440°

Pachter: Nintendo may not recover from Wii U mistake

Industry analyst Michael "Chewy Homunculus" Pachter has been saying for years that Nintendo missed the boat on an HD Wii followup, and now he believes his predictions have yielded fruit. Framing the Wii U launch as a disaster from which Nintendo may not recover, his feelings on the matter are quite clear.

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DA_SHREDDER4078d ago

Agreed, but what Nintendo does the worst, is totally including a Wiimote and nintendo land in every box. This would have been a hit!

1upgamer994078d ago

Why would they add a Wiimote in the box when most people have their Wiimote controllers still (dusty or not)and pass the added cost to consumers.

darthv724078d ago

to get consumers to trade up then I can see not including the wiimote. But if they want to get all new consumers then by all means they should have one in there.

Those that follow games knows it is compatible but to the uninformed consumer, they dont. It represents an extra cost to them if they want to buy and play wii games on the wii-u. Keep in mind that nintendo 'should' patch the wii-u to support wii games that at least offer classic controller support to be used with the included gamepad or the new wii-u classic controller.

Games that require the wiimote, yeah there is no getting around that one. Either include one or make it more widely known that to play them, the consumer must get one.

Personally, i dont have an issue as i have all the optional controllers from the wii to transition to the wii-u. I cant say the same for everyone else though.

linkenski4078d ago

Plus it wouldn't help the confusion about "what Wii U is" if there was a Wii remote in the package.

TongkatAli4078d ago

All the people who had the Wii that I knew sold it, true story.

donman14078d ago

Talk about a broken record from you haters. Ever launch of every Nintendo console people like you sing from the hills the end is near and yet it never happens. Even during their worst console cycle the company remains profitable. Profitable normally means not going out of business so just give it a rest already.

LocutusEstBorg4078d ago

Except Apple is murdering Nintendo, unlike Sony and Microsoft. Every kid want's an "iTouch" for his birthday. They don't even know it's called an iPod Touch, but Apple still gets the sale.

dlpg5854078d ago

@kurian
i assume you're taking this data from extensive research into both nintendo and macintosh company products. you obviously noticed a corralation between severely decreasing profits from nintendo and greatly increased profits from macintosh from the huge transfer of sales. obviously it must be huge if you're stating that the other 2 console brands are doing better than them. especially considering the fact that they are around 24 million units behind each of them in sales and they sell their units at a loss while nintendo makes a profit. where do these huge profits come from? copies of halo 4?

Benjaminkno4078d ago

*sniff*
*sniff*

I smell fear.

Be not afraid. It is the anti-Nintendo crowd that need be worried. Can't you smell the stench of death?

dcbronco4078d ago

@dlpg585

The 360 hasn't been sold at a loss since mid 2006. The PS3 started to break even around 2010. Nintendo did start making a profit day one on the Wii U, but it's not selling. And the next generation is starting this year. The Wii U may be king of the hill in the current generation, but that generation is almost over. So it will only get worse for Nintendo. Though I don't see them going out of business.

lizard812884078d ago

Because they are sheep. After 6 months or so, Apple will roll out the same thing...but wait, with a smaller screen and slap a $600 price tag on it. People will buy it.

on topic, this is Pachter we are talking about. He seems to say Nintendo is doomed every month. The Wiiu is off to a rocky start though, but the 3ds also had one, and now it is doing fine, and beating the Vita.

Link0794077d ago

Well sony had half these sales with ps3 and that was with some cool 3rd party support so considering wiiu has no fantastic games yet although that is changing very soon with NFS/LEGOCITY/MONSTER HUNTER ect,trust me after these games are out the UK sales will pick up quite alot as we love lego games and this lego game is basically GTA lego the uk will gush for this game.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 4077d ago
user39158004078d ago

Nintendo WIIU is dead, its been dead for 2 month now, only nintendo followers with rabies might get upset, but facts are the wiiu is not selling and no third party support. The wiiu is dead.

t0mmyb0y4078d ago

It just came out man. What console starts out amazing?

Deku-Johnny4078d ago (Edited 4078d ago )

Gearbox, Rocksteady, Ubisoft, Platinum, Square Enix, Disney, Treyarch, NetherRealm, Travellers Tales, Criterion, Team Ninja, Capcom, 5th Cell, Atlus, Sega, Activision, Namco Bandai, not to mention the numerous eShop games.

No absolutely no 3rd party support there.

