What would it take to save the Wii U?

[Exhuminator]

To "save" the Wii U, I would say to Iwata:

Slash the price to $150. Yes that will hurt initially. Make the money up through software sales.

Sell your first party IP games for $40 new. Yes, $40. Undercut the prices of Xbox One and PS4 games. Lower cost = sell more = make up the difference. In this economy, consumers won't see this as "Nintendo games aren't worth as much", they will see it as "I can actually afford Nintendo games". Also, utilize Nintendo Select more often, those people who won't buy your new game for $40 maybe will buy it for $20 two years down the line.

Advertise the living hell out of the Wii U. Push the point that the Wii U is really the Wii 2, not a glorified update. Show how the Gamepad is more than just another tablet, advertise its strengths and unique capabilities. In the ads also show friends and families having LOCAL multiplayer fun, because that's what was truly so great about the Wii, and should still be great about the Wii U.

Get software out, now. NOW. Mario Kart and Smash Bros. are not enough on their own. Expand your development teams and bring back IPs that have been forgotten about, like Star Fox, Metroid, F-Zero, for starters. The Wii U Gamepad screams for WarioWare.

Suck up your pride and court the hell out of third party developers. Give them killer deals on their first game for the platform, offer excellent development tool support, offer to help advertise their games for the platform.

Lastly come up with at least three new IPs that are completely built upon the concept that the Wii U has to offer. Make people believe the Wii U offers unique gameplay that is not only entertaining, but also impossible to replicate on the Xbox One, PS4, PC, or smartphones. Because if you can't do that, then the Wii U is inherently a failure and it's time to cut your losses and move on.

[BogusMeatFactory]

To "save" the Wii U, I would say to Iwata:

Slash the price to $150. Yes that will hurt initially. Make the money up through software sales.

Keep this statement in mind as we are going to get to that.

Sell your first party IP games for $40 new. Yes, $40. Undercut the prices of Xbox One and PS4 games. Lower cost = sell more = make up the difference. In this economy, consumers won't see this as "Nintendo games aren't worth as much", they will see it as "I can actually afford Nintendo games". Also, utilize Nintendo Select more often, those people who won't buy your new game for $40 maybe will buy it for $20 two years down the line.

Know that Nintendo does not make the full $40 as markup is involved through the retailers. Also, the retailers are the final say on what things are priced. There are suggested retail prices, but inevitably, a store can charge whatever they want. Lower cost does not always equal sell more. A great Wii U game like Wonderful 101 is being sold currently at $23 at Best Buy, yet the sales of the game is lacking. Also, why would they lower the cost of their first party titles, when they know that people will buy them regardless of price.

Trust me, no one is saying, "Oh Smash Bros. is going to be $60? I'll pass."

Advertise the living hell out of the Wii U. Push the point that the Wii U is really the Wii 2, not a glorified update. Show how the Gamepad is more than just another tablet, advertise its strengths and unique capabilities. In the ads also show friends and families having LOCAL multiplayer fun, because that's what was truly so great about the Wii, and should still be great about the Wii U.

They do this already, although their ad campaigns are horrible and stilted, they are stressing that it is a NEW system and stressing people playing them together locally

Get software out, now. NOW. Mario Kart and Smash Bros. are not enough on their own. Expand your development teams and bring back IPs that have been forgotten about, like Star Fox, Metroid, F-Zero, for starters. The Wii U Gamepad screams for WarioWare.

Last Year Nintendo released a whopping 10 games ranging from digital games like NES Remix to physical releases like Game & Wario (which is WarioWare. The game features series of mini-games, one of which is the original WarioWare with a really awesome twist), Pikmin 3, New Super Luigi U, Super Mario 3D Land and on and on and on. I don't know how you can expect them to make and release triple AAA titles in such rapid succession. Also, who is to say they are not working on those titles already?

Suck up your pride and court the hell out of third party developers. Give them killer deals on their first game for the platform, offer excellent development tool support, offer to help advertise their games for the platform.

Again, who is to say they aren't already trying to do this?

