Wii U $199.99....Would you?

[retroman]

If Nintendo drops the tablet controller, and still makes it a option to buy, and instead throws in a Classic controller, or a Wii mote with Nunchuks. Would that price entice you? I have one and love it. Just wanted to know.

[Leo_A]

I already own one. And there's no way that Nintendo is dropping the tablet gamepad. Much too ingrained here to ever be eliminated.

And it's much too soon for a price drop since they don't want to anger those like myself that just joined the Wii U bandwagon last Christmas. The most I would expect would be a sweetening of their current bundles if they want to take action with their console bundles to help effect a slight increase in sales. Any price drop I wouldn't expect until around September/October as a prelude to the Christmas shopping season.

The value of a price drop is largely going to be lost during a time of year when few would be considering a console purchase. Especially a more casual/family oriented system from Nintendo. They're going to want that buzz when it can do the most good.

And when it happens, it won't be $100. A $50 price drop would be much more appropriate since it doesn't scream that we're clearancing out our next generation hardware. They want to attract customers, not scare them away. Even the 3DS only dropped $80 which I think was approaching the borderline where it risked doing more harm than good.

$100 quite possibly might be taking it too far where it would destroy consumer confidence rather than attract consumers.

[Metalwario64]

I likely would. Not many games, and I don't care for the controller.


Still want a new F-Zero, Starfox, or Metroid, Nintendo!:mad:

[kupomogli]

There are games that require the use of the controller. Besides, dropping the game pad would confuse people after it's been advertised in having one for a year, some might think it's required to play the games, others with more common sense will know it's required to get the full experience out of the games.

The gamepad also sets the Wii U apart from the PS360. Without it, it's just a more powerful version of those two with less games. Developers won't try and take advantage of the gamepad if it's not a part of the system either.

[buzz_n64]

I would consider buying it for $199 with the tablet controller only if they throw in Super Mario 3D World.

[WCP]

Personally, I wouldn't buy it, but it's because I think that I would be catching a "falling knife" at 199.

What I mean is, I think Nintendo has internally come to the conclusion that the Wii U is a dead product, and they will slowly but surely distance themselves from the entire Wii U scenario. Basically, I think the new Mario Kart game will come out, as well as Smash Brothers, and any other internally designed projects that are past the 70 percent complete mark, but after that I think software releases will fall off a cliff. If their new Zelda game is less than 70 percent complete, I think it will be cancelled. I'm guessing that the Zelda game is less than 70 percent complete, and has already probably been cancelled.


So, what I mean about the falling knife thing, is that this is like a stock analogy. In the world of Wall Street, they talk about avoiding catching "Falling Knives". Which means you avoid buying a stock as it's falling, because you might be buying at the very beginning of a huge plunge downwards. I wouldn't buy at $199, because I would think that $179 is just around the corner, and $149 is just around the corner from there, etc, etc.

I know I paint an extremely bleak picture for the Wii U, but I think what many people fail to realize is that companies are not averse to killing products, when the product appears to have no opportunity to recover. Nintendo as a publicly traded company is required by law to pursue the best course of action for shareholder value, and sticking with a dead product that has no hope, doesn't do anything to help shareholder value. Sometimes a company will have to make the hard decision of whether in the long run it's actually a better idea to just rip the band-aid off, instead of trying to pull it off ever so slowly. This is one of those scenarios. I think Nintendo should just rip the band-aid off, and moveon.org, so to speak. Basically, they can focus all their efforts on the 3DS, while the home console unit regroups and concentrates on a new product to be released in November 2016.

Should Nintendo continue to have all it's development teams spending years (not to mention millions of dollars) developing software for a system that appears to be on life support, or instead, should they have all these teams start working on launch software for a new system coming in November 2016 ? One of Nintendo's biggest problems has been not having enough big time games to come along with their system at launch. The last time Nintendo actually had a launch with tons of great software was the SNES back in late 1991. The N64 launched with hardly any software at all, the GameCube only had a handful of compelling games at launch and the Wii didn't have much at launch either. If they focus all their development teams (that concentrate on the home system) on new software for a new system in 2016, then they might finally have a launch that would be up to par, which really hasn't been the case for a very long time.

