Saving the Wii U

Concerns over the Wii U and Nintendo grew with the latest earnings report from the venerable game company. The results were well below expectations and Nintendo’s original guidance, and analyst Michael Pachter characterized the recent Wii U sales as “abysmal.” Nintendo’s revenue for the quarter was $833 million, well below the estimate of $1.19 billion. Hardware sales were off for the 3DS (only 1.4 million units, below the estimate of 2 million) and the Wii U sold only 160,000 units worldwide over the past three months – 90,000 in Japan, 60,000 in the US and 10,000 in the UK. The Wii U has sold 3.6 million units worldwide since its introduction last year.

[Benjaminkno]

It's still way too early for all of this speculation.

How many times has Nintendo been counted out?
Since the early 90's?

same old song and dance
...moving on...

[Parapraxis]

"It's still way too early for all of this speculation."

So at what point can people talk about the fact that the WiiU is nearly dead?
I own a WiiU...at the moment, but no console has ever been in this bad of a situation.
And every other console that has done this poorly was discontinued.

[PopRocks359]

How about next year when the new consoles are out and all three have had a hand in the market? After the Wii U's first party games are all out by this holiday season?

Wii U's in a very low spot, no one is arguing this. But I don't believe it's too late to turn the console around.

[Benjaminkno]

That's funny.. Don't you remember the 600 dollar Ps3's?

What about the Red Ring of Death?

Vita was in the toilet for over a year.

And I'm pretty sure the Gamecube had worse numbers.

try again

[OmegaSlayer]

Save the WiiU.
Put it out of his misery and shame.

[Miscommunicative]

I like how the photo provided is of a variant of Wii U they discontinued, seems fitting.

[Shad0wRunner]

I dont hate rival companies, nor do I want to see them fail or go under.

I just wanna see them get their crap together. Stop making bad business decisions. Stop with the bad PR. Stop ignoring consumer feedback in favor of what THEY wanna do. Keep up with the Jonses. If you KNOW that your competitors are gearing up for the next gen and are in R&D...you better get with the times and follow suit with something on equal grounds. Stop riding on the coattails of past gimmicks. Stop trying to invent new gimmicks. Stop trying to screw your fans and consumers over with orwelian policies and practices. Dont try to FORCE your vision of YOUR future onto us. Maybe we dont like your vision...or your future. Stop trying to limit our choices and liberties.

And dont you ever...EVER...try to shove mandatory DRM restrictions on us again!

And above all - We can make or brake you any time we want. DONT EVER FORGET THAT.

[PopRocks359]

"And dont you ever...EVER...try to shove mandatory DRM restrictions on us again!"

This reads like a post meant for Microsoft and their handling of the Xbox One.

[Shad0wRunner]

It was meant for all console devs.

[Agent_hitman]

Wii U is a great system, but it seems that most publishers are not interested in making games for it.. Only Ubisoft.

EA is one dumb publisher, hating the system... Fortunately Activision is committed in supporting Nintendo all the way, I would say that they have earned my respect.

[Shad0wRunner]

Thats because the Wii U is underpowered in terms of software development. Devs prolly could port next gen (or current gen) titles to the Wii U but because of its hardware limitations and disadvantages...those games are gonna be gimped in some way or another.

And if I was a software dev myself, I wouldnt wanna waste my time, money and resources trying to make a weaker, watered down version of a next gen game...just so the Wii U can have a little love.

Now, if Nintendo had done what they SHOULD have done and made a console on the same technical grounds as PS4 and XB1....we wouldnt even be having this conversation.

EDIT: Copied and pasted from a previous article I commented on, to save me the headache of having to explain this again.

PS: EA has always been a dev with questionable practices. Nothing new here.

[MEsoJD]

Businesses are meant to make money and there isn't much for devs and publishers at the moment when the Wii U is involved. They tried so I can't blame them.

[blackmanone]

Wii U will be saved when it becomes hackable. It was the same thing with the Wii.

[Shad0wRunner]

Oh yes...because everyone is totally gonna trample over eachother to buy a Wii U, just so they can hack it and install WiiBrew onto it. /s <--- Implied Sarcasm.

Hint: It wasnt the hacks that saved the Wii. It was the motion wand gimmick and casual games.

[BLKxSEPTEMBER]

Actually thousands of people WILL run out and buy a Wii U once its hacked. Why do u think the PSP became so popular? Why do u think damn near everyone with a Dsi has a R4 card? U may not want to accept it but piracy Will help the Wii U's sales.