Lastly come up with at least three new IPs that are completely built upon the concept that the Wii U has to offer. Make people believe the Wii U offers unique gameplay that is not only entertaining, but also impossible to replicate on the Xbox One, PS4, PC, or smartphones. Because if you can't do that, then the Wii U is inherently a failure and it's time to cut your losses and move on.

So you expect them to release within this year a Zelda, a Metroid, a Mario, an F-zero, another WarioWAre, aStar Fox AND 3 new IPs now? Than you will be ready for a complete and utter failure, because these ideas, will never happen with the parameters you have set up.

[Exhuminator]

the retailers are the final say on what things are priced. There are suggested retail prices, but inevitably, a store can charge whatever they want

Nintendo is the publisher of their own games, they set the MSRP. It's obvious retailers don't individually set the price, as laterally first party Nintendo games are the same price. What you find Mario Kart 7 for at Amazon, you'll find it for at Walmart.
Nintendo is very hardcore about setting and maintaining set prices, as evidenced:

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/ninten ... 0-6415997/

A great Wii U game like Wonderful 101 is being sold currently at $23 at Best Buy, yet the sales of the game is lacking.

Maybe it's not selling because it isn't appealing? I'm a bit of a zealous gamer to say the least, and that game does not entice even me. The game is not a killer app, sorry. You can't conflate it against the rest of the Wii U library as such.

Also, why would they lower the cost of their first party titles, when they know that people will buy them regardless of price.

Except this hasn't been happening with the Wii U? How many more people would buy a Wii U at $150 and Super Mario 3D World at $40, rather than $299 and $50 respectively? I'd wager a sizable portion more people for sure.

their ad campaigns are horrible and stilted

Stilted and horrible? Then they need better advertising. My point still stands.

I don't know how you can expect them to make and release triple AAA titles in such rapid succession.

By hiring more people, and creating more development teams. In tandem with going the GameCube route and hiring third parties to develop their lesser IPs. SEGA did a damn good job with F-Zero back in the day.

Also, who is to say they are not working on those titles already?

Again, who is to say they aren't already trying to do this?

By your own logic, who's to say they are? No evidence as such has been shown to the public on both accounts, it's not illogical to conclude that these things are not being done then.

So you expect them to release within this year a Zelda, a Metroid, a Mario, an F-zero, another WarioWAre, aStar Fox AND 3 new IPs now?

I never said to produce all of that in 2014. I just said to produce it. And while it's being produced, let consumers know these things are in the works. That's part of building consumer confidence. Nintendo likes to produce in a vacuum, but that's not the times we live in anymore.

[Violent By Design]

The Wii-U will likely just be a decent 3rd, but profitable, I don't see the big deal. Releasing a bunch of their "killer ips" won't do anything.


I think people see the Wii's sales and have the wrong impression about their sales. Wii sold because of hardware, not software, the high game sales was from high install base. The gamecube had Smash Bros, Mario, Zelda, F-Zero, Metroid and Mario Kart (all good incarnations), and it didn't sell well, yet when those games came out on the Wii (bar F-Zero) they sold a gigantic amounts?

It's simple, the Wii-U needs a killer ip that can attract the casual audience to their tablet idea. This likely won't happen, so they'll probably just carve a niche out of the market for themselves.

Releasing all of their "killer ips" at once, won't make a difference. Not in the grand scheme of things at least. They could release Starfox, F-Zero, X, Zelda, Mario, Smash Bros all in the same year, and while their sales would increase, they'd still likely be a pretty distant 3rd (assuming X1 doesn't bomb). Those games only appeal to people who are already into gaming, Nintendo isn't going to take a large portion of current gamers away from Sony and Microsoft.

Wii-U's sales are already pre determined, people who want Smash Bros, will buy Smash Bros when it eventually comes out - them releasing it the same year as a Mario game isn't going to make someone who didn't want Smash Bros want it all of a sudden. Most people have already made up their mind if they want a Wii-U or not because most people now what to expect. There are a lot of people who are just waiting for Zelda to come out before they pull the trigger, etc.