Link0794077d ago (Edited 4077d ago )

Beyonetta2
Xenoblade2
Wonderful 101
Pikimin3
Windwaker HD
LegoCity
MonsterHunter
Gearbox FPS ?
Destiny ?
Mariokart WiiU
ProjectCars
Dirt WiiU
NFS MostWantedU
Concept GP ?
WatchDogs ?
Zelda WiiU
Aliens CM Real version
MarioWorld 3D Adventure
F-Zero ?
Starfox ?
Smashbros WiiU
Metroid Nextgen

The question marks are because they are not yet confirmed 100%,so 14 games without the typical COD and next NFS and ProEvo ect ect is fairly decent all 14 games are exclusive except a few,the 6 with question marks half of them are exclusive and this is without new announcements isn't too shabby.

Can i say BF4 is also been more a less confirmed for wiiu so has the next MassEffect ect WiiU will of sold around 7/10 million units by the time the competition turns up so developers and publishers will have to support it considering it has a slightly better gpu than 720 and wiiu will have a growing social network on MiiVerse makes it hard to not support a console that gives feedbk to developrs ect.

Heres some NFS 360/WiiU comparison shots.

http://www.nintengen.com/

Just looks like quality over quantity if u ask me.

kgamer204078d ago

I'm very sure with the amount of cash reserves this company has, they can afford for the WiiU to fail, and for the next system to fail, and probably the system after that before they'll even start to worry.

zerocrossing4078d ago (Edited 4078d ago )

What constitutes as Nintendo's Wii U failing though?

If we look back at the Sega Dreamcast and why that failed, it was largely due to lack of funds, poor 3rd party support and Sega no longer being in a position to keep supporting it.

Nintendo doesn't have these problems, they also have some decent 3rd party support this gen and have already hooked many Ninty fans with promise of 1st party exclusives.

The only real way I see the Wii U failing is if 3rd party devs turn their backs on them and the core fans just stop supporting it, but that isn't likely to happen IMO.

kgamer204078d ago

This exactly. It is quite unlikely for Nintendo fans to stop supporting Nintendo, and for all 3rd party support to stop. I personally don't think any of that'll happen but that's just my opinion.

riverstars864078d ago

3rd party support for the Wii U will be weak, please explain to me how you think 3rd party support will ever be good on the Wii U? Before you answer, please factor in the new Sony and Microsoft consoles into your analysis.

zerocrossing4078d ago (Edited 4078d ago )

@riverstars86

Okay, first of all the fact Nintendo has support from Retro Studios, Monolith Soft, Platinum Games, Capcom, Konami and Tecmo Koei to name a few, proves their 3rd part support isn't week.

Secondly, the PS4 and nextbox aren't even out yet, we know nothing about their specs or market strategy's, so only an idiot would factor them in when it comes judging whether or not they will steer 3rd party support away from Wii U.

Please, do tell me what inside info you have on the PS4 and nextbox that makes you think they will hamper Wii U in any significant way?

riverstars864078d ago (Edited 4078d ago )

We don't know anything officially about the new consoles from Sony and Microsoft, but the word out there is that they are on a different level than Wii U. While we will shortly know more about PS4, clearly Microsoft's marketing strategy is going to be about reaching all types of consumers, they won't abandon the core gamers, they will go hard after casual gamers with Kinect 2.0, and will also attempt to market the machine to non gamers with their heavy emphasis on entertainment and apps for the living room. None of this is official, but it's clear Microsoft is positioning the new console to market to as many consumers as possible.

As for the Wii U, all I have to do is look at the Wii as an example of what I think will happen to Wii U 3rd party support. Wii U will get shoddy ports like the Wii because it will be significantly weaker than the competition.

P.S. I'm still waiting for an answer from you on how Wii U's 3rd party support will ever be good?

ConstipatedGorilla4078d ago

I bought one at launch but never turn it on. I beat Mario U and was done. Lately I've had an itch to play Mario 64 again, but will wait to see if they release it in HD on Wii U's virtual console.

truechainz4078d ago

@ riverstars86

Depends on your definition of good. Honestly If there are only a couple of third party games that have good uses of the gamepad or are fun I would count that as a victory since their exclusives and handheld sales move cash like nobody's business.

zerocrossing4078d ago (Edited 4078d ago )

Ugh... Not sure why Im wasting my time, but fine.

The Wii only did poorly in regards to 3rd party support when you look at it from the hardcore gamer perspective. Nintendo's Wii and their 3rd party support did incredibly well with the console casual market Nintendo pretty much established, so well in fact that both Sony and MS wanted a piece of the pie.