Of course, all of this is really easy for me to say, because I haven't spent any of my hard earned money on the Wii U, and I don't have a personal interest in it's outcome. I'm more interested in the long-term health of Nintendo themselves, and would like to see them return to the glory days of the SNES and NES, when everybody had to take Nintendo seriously.

[The Adventurer]

I'd buy it at $200 with the gamepad and no pack-in game. I'm not buying a system without its core component only to have to buy it latter anyway.

And WCP, your wrong. Software sales are the only place Nintendo can right this ship. They can't put out a new console until at least 2016, and while they may never turn a profit they can mitigate loss. Abandoning software support is the worst thing Nintendo can do because it hurts customer loyalty, the brand, and the bottom line.

I think nintendo is going to come out with news of STRONGER 3rd party partnerships as part of their new strategy. With Nintendo willing to offer resources to other developers to develop more games on the Wii U. Something they really haven't done.

[Atarileaf]

Nope, I'm avoiding this one all together. Bought the Wii and PS3 when the consoles were both at the tail end of their lifespan because there were a lot of games I want to try. Not seeing that with the Wii U at all.

[WCP]

And WCP, your wrong. Software sales are the only place Nintendo can right this ship. They can't put out a new console until at least 2016, and while they may never turn a profit they can mitigate loss. Abandoning software support is the worst thing Nintendo can do because it hurts customer loyalty, the brand, and the bottom line.




Well, I may be wrong, but we aren't going to know that for several years. The bottom line is this, either Nintendo has internally come to the conclusion that the Wii U is dead weight, or they haven't. They really have only three potential choices:


Option 1. Double Down on Wii U - lower the price as is to $199.99 if it's humanly possible. If not, ditch the tablet and lower to $199 and include Mario 3D World. Patch older games to work without the tablet, and offer the tablet separately for $99.99. Use those boatloads of cash to buy outside development houses to work on more games. Add more manpower to the current teams to help speed up production of games currently in production. Market the hell out of the system.

Option 2. Call a spade a spade and kill the Wii U and just deal with it. Cancel all internal projects that aren't more than 70 percent complete. Continue games that are 70 percent or more complete, but delay and stagger releases. Sign an agreement with Nvidia to provide the graphics processor for their new hybrid portable/home system that features the new Tegra K1 chip. Plan for launch in November 2016. Have all internal teams begin development for a new hybrid portable / home console that will feature the Tegra K1. Shift other teams to work on 3DS games as they wait to work on games for the new system.

Option 3. Continue down the path of least resistance, and continue to trickle out Wii U software. Maybe Mario Kart will dramatically improve sales. Maybe SSB will dramatically improve sales. Hope that the Zelda game in 2015 will be the killer app that saves the system.



Personally, I think Nintendo is going to either pick option 2 or 3. It would be really cool if they rolled the dice and picked option 1, because they could get away with it considering they have so much cash in reserve. But I just don't think Nintendo is the kind of company that could take such a drastic measure.

[The Adventurer]

I'm pretty sure there are a few more options then those three.

Nintendo won't pull a Dreamcast and kill the Wii U. There's no need. Its not like their out of money, then can eat a hardware loss in the short term. The important thing is to keep their software side up so that the market (and not completely betrayed) is ready for the next Nintendo home console.

[Tanooki]

I have one, but if they did remove the tablet and knocked it to $200 I wouldn't touch it at all. There's good features of that system the use the tablet to work properly such a a few solid games and Netflix as well. Taking it out to just put a normal controller in there just cripples the device.

I know it's just speculation, but it's a bad idea, and Nintendo would never do it.

