Iwata on delay of Wii U games, says dev teams were understaffed to meet launch needs

A common topic came up continuously during the Q&A session of Nintendo’s recent financial results briefing: Wii U game delays.

[DA_SHREDDER]

WiiU doom and gloom articles are so emo

[sherimae2413]

this is "incompetence" on nintendo's part...
i think nintendo should address this issues anytime soon...
what have they are doing great for the 3ds is the opposite of wii u..

[sway_z]

Nintendo should release a Movie to go with the LONG AWAITED game.

'The Wonderful 101 Excuses'

After all these years in the game you'd have thought Nintendo would understand good PR.

*Edit*

Whenever anyone mentions the lack of games Wii U has, they always bring up the 8 year ago PS3 launch?? Live in the past why do yer ;)

[LoveOfTheGame]

"Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it"

They are trying to teach you a valuable lesson.

[Chidori]

I don't think anyone is living in the past. It's the fact that people are foolish enough to think that a new console will come along with a wide variety of games. The current gen is still well and alive. Good quality games are still in development and expected to release this year along side the ps4 and nextbox. If you expect these consoles to excrete a barrage of quality games within the first year of the console life, you're certainly in for a disappointment. It already seems like 3rd party publishers will continue what they started on the Wii U with porting over current gen games that are due within the same time frame.

Buying a new console at launch is sure to disappoint those that are not willing to wait. This is known knowledge.

[PirateThom]

Yes, but the Wii U isn't even getting the current gen ports.

The only games it is getting are older titles that were out on other platforms already.

Even big names like GTAV and MGSV are skipping the console entirely.

3rd party publisher see it as an afterthought and once development starts to move more to the next gen consoles, the Wii U will be left behind, same as the Wii.

[jcnba28]

If you're understaffed then hire more staff.

[PopRocks359]

There are some problems with that ideology. One, hiring more staff means spending more money, filing paperwork, filling out checks, etc. Two, you need staff who can do a quality job and Nintendo's inner software development teams are always pushed to present high quality games.

If it were as simple as "hire more staff," I reckon Nintendo would have done just that. Not even saying you're wrong either, but I think there are other factors to consider when running a business.

[jcnba28]

I agree.

[TruthbeTold]

While what you are saying is true, the bottom line is that they DID need to hire more people. Just not once it was too late. They had years of windfall profit on the Wii and DS to prepare a proper infrastructure for the Wii U/3DS generation, but they overestimated how long that gravy train was going to ride, and now they are struggling, and gamers who care are left wanting, while gamers who don't care will be hard to win back.

[Sharius]

President. Please, understand strike again?

[josephayal]

C'mon the Wii U is a solid system, it just needs more time

[majiebeast]

The only thing that i can think of that could cause it is, they underestimated the jump from SD to HD and alot of devs,publishers did the same thing.

[gedden7]

Nintendo will so prove the doubters wrong like they did the Wii and 3DS....

[dedicatedtogamers]

...and the Virtual Boy and the Gamecube!

[mydyingparadiselost]

The VB and the Gamecube don't belong in the same sentence.

[lilbroRx]

Nintendo made more profit off the gamecube than they made off of the Nintendo 64.

The Wii U doesn't damage your eyes.

[deafdani]

Virtual Boy was a straight flop for Nintendo, yes. But the Gamecube was profitable, so your sarcastic comment doesn't fly.

[gedden7]

Like the psp and kinect right... Nintendo has been around for a very long time, no way a company will never make mistakes. Nintendo will not let a machine like the Wii U go to waste. They have too much $$$ from the SNES, WII, Gamecube, NES, GB, GBA, DS, 3DS, 3DS XL, VC wii, VC wii U and eShop.

Need i say more?

[izumo_lee]

This kinda proves Nintendo wasn't ready for the Wii U launch & released it too early. It kinda screams bad management & that is something that Nintendo doesn't need for their flagship console.

They thought with the massive success of the original Wii that a console with a similar name would have the same success....unfortunately that isn't the case. They also misjudged the original pricing of the 3DS thinking that the millions of fans of the original DS would flock to that as well. Nintendo realized that mistake & dramatically cut the price of the 3DS to kick start sales which it now has.

