Nintendo and Their Wii U Troubles

[Tarvis]

With Nintendo cutting sales of it's Wii U by a staggering 7 million units, what is Nintendo's next move?

Maybe first we should backtrack and ask why isn't the Wii U selling very well? I feel a lot of it has to do with it's confusing name, the severe lack of advertising, and no real major system sellers. Sure, Super Mario 3D Land is an awesome game, but it doesn't feel like a true 3D Mario title like Super Mario 64, Mario Sunshine or Galaxy did. Wind Waker HD is also an awesome game, but the original Wind Waker was one of the most polarizing games of its time and a lot of fans probably still feel that Wind Waker is one of the weaker main titles although it doesn't warrant that.

Now looking into the future, the Wii U did end the year with very good sales (in Japan) and surely Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros will probably bring record high sales for the system this year when they are released, but after that? Nintendo doesn't spit out yearly sequels like other developers and needs to assign its underused IPs to its first and second-party development teams to work on. Bring back classic Star Fox, Metroid, and F-Zero titles for the western markets even if they don't sell that well in Japan.

Advertising has probably been next to none. I never seen any Wii U advertising in commercials, online, or even in print media. Nintendo needs to strongly show what the difference between the Wii and Wii U is and why people should buy it. The Wii U is a great system and I love mine, but Nintendo needs to show people the things that people who have bought it love about it.

Would it be possible for Nintendo to change the name of the system? Could they in effect do a re-branding of the device and call it something else (like Super Wii for example)? I have no idea if this would help or hurt the console, but just a random though I had.

Next to that, they need to beef up their online system. Remove friend codes from the 3DS and bring universal accounts to both Wii U and 3DS, along with sharing friends lists between the two and allowing people on Wii U to voice/text chat with their friends on 3DS and vice versa. Allow the purchases on eShop to carry over from system to system so people feel more inclined to digital purchases. Bring some kind of voice chat system to the Wii U itself. Bring an "achievement" type system to the console and allow users to look it up online. This requires minimal programming on Nintendo's part, but allows an infinite amount of free advertising for them in the process. (The amount of people who sign up just to make gamercards to show off their Xbox/PS score is testament to that). This will also increase sales from the users who are "achievement whores" and buy crap games just to up their score.

Third parties. I'm not sure what Nintendo could do here short of throwing money at them. Third parties have been a problem for Nintendo since the N64 days, and it might be because Nintendo systems usually different a good amount from their respective competitors (which I don't think is a bad thing otherwise). The N64 saw most developers leave because Nintendo stuck with the cartridge format instead of the more expansive CDs, the GameCube similarly had a much smaller media than the competitors, the Wii was vastly under-powered which also made porting problematic and the Wii U shares the same symptom although it is not as great. There is also the stigma that people who buy Nintendo consoles usually don't buy third parties games anyways and also the rumor that alot of developers are mad at Nintendo for the NES days because Nintendo was so tight-fisted then. I don't believe this last one mostly because of so many of those game companies are no longer around and even the ones that are have different people working in them now.

The good news for Nintendo is that the 3DS is easily the highest selling console of the last year or two and will probably continue that trend as the DS did. The Wii U successor, I would guess, will launch in 2017 if Nintendo continues with its traditional 5 year console cycle which Sony and Microsoft might not be able to match giving the Wii U successor a significant lead time over it's competition. But that's a little too far in the future of what we are looking at in this topic.

What do you think Nintendo's main priority should be in rejuvenating Wii U's sales?

 

[Joe]

This is a long article, but worth reading if you have the time: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2014-secret-developers-wii-u-the-inside-story

A game developer for a major company gives a pretty good insight as to why Nintendo and the Wii U specifically struggle with 3rd parties.

 

[Tarvis]

Really besides the NES, SNES, and Wii, Nintendo has always been the underdog compared to the competition. The GameCube only selling 22m units and the N64 33m; I wonder if the Wii U will be able to beat the N64 numbers at least.

Whether the Wii U flops or not, obviously won't be a huge deal for Nintendo as they can easily afford it and we can hope they will have learned a lot about what is needed to be done the next go around, but it still sucks to see that the company who generally at least tries to do the right thing by the customer (no microtransactions, no dicing up games into overpriced dlc, no yearly rehashes of the same game with minor upgrades, only current gen console with backwards compatibility - at least that won't be behind a pay wall, free online, freedom to use your own storage, etc) is getting shafted in sales.

I've seen many complain that the mario games are rehashes, but the only ones I would call even remotely similar are the ones in the NSMB series and even then they are mostly years apart in their release dates (DS 2006, Wii 2009, 3DS 2012, Wii U 2012). The Wii U one was easily the best of the bunch, while I thought the 3DS one should have been a Wario game with it's obsession towards coins. Really my only complaint was that they kept reusing the same music from the DS one to the 3DS one. I think the Wii U one has new music though.