Nintendo for sure isn't seeing the WiiU as dead weight, and they also are very adverse to killing a system even when things look bad. They need to move more software and doing this they know is a mix of issues from awareness, brand name(which they can't change now), and various other factors including the third party waiting pattern for hardware sales. All Nintendo as a company cares about isn't being the leader(doesn't hurt), they care about the bottom line, and if they can make the system profitable they're fine. They took a hit, not a massive one, but it wasn't pretty, and that needs to be turned around and only time and good efforts on making bad decisions of the past right will do it. Right now Wii U is an anchor, they need to reel it in and let the ship sail into profitability, but the more they don't properly advertise, the more they don't get reps instructing store employees and the media it isn't a stupid Wii addon tablet, and the more they ignore the possibility of using their billions to bribe development it won't get better. They used to like to majority own or buy out studios, and I think at this rate it couldn't hurt to do that again to reel in some really desirable games and make them exclusive.

[Bojay1997]

I'm pretty sure there are a few more options then those three.

Nintendo won't pull a Dreamcast and kill the Wii U. There's no need. Its not like their out of money, then can eat a hardware loss in the short term. The important thing is to keep their software side up so that the market (and not completely betrayed) is ready for the next Nintendo home console.

Easier said than done. There is only so much software in the pipeline and given that Nintendo has admitted that they underestimated how much additional time and resources the switch to HD would take, I don't anticipate any major surge of new games in time to make a difference. Nintendo also seems to lack the internal management infrastructure to build and manage a bunch of new studios which is what they would need to provide enough software to stay competitive and generate revenue. Frankly, Nintendo is barely supporting the 3DS software wise at this point and the upcoming release list is almost as paltry as the WiiU. I think the 3 options WCP outlined are pretty much the only realistic alternatives Nintendo has. I think given Nintendo's history, Option 3 is the one they are most likely to follow.

[Leo_A]

Nintendo is going to have to redirect development resources well in advance of this pair of systems being replaced.

If anything, they supported the Wii too long with intensive development judging by the slowness to market for major 1st party Wii U products which has been the Wii U's final nail in the coffin (Imagine if things like Super Mario 3D World had been ready a year earlier? I don't think MS and Sony would have anything to worry about but I think Wii U would be carving a solid niche out for itself by now).

They can't release next gen hardware without a steady stream of solid 1st party games. If we thought that the N64/GCN/Wii/DS were dead well in advance of replacement, I suspect we've seen nothing yet since at least they were successful unlike the Wii U. Nintendo isn't going to start their next gen with one hand tied behind its back by keeping up appearances with the Wii U until the successor releases.

I could easily see this year being the last for solid 1st party support with just token efforts afterwards and perhaps the promise of Zelda U.


They can't put out a new console until at least 2016


I think it could happen in the Fall of 2015. 3DS will be 4.5 years old at that point and just about ripe for replacement. It also will have provided the Wii U with three years as Nintendo's premier home console which is probably the absolute minimum they could get away with without souring many of their fans that supported them on the Wii U.

They're not going to prolong the Wii U one minute longer than they have to. If a combined console/handheld environment is indeed Nintendo's path for the next generation, it's going to be the 3DS that serves as the determining factor for that timing when the replacement happens.

Not the system that failed.


Nope, I'm avoiding this one all together. Bought the Wii and PS3 when the consoles were both at the tail end of their lifespan because there were a lot of games I want to try. Not seeing that with the Wii U at all.

I guess if there's not much here for you, there's not much here.

But if they ended it after this year, besides being disappointed that Zelda U didn't make it, I'd still be satisfied with my purchase. I'll have upwards of a dozen games between what is already out there of interest and the upcoming release of this Donkey Kong platformer and Mario Kart 8.

And in addition, I have a built in solution to my HDTV's sucky scaling chip for my Wii library. That was half the allure of the Wii U for me. I'm able to actually play widescreen Wii games here and enjoy them since the Wii U does a fine job of upscaling content where as every time I hooked my actual Wii up to this tv, it murdered the 480p output.

It even automatically displays 4:3 and 16:9 content correctly which is something that requires your intervention on an actual Wii via turning stretch mode on and off on your tv as appropriate.