True, in terms of hard core 3rd party titles the Wii was rather lackluster, but both Sony and MS had that covered, was it really necessary for 3 consoles to be selling the same 3rd party games? Nintendo aren't competing with Sony or MS by the way, or is there still need for this to be stated?

None of us know if the PS4 or 360 will be significantly better than the Wii U, you're just speculating. It's much more likely that all 3 consoles will relatively similar in performance though I suspect Wii U will be weaker but that's not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself. Wii U may not gain the same level of 3rd party support Sony's PS4 and MS's nextbox do but I seriously doubt it will be bad, and definitely not as bad as the Wii's severely lacking hard core 3rd party support.

riverstars864078d ago

You have some good points zero, but you can't deny that the Wii left a sour taste in the mouths of millions of gamers.

I own a Wii U, I'm not bringing any bias with me to this discussion. I know the system will sell more when big first party exclusives come out. I'm actually playing Skyward Sword now because I sold my Wii awhile back.

Only time will tell, I guess I just have more faith in Sony and Microsoft. I feel they understand what most core gamers want and they create the hardware and infrastructure needed to reel in these consumers. Then I look at the Wii U, I see an online infrastructure that is worse than 7 year old consoles. While I like Miiverse, definitely cool how it was implemented into NSMBU, they should have added a extremely popular feature like cross game chat to their online infrastructure.

It just seems like the Wii U is going to be in a bad situation once the new consoles from Microsoft and Sony hit the stores. Besides Nintendo's first party games, what is going persuade gamers to buy the Wii U over the other two? What is going to persuade the casuals to upgrade from their Wii to the Wii U? Besides the introduction of the tablet controller, the motion technology is exactly the same as the Wii's.

+ Show (5) more repliesLast reply 4078d ago
roshi19874078d ago (Edited 4078d ago )

Public companies can not afford to bet on losers. They have a board of directors who will know when to call it quits (if they ever need to) much like Sega did.

Regarding Nintendo's cash position, we will know in April after their annual financials come out how much cash they have.

pr0t0typeknuckles4078d ago

pachter shut up, has the guy ever been right about anything.

lilbroRx4078d ago

No. He actually predicted that the Wii U's marketing was right and that it would reach sells projections.

Thats when I knew it was going to be a bumpy beginning. Now that he is bashing them again, I'm sure they will do just fine.

PopRocks3594078d ago

Like the Wii was a mistake? Or the 3DS was a mistake? Come on, must we go through this every single time?

1upgamer994078d ago

Right, I mean the Wii was huge hit the first 4 years, and 3DS had a rough start I think because of the initial price tag. Most people just don't want to spend $250 for a handheld. Look at PSP, and Vita. Vita is cool and all, but if I had one I would want it for games not apps. My smartphone can do all that for me, same goes for 3DS though.

PopRocks3594078d ago

The PSP and Vita are solid pieces of hardware, but in order to really break into their target audience (which I'm fairly certain is teens and young adults) they need to up the anti on exclusive games and give the platform a competitive price drop.

The 3DS' appeal is more broad. It has RPGs, platformers, strategy games and even shooters from first and third parties. But all of that came a year or so after launch.

Like with the 3DS people need to give the Vita (and even the Wii U) the time it deserves.

roshi19874078d ago

Very different signs with the WiiU than the Wii. Its apples to oranges right now. Two very different systems.

1upgamer994078d ago

OMG, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH!

Show all comments (109)
80°

Nintendo's Massacre Of The 3DS And Wii U Is Finally Complete, Regrettably

Hanzala from eXputer: "The cruel hammer of Nintendo has fallen. Farewell, 3DS and Wii U, you surely brightened my life and many others; you won't be forgotten."

280°

Xbox's Preservation Step Sets A Much-Needed Example, Especially For Nintendo

Hanzla from eXputer inquires: "If Xbox can care about preserving its games and legacy, what exactly is wrong with Nintendo, trying to kill game preservation single-handedly?"

purple1016d ago

Ahh yes the good old game preservation of saving all your games to a removable hhd on the Xbox 360, taking it round your mates house, setting up multiple tvs to
Be met with “save data corrupted, please re download”

Or how about removing 360 games
From the store
, download them now or else, and, better hope to god that save data doesn’t corrupt, or it’s lost for ever

Nice one ☝️

Zeref5d ago

It's better than what Nintendo and Playstation is doing. It might not be perfect but at least they are TRYING. Unlike the others.

