Wii U: Two Years of Negative Brand Momentum

"Word association is powerful. When certain words with negative connotations are associated with your product or brand, it can cause massive damage to the product’s image and reputation. Certain words can be associated with your product after they are repeated over and over for a certain amount of time. For example: “Nintendo = kiddy” or “Wii brand = Weak graphics”.
There is an old saying: If people hear something repeated enough times, they may start believing it. Regardless if it’s true or false.", writes NotEnoughShaders.

[ltachiUchiha]

I agree words are powerful at times but if that company is delivering awesome games we like then all those opinions dont mean squat.

[DivineAssault]

nah, those opinions mean a lot.. Those opinions wouldnt even be there if nintendo delivered on their promises to cater to the core.. What happened with that? Indies & Ubisoft are making games for them but thats it.. Ubisoft has always made games for nintendo so theres really no change at all.. I hope things turn around for em but nx gen consoles will be here & most gamers will pick one of those over a wii u.. Wii u might be something they want to own at some point but it will be secondary to the PS4/nx box

[ltachiUchiha]

I understand where your coming from but at the same time nintendo has alot of heavy hitters that will draw in fans. I just think the reason u dont see wii u selling like hotcakes is because most of their heavy hitters aint out yet for the wii u. As soon as another zelda, mario galaxy, metroid & other hitters come to the system, we will see a spike in wii u sales. Remember the ps3 & 3ds had a slow start aswell but look at both of them now. Those 2 devices been 1, 2 punching sales wise worldwide despite their slow starts.

[slapedurmomsace]

@itachi using the PS3 and 3DS to compare is faulty. The PS3 was the last of the current gen consoles to launch, and no one had anything else to look forward too console launch wise. They played their Wii and their 360's for a year or two and bought a PS3. That's exactly what I did, and most people I know. And you can actually chart that with N4G. Back when N4G was dominated by 360 posters, now it's PS3. The Wii U is the first and no one cares, and with the 720 and PS4 months away, the Wii U could should fall into the shadows as a second thought. I was gonna buy one as my secondary console, that will now be a 720. If my kids wanna play a Nintendo product, they can play their 3DS. And that leads to the 3DS, the 3DS's problem was the price and the DS was still hot. The Wii U is over priced for what you get, there is no software, won't be for about a year since it's release, and no one is buying a Wii and it's still outselling the Wii U. Anyway, the 3DS is what kids are playing right now, and because the 3DS is as powerful as it is, and you can basically play the exact same game on the tablet style controller, why buy the 3DS turbo, I mean Wii U? There really isn't a reason, and the days of spending $400+ after tax for a Zelda or Mario game are long gone. This is the Gamecube all over again, ironic consider they're using a multicore CPU based off that same Gamecube.

[stragomccloud]

Shouldn't mean squat but it does. Nintendo makes awesome games, but people that fall prey to believing all of the negative stuff unconsciously won't allow themselves to enjoy something.

[3-4-5]

Same people trashing Wii U, were the same idiots trashing 3DS.

Wait for the games.

What happened when more GOOD games started releasing ?

Sales went up....a lot.

[StraightedgeSES]

Great article. The people in charge has let Nintendo become the laughing stock of the industry. Nintendo needs to stop letting people walk all over them and start sticking up for their consoles.

[NerfHerder]

Perception is reality, those that control the media control the world.

[Agent_hitman]

Lol another negative wii u article..

[brave27heart]

In two years time when Wii U is cheap and has some great first party games and has become peoples "second console" we'll look back at these articles and smile.

[disposable]

One of few well-researched articles that are rarely found on N4G, I must say.

[weekev15]

What I find odd is that Nintendo were clearly aware of this image when they released the system so one would have thought they would do everything they could to get away from the image that the Wii gave them. Instead for the second time in their console history they kept the name of the predecessor.

I still love my WiiU but even just calling it the Nintendo U would have been better.

[OmniSlashPT]

When you call your console Wii U, only focus on the gimmicky controller, have no 3rd party support and dont release any big 1st party game in the console 1st year it means something is not right.

[broli4000]

The Wii U has had a multitude of issues. Nintendo's largest demographic over the past few consoles have been uninformed parents. You know, the same ones that call all consoles a "Nintendo" because that is what they know it as. Those parents still think it is a controller for the Wii that costs $400 and when the next generation of consoles hit the market, it won't look like any more of a bargain that it does right now. The price point was a main reason the Wii did so well.... it was so much cheaper than the other consoles and had that brand name that parents loved. Every year though, parents are becoming more informed and as prices get higher and higher, they do more research and see that a Nintendo product isn't the best bang for the buck.

Team that up with the fact that developers aren't doing anything for it and you have the same issue that you ultimately had with the Wii... a bunch of people that bought them initially to play Super Smash Bros and then sold it to Gamestop a year later. More interesting games will come out for it in the next year or 2, but by then, it will be far too late as any early adopters will be trading in their console for a PS4 or Xbox.