Nintendo needs a new ip, otherwise, why would anyone expect their demograph to expand? Now, its not to say they don't make new ips, but the problem is they need something that actually attracts new people to their product. Monster Hunter was a pretty good way to get things going, if they can get MH4 on the Wii-U, that would be a type of play that would expand their market.

[FerretGamer]

Wii-U's sales are already pre determined, people who want Smash Bros, will buy Smash Bros when it eventually comes out - them releasing it the same year as a Mario game isn't going to make someone who didn't want Smash Bros want it all of a sudden. Most people have already made up their mind if they want a Wii-U or not because most people now what to expect. There are a lot of people who are just waiting for Zelda to come out before they pull the trigger, etc.

Pretty much this.

Look at Nintendo's historical console hardware sales:
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/sales/hard_soft/

They have been on a downward trend for worldwide sales since the NES. The reality is that Nintendo does have two very real competitors in this space regardless if the market has grown since the NES days.

The Wii was a sales fluke and a fad in many ways. Nintendo could not sustain the momentum and utilize it for the next generation. They are now back to their status quo and I'm sure the Wii U will sell less than even the Gamecube did.

As long as Nintendo remains profitable, then does it really matter? Obviously the goal of any successful business is to expand their market and increases sales/growth. However, Nintendo will have to adjust their strategy tremendously in order to do so. I stand by the fact that the Wii was a fluke for Nintendo. I highly doubt they were expecting it to do as well as it did.

[Exhuminator]

The Wii was a sales fluke and a fad in many ways. I stand by the fact that the Wii was a fluke for Nintendo. I highly doubt they were expecting it to do as well as it did.

The Nintendo DS also outsold its own predecessors in a tremendous way at the same time the Wii was doing just the same. Was the DS a fluke too? Did Nintendo manage to win the lottery twice in a row?

I don't think so. Rather I think they had a good strategy back then. And it was the same for both the DS and Wii; a one-two-three combo of unique interface, killer apps (Wii Sports / Brain Age or Nintendogs), and lower hardware price then competitors. Currently the Wii U is still too expensive while lacking a killer new IP to prove the worth of its unique interface to the masses.

But how unique is that interface, really? Possibly the biggest problem is that the Wii U is just a glorified DS in your living room. Maybe to most folks that's not as interesting as it was in 2005.

[Violent By Design]

The Wii was a sales fluke and a fad in many ways. I stand by the fact that the Wii was a fluke for Nintendo. I highly doubt they were expecting it to do as well as it did.

The Nintendo DS also outsold its own predecessors in a tremendous way at the same time the Wii was doing just the same. Was the DS a fluke too? Did Nintendo manage to win the lottery twice in a row?

I don't think so. Rather I think they had a good strategy back then. And it was the same for both the DS and Wii; a one-two-three combo of unique interface, killer apps (Wii Sports / Brain Age or Nintendogs), and lower hardware price then competitors. Currently the Wii U is still too expensive while lacking a killer new IP to prove the worth of its unique interface to the masses.

But how unique is that interface, really? Possibly the biggest problem is that the Wii U is just a glorified DS in your living room. Maybe to most folks that's not as interesting as it was in 2005.

The DS might have outsold its predecessors, but it also dominated its competition by the least amount. All prior incarnations of Nintendo handhelds totally destroyed their competition to the point where people view consoles like Game Gear and Neo Geo as insignificant. While the PSP sold significantly less than the DS, it still sold 80 million units. Then you have to factor in the iPhone and the Android, all which have carved significant amounts in handheld gaming, actually they are probably bigger than the DS is. So really while the DS outsold all of the incarnations of Gameboy, it actually dominated the handheld market far less than they did.

Also, no one is doubting that Nintendo can still dominate gaming through the handheld market. The handheld market is different from the home console market, and you're aware of that, so why bring it up?


The Wii didn't sell because it was a fluke, it sold because it had a product that opened up to a new demograph. You got something with the Wii that you could not get on the other consoles, and that was motion controls. Even people who were already gamers bought Wiis because it was affordable (the Wii was bought to compliment peoples 360/PS3), and a good console for parties.