I never understood why people slam Nintendo for releasing "rehashes" when you got yearly Call of Duty games (or the million other "modern warfare" games) that get marginal upgrades that are usually just a couple new maps and perks in multiplayer - and then they go on to sell record numbers.

Thankfully, I think the last Call of Duty got some major backlash so maybe this trend will start to die somewhat. But I always was appalled by the apparent hypocrisy of the gaming community that Nintendo creates too many rehashes when the entire industry seems to be stuck in the annual release of the same game with some tweaks. Maybe because it's the same characters in Nintendo games.

 

[Tarvis]

On another note, one of my biggest gripes with Nintendo and it's a trend that started with the Nintendo DS, is their phobia of online multiplayer following the launch of their systems.

I may be mistaken on a few of these but:

• DS: Nintendo didn't have a game with online multiplayer until Mario Kart DS which after that released is when the Nintendo DS really started to pick up steam. Joe, you remember me and you playing this shit? Bayli too. Good times.
• Wii: Nintendo's first online title (I think) for the Wii was Mario Strikers which came out in 2007. Smash Bros Brawl was I believe the first major online title and came out in 2008.
• 3DS: Nintendo didn't make an online title for the 3DS until Mario Kart 7 which came out almost a year after the 3DS. The 3DS STILL has a pitiful list of online multiplayer games.
• Wii U: Besides the Wii Sports U games which were released recently, Nintendo hasn't created one of it's titles with online multiplayer yet for the Wii U.

It's baffling at this stage why they keep doing this. Mario Party on the 3DS which was released in November, doesn't even have online multiplayer when it's predecessor on the Nintendo DS did. They need to hire a team only to add online to their games or something. I swear they make probably some of the best party games, but I never get to play them with real friends and that stinks.

Also I wish on every star I see that they would add online multiplayer to their VC games, but I doubt that will ever happen.

 

[Logan]

They need Miyamoto and the other old schoolers to step aside, that's honestly what they need.

 

[Lulu]

I got faith in them!

 

[Logan]

at this point, they need to take a gamble. not a gamble in my eyes, but apparently in theirs. Release your next big game from a missing/wanted franchise on the Wii U. Don't give the 3DS junior version, bet that people still love your franchises enough to buy a Wii U just for it. Of course, strengthening the library between now and then can't hurt either...

 

[Joe]

I think the criticisms of Mario games being rehashes, from a lot of people, come from more of a "tough love" kinda standpoint. People are used to Nintendo coming out with industry-changing games like OoT, and SM64, and most of the Mario games before that. So the impression is that the NSMB games are all the same, and it does seem that way to me as well. Granted I've only played the original and the Wii version, but having seen the others they do seem way too similar. Even the order of the worlds (grass, desert, ice, etc) is the same? People expect innovation from Nintendo, so that's why they get a harder time of it than devs who make CoD clones. Although as you say there's been a backlash against CoD recently, and 2013 was the first time a CoD game sold less than its predecessor.

I think as well, besides the spate of modern military shooters, the PS360 gen was probably the best in a long time for new franchises, and great updates to old ones. Yeah, people like to make jokes about "next gen is brown/gray!!1" but you had tons of new games come out like, just looking through my games - Assassin's Creed franchise, Bioshock, Borderlands, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, the Last of Us, Portal, Uncharted, Gears, etc. Also a lot of great franchise updates like Human Revolution, Oblivion and Skyrim, Far Cry 3, MGS4, and tons of others. Plus there are a lot of great smaller, downloadable games like Journey and Limbo - if anything this is where the real innovation is coming from these days. I would say Journey is up there with the best games of the generation.

They should give Mario a break for a while and bring back their MIA franchises. I seriously want an F-Zero game, I do. There hasn't been one released in the West since 2003. August 25, 2003 in fact. Two thousand and goddamn three! I was 14 years old. Now I'm a few months off 25.

 

[Tarvis]

Maybe it's my age or just western games aren't really my cup of tea, but I'll probably never chalk up the games you mentioned as my all time favorites. Mass Effect was probably the best out of that list for me, but ruined by the truly atrocious ending to the series. Gears was one of my favorite xbox 360 games, but got progressively worse as each game came out. The rest I either played or just flat out didn't like (Bioshock 1 & 2, AC 1 & 2 mainly), but obviously my taste isn't with the majority nowadays.