DarXyde5d ago

Trying? Take off the blinders for a moment, mate.

1. A failure to preserve games is just that: a failure to preserve games. Don't try to sugarcoat it: NO ONE is doing it properly. Better than awful is nothing to write home about.

2. At the time of this comment, isn't it the case that you need an internet connection to play Xbox games even if you buy physical discs that are hardly in circulation anymore? I don't have a Series X and I can't verify, but I think that is correct. I'm fairly certain you can at least play PS5 games at version 1.0 (not much of a win really when many games require day one patches). I think Microsoft's all digital, licensing approach is by far more aggressive than anyone else's. They really try to push you to game pass where you lose your entire library by umm.... Skipping a month of payments.

I don't think anyone is doing it right whatsoever. Don't get me started on Nintendo, who goes after anyone looking to preserve their games better than they ever would with extreme litigation.

Don't be a simp for any of these companies. Get it together.

PhillyDonJawn5d ago (Edited 5d ago )

@DarX never speak on Xbox again. You lost all credibility with your internet connection comment. Smh you have 0 clue and misinformed yet speaking on something you don't no squat about.

Einhander19725d ago

What has Sony done exactly? You guys keep deflecting to Sony but I am not actually seeing any results, and ai am certain nothing that you can come up with even comes close to what Microsoft has done and what they have tried and failed to do, like tie all your disks to your account on xbone.

Microsoft removed their whole indie section when they moved to the xbone because they were going to only allow games on the service that came from a publisher, id@xbox started after xbone launched and it only exists because Sony embraced indie and Microsoft was forced to cancel their plans and reverse course.

And every single game that was part of games for windows live including disk games (I have gta 4 on disk that won't work) so hundreds of games that use that DRM no longer work unless the company themselves patched it out which of course very few did.

MrBaskerville5d ago

Not trying. Tried. they killed of the backcomp program years ago. They set something up again, but sounds like it's more of an attempt to save the current library on whatever they are planning next. With luck they save everything and more, but let's see. I could see them killing off parts of the OG xbox and 360 libraries. Can't imagine that they would allow us to play Forza 5-7 in the future.

With that said, I do like what they've done and really wish they could have done more.

shinoff21835d ago

Zeref

So killing off physical media is trying what exactly. Ms don't really give a fk if you think they do your kidding yourself.

Profchaos4d ago

They are not trying this team is established for forward compatability the team is. It interested in preserving Xbox or 360 games.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 4d ago
isarai6d ago

Is that why Hellblade 2 is digital only?

Zeref5d ago

Just because it's digital only doesn't mean you can't preserve it. Just put it on an external and you have the exact same functionality of what a disc does.

MrNinosan5d ago

Guess you're trolling, but if you actually think that's how it works, I'd recommend buying some braincells.

mkis0074d ago (Edited 4d ago )

Volitile vs nonvolitile data. A disc will not corrupt either. A drive can be corrupted.

Einhander19725d ago

This is just a scammy PR move to distract from the fact they are going digital only and trying to push streaming and subscriptions only.

No gaming company has pushed harder to remove ownership than Microsoft.

Without discs there is no preservation, preservation can't be done by the rights holders it can only be done by the consumers, anything else is a lie.

5d ago Replies(3)
Einhander19725d ago

Anyone remember xblig which Microsoft removed their whole 360 indie section removing hundreds of games from people?

5d ago
5d ago
Zeref5d ago

Do you know you can put your games on an external and preserve them that way? There are no benefits to discs. ZERO. Idk why some of you are still obsessed with them.

DarXyde5d ago

Because games like Persona 5 exist. It's STILL V1.00. On Playstation, that's a win because 1.00 is installed on the disc—no need to download anything.

If a game does not require any updates, it's all on the disc.

Extremely low bar in the modern era, of course. It's not much of a win by any stretch.

But for now, physical media does have a purpose, at least on Playstation.

Einhander19725d ago

That is factually not how game licensing works, try plugging your hard drive into someone else xbox, It's not going to work, and it won't work if the licensing servers ever go down.

Einhander19725d ago

Anyone remember games for windows live.

I have around a dozen games, some on Steam itself that will not work because Microsoft shut off the licensing servers.

BehindTheRows5d ago (Edited 5d ago )

I do. I STILL have games (Gears of War being the big one) I cannot access because Games for Windows LIVE is total garbage and no one has held Microsoft accountable.

Zeref5d ago (Edited 5d ago )

You don't have an Xbox apparently. Because you can 100 percent plug in your external and play games from it on any Xbox console lol. You just have to be logged in to prove ownership.

