Fit and Rock Band / Guitar Hero.  Just something about plastic peripherals that they can't get enough of... see Skylanders these days.

And I hate to break it to you, but like it or not, "casuals" also helped make the PS4 as scarce as it was during the holidays, because they run out and buy whatever the "hot" item is during the holidays, and the PS4 being $399 didn't stop them from buying it.  Core gamers alone didn't make the PS4 sell out.

If Nintendo don´t pull the plug, sure.

It's a stuggle sure, but i think it has a shot. Not because i have faith in the Wii U, but because I think it will just stick around forever.

If anything I think Nintendo might launch last, I certainly don't see them pulling an early "same specs as the gen that's ending" move like they did this time.


GameCube sales I WANT to say had a HUGE spike at the $99 price range. Some huge sale even getting it to chart when the Wii and PS3 were out.


I could see Wii U just sitting in the 99-150 price range for years, and selling to families essentially as the cheapest Skylanders/Disney Infinite box.  The fact that the PS3 could leg it out for so long more or less shows purchasing patterns have changed somewhat.

Of course that's assuming they can get it that cheap, since they bundled it with an expensive controller whose defining feature doesn't seem to be used for much of... anything...

It's a long shot though for sure.

Oh, and for accuracy's sake... Gamecube launched in September in Japan, November in the US... and didn't launch in the EU until May 02.

Which if anything... makes the Wii U's shot look dimmer.