This gen Nintendo has done a lot of miss steps, miss steps that could have easily been fixed beforehand. They have an extremely uphill climb with the Wii U & it won't get any easier when the PS4 & the next box are out.

[Plagasx]

I say Nintendo is screwed.

[LOL_WUT]

Pretty much this but i'll give them the benefit of the doubt once they show off the games they've been working on. ;)

[baldulf]

Nintendo trying to get onto the HD train with seven years of delay.

[GABRIEL1030]

Lol, ¿where is the new Zelda for Wii U?. How is possible that you launched at console without AAA games?

I'm beginning to think that the real Nintendo problem is: the Iwata prepotence. The same happened with the Playstation father Ken Kutaragi, his obstination almost bankrupcy at Sony.

Iwata launched a console without great and lovely games like Zelda, Metroid or Mario Galaxy and with an outdated hardware, later he named himself like Nintendo of America CEO replacing to the good Reggie, cancels the E3 conference, now he wants to impose the lame "Nintendo directs" where he himself presents all the games and every day he makes a diferent statement.

Lol¡ This guy is starting to be disgusting. :(

[sway_z]

'This man is starting to be disgusting'

Oh man!...you crack'd me up loool

[kagamer79]

I really don't understand why ppl compare nintendo to sega. Why do ppl say that nintendo will be like sega? If you been gaming since the mid 80s or early 90s then you would know that nintendo and sega aren't even close to comparison. Sega was a great system imo, but the lost millions on several consoles which ultimately led to there demise. Nintendo just sold a 100 million wii units at a profit from day one. So you can imagine the money the pocketed last gen. Nintendo paniced and rushed out the wii u. They just weren't ready for a strong launch. There lack of first party heavy hitters and shoddy marketing is proof. I don't think their doomed but I do know they better get their ass in high gear fast. They got some massive competition coming later this year. Nintendos been around for over 30 yrs now and its time they start acting like a veteran company instead of making rookie mistakes. If they can pump out some first party ips that play and look better than any before I believe they have a shot to stay relevant this gen. They also should pay 3rd party devs to make awesome games for their console. As always I believe the games will ultimately be a major factor in the wii u success or failure. I do know that if you look at nintendos track record they been down before, here's to hoping they can claw their way back to the top. Or a nice comfortable position I should say.

[arbitor365]

the wii u launch was clearly rushed. launching in 2012 was a monumental mistake

[No_Pantaloons]

I have a different theory; they were arrogant after the massive sales of the wii and thought that naturally everyone would just run out and get their next console, now they see low sales and are trying to play catch up.

Call it what it is, sony made the same mistake with the ps3 launch, just own up to the mistake and lite a fire under you ass to give people what they want. No one wants to hear sob stories about "development uncertainties."

[Jek_Porkins]

I kind of called this a while ago, not only were they understaffed, but the console didn't have a lot of features on launch day that it should of.

A second Gamepad should have been available at launch, and there should have been some games available that supported that. There should have been at least 4-6 first party Nintendo games available at launch, a 3D Mario title, Zelda, Mario Kart or something! Even the Wind Waker HD would have made sense.

The latest update for Wii U should have been on the system at launch, there is no excuse for the console to be slower than the 360/PS3 when it comes to load times, there is a lot more memory available in Wii U.

I still enjoy the console, needs games, but they were obviously unprepared.

[YourFlyness]

Please Understand....

[Realplaya]

These comments mean people didn't read the article SMH

[Picnic]

I remember when the NES was out in the UK. It may amaze you to know this if you are in some other territories but it didn't mean an awful lot to many people here.

It was launched late here, it was very dear and the availability of greatly graphically superior games on the Amiga made the NES look old and blocky.

Even the SNES sold less than the Megadrive in the UK (though not worldwide of course).

Nintendo have just never been that cool with many UK gamers , although I suspect that our attachment to the N64 , with games by Rare, and the Gamecube was greater than many other places.

[o-Sunny-o]

GameCube and N64 was my favorite Nintendo times. I hope Wii U gets up on its feet and soon.