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Forums - Gaming - Why is it that Wii U's name failed it but Xbox One's didn't?

 

Which console has the better name?

Wii U 110 27.09%
 
Xbox One 109 26.85%
 
Yo Mama 187 46.06%
 
Total:406
teigaga on 03 May 2015

Marketing

No one is silly enough to see Xbox "One" and think MS is reselling their system from 2001...







One of these 2 looks and sound like a peripheral. The other looks like a new console and reads like one to, with "One" actually being used by HTC aswell as they're premium device, its carries a finality/a completeness, "U" on the otherhand..... Beyond that the name was one of the Wii U's problems, it wasn't the biggest.



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Nuvendil on 03 May 2015

Marketing my boy. You can sell anything named anything with the right marketing. Microsoft spent the big bucks to market, Nintendo barely spent anything and spent it poorly.



dawuxxx on 03 May 2015

Wii U sounds like WE YOU.



zippy on 03 May 2015
naruball said:
The name was never an important issue for Wiiu not selling well. All it was, was an excuse by fans to justify the disappointing sales. Same with Vita. Apple could name their product, iphone 1s and people would still buy it in droves. Sony could name their next home console "Vita" and it would sell well.

It's much harder to admit that most gamers are simply not that interested in old Ninty ips any more. The number of hardcore Ninty fans or people who are actually interest in Ninty ips is much lower than people are willing to admit.

If gamers are no longer interested in old Ninty IPs, how do you explain over 50million 3DS units sold.



Mummelmann on 03 May 2015
zippy said:
naruball said:
The name was never an important issue for Wiiu not selling well. All it was, was an excuse by fans to justify the disappointing sales. Same with Vita. Apple could name their product, iphone 1s and people would still buy it in droves. Sony could name their next home console "Vita" and it would sell well.

It's much harder to admit that most gamers are simply not that interested in old Ninty ips any more. The number of hardcore Ninty fans or people who are actually interest in Ninty ips is much lower than people are willing to admit.

If gamers are no longer interested in old Ninty IPs, how do you explain over 50million 3DS units sold.


To be fair; he said "most gamers" and not "gamers are no longer interested", and how do you explain that the 3DS will likely sell half as much as the DS lifetime if he doesn't at least have a point?



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Conina on 03 May 2015

The people who haven't found out by now that Nintendo launched a new console in 2012 aren't interested in console gaming in the first place.

Do you really think this audience would have bought a Wii U with a better name?



cfin2987@gmail.com on 03 May 2015

Because the one sounds cool. What the heck is a U? Also we don't know how the Xbox name has affected it's sales. 



zippy on 03 May 2015
mZuzek said:
JRPGfan said:

Wii 2 game  (said this way " We too game") or some such, with We too something.
Would have been alot better than Wii U.

Same with NX..... just call the damn system Wii Next  :p  or  Wii 2/3 whatever.

If nintendo is trying to build a brand name, like playstation with Wii, the consol should have a modifer next to it, that differeniates it from the previous in the series.  Numbers are really good at this, and make it apparent which is the old model and which is the newer.

No, no and no. No.

The Wii brand was dead before they announced the Wii U. It's a name that represents a casual console for happy families and grandmas and stuff. The fad was over by 2011 and Nintendo shouldn't have used the same brand for their next system - unfortunately, they did and the results are pretty obvious. The name makes a pretty big difference. I've seen lots of people saying stuff about the Wii U when it only applied to the Wii, because people think the general idea of the console is the same when it's really not.

To be honest, the strongest brand Nintendo's got is... Nintendo. I hope they use it for their next console(s).

True, but let's say Nintendo called Wii U something different and it only sold moderately better than it is now, many people would be chastising Nintendo for not using the Wii brand name that gave them their strongest home console sales. It hasn't been the right move but i can totally understand why Nintendo wanted to carry on the Wii brand. Nintendos problem with Wii U was complacency, the we build it they will come philosophy, they didnt do a huge marketing push for the console when really they should have aggressively marketed the shit out of it.



naruball on 03 May 2015
zippy said:
naruball said:
The name was never an important issue for Wiiu not selling well. All it was, was an excuse by fans to justify the disappointing sales. Same with Vita. Apple could name their product, iphone 1s and people would still buy it in droves. Sony could name their next home console "Vita" and it would sell well.

It's much harder to admit that most gamers are simply not that interested in old Ninty ips any more. The number of hardcore Ninty fans or people who are actually interest in Ninty ips is much lower than people are willing to admit.

If gamers are no longer interested in old Ninty IPs, how do you explain over 50million 3DS units sold.
 

There are many reasons for which 3ds is successful, one of which is that since the gameboy a Ninty handheld is THE handheld to own. It has a very strong brand and apart from the psp, it never had any competition. So, if you are a parent and are thinking about buying a safe console for your child, the first device that would come to mind would be a 3ds. With psvita being a disaster, the 3ds almost has the monopoly.

Also keep in mind that it has received great support from many important developers, with high profile games like Monster Hunter, Yukai Watch, Street Fighter, Dead or Alive, Castevania, Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Heart, Tales, Bravely Default (Square Enix, right?), and even Dragonball Z, Naruto, Attack on Titan. These are not only exclusive games, but also the first that come to mind without any proper research. I'm sure there are many more.

I have a 3ds and can tell you that the sales of Mario games, for example, can be a bit misleading. Sure, I bought 3d Land, but I would never have bought it or even a 3ds in the first place, had Namco not released two exclusive Naruto games for it. After I got the device, I felt like buying a few more games to justify the purchase. So, no I did not buy a 3ds for its first party titles (apart from Pokemon, which was a strong plus). Maybe I'm in the minority. Who knows.

What I do know and have been hearing for ages is that ps4 has been doing better than the quality of its 1st and even 3rd party games suggest. Why? Because it's THE home console to own. It's the "my friends buy it, so I buy it" mentality. The ps3 had a great reputation so everyone couldn't wait to buy a ps4. Had the 3ds been the first handheld that Ninty made, I don't think it would have done well. I think part of its success should be attributed to Ninty being the top dog in handhelds and ds being such as success story.



zippy on 03 May 2015
Mummelmann said:
zippy said:

If gamers are no longer interested in old Ninty IPs, how do you explain over 50million 3DS units sold.


To be fair; he said "most gamers" and not "gamers are no longer interested", and how do you explain that the 3DS will likely sell half as much as the DS lifetime if he doesn't at least have a point?

Wii and DS were a complete one off for Nintendo, I never thought for one moment they would replicate that success with Wii U and 3DS (although i thought Wii U would be doing at least 5 million more than it currently has). If 3DS tops out at 70 million plus, i would consider that successful especially factoring in a botched launch.