Game studios who used to make stupid, dumb looking, but insanely fun games have gone to the wayside due to push towards realistic graphics and the cost within. Midway being one of the main companies I'm thinking about, who's classic game library mostly got absorbed by the glutton, EA. Even their Blitz 2012 game (while insanely fun and probably the #1 most played game on xbox by me (and Logan) was hampered by some realism . Nevermind that I think only 10 people bought it for both consoles, so apparently unrealistic dumb games that have wacky physics aren't appreciated - unless they are shooters.

I dunno, I'm just over the need for constant realism in games that the game industry seems to crave anymore. I made the mistake of skipping Nintendo Gamecube (and dumping ZeldaXtreme in 2003) because I didn't want "kiddy games" and went with the PS2. I easily own less games for the PS2 than I ever did for any other console (I own more Vita games by comparison) and I think I was dumb for feeling that way back then. But I see a lot of people feel the same way now towards Nintendo on message boards, so maybe it's a phase people go through.

Apparently both Star Fox Assault, and Command (which was horrible) sold under 1 million units each, so that is probably why they aren't actively looking to develop another one. Even StarFox 64 remake on the 3DS didn't sell a million copies (but I blame them for changing the voices). F-Zero GX was the same with only 650,000 copies. Even NSMBU sold 3.5 million copies, so I guess that's why they aren't in any rush to develop those games and they do keep making NSMB games. Its a shame though as they need more variety in their titles to appeal to the masses even if they aren't selling millions of units (although they probably would on Wii U since there isn't a whole lot going on).

I think part of Nintendo's problem is that Nintendo gets a rap for targeting itself towards children, but I think it's fair to say after many many hours of xbox live game chats and Habbo rooms, that Call of Duty and FIFA games are what kids are playing nowadays, not Mario or Zelda. I think Nintendo targets more older gamers than people give it credit for, as the amount of nostalgic elements they implement into each of their games lately is noticeable. That said, I think there is a difference between targeting kids and targeting everyone (which is what I think Nintendo really tries to do).

I wonder if that since Nintendo was really popular when video gaming was something only nerds did, a lot of people feel embarrassed towards Nintendo consoles even if subconsciously.

 

[Tarvis]

I think Nintendo also got an unfair hand with third parties this generation. I bought (just doing my part to help em out) Madden 12 (which had worse physics/graphics than the other two consoles), Need for Speed (which had been out for 6 months on other consoles/PC), and Rayman Legends (which was delayed from launch to March, then from March to September to launch on all 3 consoles - and then still sold more copies on Wii U).

EA also released Mass Effect 3 after releasing Mass Effect Trilogy on the other two consoles. Apparently EA did all this to spite Nintendo because Nintendo didn't want to use EA's Origin/DRM scheme as the backbone for Nintendo Network. Either way, EA acted like they were shocked their quarter-assed (not even half assed) games didn't sell and pulled all support.

Then again, maybe it's a blessing.

 

[Joe]

long-ass posts up in this thread

 

[Joe]

What Nintendo should do is make a time machine, and reset the world to 1985.

 

[Tarvis]

QUALITY POSTS. or tl:dr.

I remember the first tv I hook that nes up too for super mario bros, I couldn't see the ground. Made the pitfalls quite the challenge.

 

[Joe]

I think my first video game was Super Mario Land on Game Boy. World 4 on that game was balls hard as a kid.

 

[Tarvis]

Didn't help that you couldn't see the game without shining the power of the sun on that screen.

 

[Logan]

DOOOOH I MISSED

 

[Logan]

 

[Lulu]

I'm just gonna agree because I am too lazy to read the novels you guys have posted

 

[SuperAfroBoy]

I think Logan has it right. Miyamoto and company are legends and they can make great games, but they are blind to the competition and the changes in the industry in the last 10 years or so. They need to bring in young blood with Miyamoto and other older devs stepping back and providing a consulting role only. They have to admit that they have lost touch with current gamers, technologies, and standards in the industry and completely adopt those, without changing their stance on quality family titles and strong IPs. And I agree they need to start taking advantage of their catalog of IPs. If they can't handle pumping out a few high quality games from their IPs, they need to bring in enough staff to get there.

 

[Tarvis]

Doesn't Miyamoto pretty much only do consulting now anyways? I don't know about the rest though.

I'm not sure why they don't try to create a Metroid FPS game with most of its focus on online play. There was that DS Metroid game that had online multiplayer, but the controls ruined that game for me. I'm not sure why they don't try a full blown one for the Wii U since online FPS seem to be the big sellers these days. Halo would be a good example to follow since it's not overly violent and share similar themes.

If Wii U was a console that was only a little less powerful than the Xbox One with only the Wii U pro controller, would they be better off? People complain that the Tablet is a gimmick and also makes the system cost too much. I'm not sure. The GameCube was more powerful than the PS2, and how much third party support did it get? Of course it was hampered by it's small disc sizes, but who knows.