[BLKxSEPTEMBER]

I hate to say this but if you really wanna see the Wii U sales pick up then wait til the Wii key is released. Piracy is always a system seller and I will guarantee that when the crack is made public Wii U will fly off the shelves. Sure third parties will hate it but they don't develope for the Wii U anyway. Mark my words when the Wii U is cracked it will sell millions, just look at the PSP, Wii, ds, Xbox, 360.

[Shad0wRunner]

And what would be the point of hacking it...when there arent even any decent games out worth pirating or ripping, in the first place? I could understand if the Wii U was already an established console and had a pre existing library of games...but thats not the case here, is it?

Even if they released the keys today...I wouldnt bother wasting my time and bandwidth on the crap Nintendo considers "games" for the Wii U.

Last I checked...pirates loot treasure. Not trash.

[BLKxSEPTEMBER]

What you consider trash may be a treasure to another person. There's thousands of people who would mod their Wii U for the free games. Sure the games out now are crap to me but that doesn't mean that there will never be good games. And the last time I checked games could be ripped from a disk not just downloaded which is what will most likely be the case on Wii u

[shibster88]

I hope the wii u does fail, me personally ive no time for this poor thought of system

[PrimeGrime]

That is just terrible. How would you feel if something you worked on, was just put aside in the same manner. I mean you are entitled to not like the system but to want it to fail is just ridiculous.

[MasterCornholio]

What if the Virtua boy succeeded?

Sometimes a firm needs a product to fail that way they will be forced to learn from their mistakes and they will end up producing better products because of it.

If the Wii U does fail then the next console that Nintendo makes will adopt a different design philosophy and it will be much better than its predecessor.

Just look at what the fails with the PS3 did to the PS4.

Motorola RAZR i

[Benjaminkno]

Name one thing that Sony or Microsoft has done for this industry that PC hasn't done better.

Good luck finding a software developer greater than Nintendo. It's just the way it is.

The only reason why you would say something so dumb is because you're too poor to afford one.

[Master of Unlocking]

What's the problem with that system exactly? Why doesn't it sell, when the Wii was selling like crack-filled little buns?
I don't get it.

All the people in here that bought a Wii U, what's wrong with it? Your account and all the digital games you purchased on the Wii weren't carried over to the Wii U or what? No 3rd party support?

[TheEvilWithin]

There is nothing WRONG with the system other then the lack of games appealing to all people. That ENDS starting this month with the release of Pikmin 3 this Sunday and New Super Luigi U (Disc Version) later this month. Plus Earthbound just came out and that's selling really really well on the Wii U.

People on this site who call them selves "GAMER'S" only think the BEST system is a system with the best graphic's card's or is out selling the other. This site is a joke. From what I gathered Microsoft used to be big this on this site then Microsoft made a bunch of huge mistakes now Sony is the big deal around here but if Microsoft or Nintendo does something BIG they will flock to that system as there must have system. People on here are like blind sheep not gamer's.

[HalfNerdHalfAmazing]

The Wii U don't need no saving it just need games

[_QQ_]

it aint don't need no dun saving!

[just-joe]

Games.

[TheEvilWithin]

Let me break it down for the kids on here who are no older then maybe 16 who think they know it all.

First: Nintendo NEEDS to stop selling the Wii because people are confused between the two and Need to make the Wii U there go to system. People will ALWAYS buy the cheaper system and if the Wii is selling for like under $200 people will buy it. Look at the sales charts. It's PROOF with the Wii out selling the Wii U.

Second: Games matter to the HARDCORE crowed but to the general consumer they could care less. Look at the Wii almost ALL the games are just shovel ware games and that system was the number 1 selling system last gen. They just need to get rid of the Wii. Its the only system under cutting them right now.

Third: Needs a price drop! Needs to come down to $250/$300 and bundled with New Super Mario Bros U or Zelda Wind Waker HD. That will KILL at market to be able to buy a Wii U with a game at that price. They also need to market that all your old Wii games DO play on the system and your old Wii controller's also work on the new system.

Fourth: Brings me to my final point. Nintendo NEEDS to market the HELL out of this thing. I can't tell you how many times I have walked into a store and the games and demo system are hidden off in some corner of the store. People don't know about it cause people can't see it and interact with it to see what all the cool things it does.

People need to stop saying Nintendo is DOOMED. Yes the Wii U is not flying off store shelves but it is growing a slow but steady bunch of people. 160,000 people bought a system that had no games really releasing within those three months so that says something right there. I'm more excited to see what the next few months are going to look like.

[Parapraxis]

This is the first time I've seen anybody try to spin the 160k units worldwide between April and June 2013 as a positive thing.
Wow.