Chevalier5d ago

"You don't have an Xbox apparently. Because you can 100 percent plug in your external and play games from it on any Xbox console lol. You just have to be logged in to prove ownership."

Damn how many times do people got to explain your idiocy to you? You can take a copy of Persona 5 like someone used as an example and play that game on ANY console WITHOUT logging in which means I can lend the game to a friend without internet and they can play my game. Can you lend your hard drive to anyone without logging in for them to play? NOPE. That is a huge difference and if you think otherwise then sorry you're an idiot.

Tacoboto5d ago

"No gaming company has pushed harder to remove ownership than Microsoft."

Ubisoft is literally erasing games people bought from their libraries... My PS1-3 discs are useless on modern hardware. Nintendo's re-published and resold almost their entire Wii U library, and the eShop is completely dead with no BC mechanism in the Switch software. Microsoft publishes everything they make today day one on Steam and Xbox/Windows. Sony only brings to PC the titles they think you might want some years later and Nintendo won't even design a functional long-lasting joystick.

You're absolutely trolling and not serious if you think Microsoft today is the worst offender.

shinoff21835d ago

Yay steam

Not everyone fks with computers though. The disc is still the best way as a console player. Period.

Tacoboto4d ago

How do Sony and Nintendo feel about these discs from 2001-2013?

Don't be stupid, you know Xbox is the best at this today.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 4d ago
Hofstaderman5d ago

Nobody wants this. Sales or the lack of it in the case of XBOX is very telling. I wonder how the adorably all digital series X will fare. Adorably dismal perhaps?

crazyCoconuts5d ago

Only time will tell, but for from someone like me suspecting that Xbox is trying to gracefully exit the console market, that "forward compatibility" team is trying to get Xbox games playing on Windows PCs. I mean, it's nice that they're not planning on exiting with a "enjoy your games while the hardware still works" message, so that's nice. They still have a brand to protect via Microsoft so probably feel obligated to have a better exit strategy.

Xeofate5d ago (Edited 5d ago )

That is not their plan, their plan is to transfer users accounts to the cloud.

Phil Spencer himself said as much a few months back, plans could have changed but I think people are reading way too much into one statement where Phil said he would allow Epic on xbox because he wants to be able to sell xbox games directly on other platforms. Aka, instead of selling Sea of Thives through PSN he wants to have an xbox store to sell his games on PlayStation without giving PlayStation any money.

Again, it's extremely unlikely that Phil plans to put PC on xbox and licensing would prevent them from just giving out other publishers games purchased on xbox copies of thier games on PC, Microsoft does not own their games.

crazyCoconuts4d ago

The thing that doesn't align with the cloud strategy is the giving up on exclusives. You'd still need strong exclusives for cloud streaming - it's still a "platform" , just with a lower upfront hardware investment. I feel like they've learned what PS learned with PSNow long ago. We're not ready to stream games and it's only gonna lose them money to try at this point

FinalFantasyFanatic4d ago

I would love that, I'd buy up some of the Xbox games if they could run on PC, like the Rare Replay, Lost Odyssey and Dead or Alive Ultimate, probably a pipe dream though.

Show all comments (43)
90°

Nintendo's War Against Player-Made Content Will Hurt The Company In The End

Danish from eXputer: "Nintendo has historically gone against player-made content and emulation of its games. This has done much to harm the company's image."

XiNatsuDragnel12d ago

I agree nintendo hire some these folks to help in your games it'll help imo.

banger8811d ago

They need to stop announcing these mods and fan remakes until they're finished. Finish it, upload it, and then if Nintendo dmca's it tough shit. Once it's online, people can share it around, even if the original download gets taken down.

Jingsing11d ago

True, but most modders need constant admiration during the process to motivate them.

PRIMORDUS11d ago

Yup, once it's a torrent nothing can be done Nintendo is helpless at that point. But it would be wise if they just had a site on the dark web, it's also easy to use with Tor and no one will bother you.

mastershredder10d ago

This is all coming from the mouth of short-sighted fandom and grifting madness.
No.... it wont. There is a clear defined reason why they don't. This is nothing new. Make your own shi7 from your own original ideas especially if you are trying to capitalize of it it. Duh.

Yeah, hire people that have zero respect or understanding for an established process. Wow. Yep. Totally makes sense.

shinoff218310d ago

Those guys that made that sonic game got a gig from sega or something along those lines and that game was dope as hell. One of the best sonics as of late.