The Wii-U offers a gaming experience that you can't get on other consoles, but the difference is not a lot of people actually want it. The tablet thing makes the Wii-U very unique, but there just isn't mass appeal for it like there was with motion controls.

Keep in mind, the Wii was a trend. Many people who bought the Wii got their kicks out of it, and moved on to something else like most trends. If people still wanted motion control party games, most would be contempt with their Nintendo Wiis, there is little reason for the casual gamer to upgrade to the Wii-U, they're paying a significant price for the console when they really just want to play Wii Sports. People who want an upgraded motion control experience would likely get the Kinect before a Wii, and if the Oculus Rift hits the market at an affordable price this generation, then people would likely get that over a Wii-U.



If the Wii didn't have motion controls, it would have done even worse than the Wii-U did. People have a huge misconception about Nintendo's software in relation to the market imo.


But like I said, they need to either make a brand new ip that appeals to a lot of different people (perhaps the casual audience would be their best bet, but I don't see that working) or they can go after established gamers, but they won't be able too because they do not have multiplat support. Unless Nintendo makes killer ips that have adult like tones or cinematic attributes and stuff (Triple A games, or games that have those tropes), it's not going to capture that market.


But it's not just that Nintendo doesn't have games like Uncharted, The Last of Us and all that jibba jabba. They don't have a lot of Fighting games. They don't have a lot of FPS. They don't even have a lot of JRPGs, and they basically have no WRPGs (certainly won't be seeing 8th gen ones). Nintendo neglecting the 3rd parties or the 3rd parties neglecting Nintendo is why they will be a distant 3rd.

But like I said, I don't get why some people want Nintendo to rule the world. Who cares if they're a distant 3rd? The Wii-U will be profitable, they'll make games, Nintendo will support it for as long as they supported the Wii (the Wii lasted 6 or 7 years, the Wii-U will last that long).

What's wrong with it being an alternative?

[BogusMeatFactory]

If the Wii didn't have motion controls, it would have done even worse than the Wii-U did. People have a huge misconception about Nintendo's software in relation to the market imo.

You are right, the motion controls made a statement that, "We are making games active for families," and that brought in that audience big time. Even though the Wii U has those same motion controls, it isn't the focus and actually leads to confusion.

But like I said, I don't get why some people want Nintendo to rule the world. Who cares if they're a distant 3rd? The Wii-U will be profitable, they'll make games, Nintendo will support it for as long as they supported the Wii (the Wii lasted 6 or 7 years, the Wii-U will last that long).

What's wrong with it being an alternative?

You are right. My standpoint and love for Nintendo is them getting the credit that they deserve for doing things differently. It does fill a role that can't be provided by its competition and the hardware itself can really open things up for some great and creative opportunities. Now...if Nintendo does not take advantage of that screen in really mind blowing ways, you can all complain about the system, because it would be deserved.

[Hazerd]

Can we agree the Wii U is doing better than the Saturn.

I'm not so sure about that. Wikipedia has WiiU at about 5.5 Million and the Saturn at 9.5 Million. Nintendo is coming off of the world wide hit with the Wii and has had one or two very highly rated games so far, but their momentum is completely gone.

So then the Wii U will be more niche and popular than the Saturn then right?

[Exhuminator]

All prior incarnations of Nintendo handhelds totally destroyed their competition to the point where people view consoles like Game Gear and Neo Geo as insignificant.

While the PSP sold 80 million the DS sold more than 150 million. I'd say that's a pretty big market domination by anyone's standards.

The handheld market is different from the home console market, and you're aware of that, so why bring it up?

I brought it up to prove a point. The Wii and DS both sold tremendously well at the same time. The point then, is that Nintendo wasn't fluking things during that era, rather they were executing a beautiful grand strategy. No flukes about it.

What's wrong with it being an alternative?

I don't think there's anything wrong with being an alternative. But Nintendo's investors who were spoiled by their once sky high stock investments do.