[retroman]

Just read a lot of you thought I mean drop the tablet control. I dont mean drop it, but maybe offer a package deal without it to lower cost of the system, and still offer the tablet as a option to buy later down the road. Still also offer the other full package system as well. Just gives people a few more options who are cost concerned.

[Rickstilwell1]

I would get it at the current price. I just need to save up for it all year. I want to go to Best Buy and buy all 4 new systems I don't have + the XL version of the 3DS and trip out some employees. lol

[Leo_A]

The tablet is required, it's not an option. Removing it would be like eliminating the nunchuk from Wii bundles.


Nintendo is going to have to redirect development resources well in advance of this pair of systems being replaced.


Come to think of it, are we perhaps already seeing this with the 3DS? I'm not a close follower of announcements and such so maybe this isn't far from the norm, but have we ever been at this point in the year with the 3DS with only 1 upcoming blockbuster on the confirmed release slate (Super Smash Brothers)?

We have a couple of smaller deals from Nintendo themselves already on the calendar (Yoshi's Island and Kirby), but only one guaranteed to be a runaway sales success. Seems like an awfully thin schedule if we typically have reached the end of January with a good idea of what's coming up from Nintendo for the rest of the year.

Could be a sign that they're already slowing shifting over development focus towards Nintendo's next generation hardware now that the 3DS has three years under its belt. I'm sure plenty of great games await us, but the days where Nintendo concentrates on it rather than it being a secondary priority are at the very least numbered.

[Tanooki]

It is always thin this time of year because E3 still holds enough sway for people to hold back on news so they can fill four days worth of pomp and fluff to get a collective gamer and media stiffy going through the week. 3DS has smash, kirby, yoshi, and bravely default preE3 and that seems pretty on par. I think all this guessing is just silly how the WiiU and the 3DS are dead. I think to know if deaths cold boney grip is starting to squeeze wait for E3 to be fair. If it looks like a basket of carrots or just a few on a pole and string then youll know.

[Leo_A]

Nobody said that the 3DS is dead, just that more water has passed under the bridge than it has ahead of itself as Nintendo's premier handheld offering.

3DS is obviously very successful despite a rough start and continued signs of weakness with Nintendo's handheld business (As seen most recently with even the 3DS failing to meet sales projections by several million units). I'm sure many millions of systems are left ahead of it and many more excellent games.

But it's a fact that their development focus has to shift well in advance of hardware launches. Nintendo didn't let every system they have over the past decade wither well in advance of the launch of its replacement (A time that 3rd parties help take up the slack when you have thriving 3rd party development) just for the heck of it. They did it because they were prepping software for their next generation hardware.

A couple of years before launch, which I think we very well might already be in that window at least for the handheld end of things (Admittedly, there's a good chance a merged handheld/console environment isn't in the cards so a new console could be much further away potentially), is definitely when they start looking forward to developing software for next gen hardware.

[jonebone]

I don't see them cancelling the Wii U this early because sales actually picked up drastically since the Mario 3D World release. They did about 1.5M of Wii U sales (of 2.7M projected for the year) in Nov / Dec around the Mario 3D World release. They just severely overestimated.

Furthermore, in Nintendo did cancel the Wii U, they'd just piss off the majority of their dedicated followers who actually bought the system early on. If they cancel the Wii U so abruptly then a lot of those people won't come back... and that could actually be the final nail in their coffin.

[Leo_A]

To me, those numbers say exactly the opposite. Tons of optimism that would help the Christmas numbers where they do most of their businees after a price drop and Wind Waker HD seemed to create some momentum, yet that's all they managed. The game didn't even sell well enough to even make much of a mark on sales charts for software.

[jonebone]

Double Post

[jonebone]

To me, those numbers say exactly the opposite. Tons of optimism that would help the Christmas numbers where they do most of their businees after a price drop and Wind Waker HD seemed to create some momentum, yet that's all they managed. The game didn't even sell well enough to even make much of a mark on sales charts for software.

You can't take the numbers at face value, you have to actually analyze them.

Nintendo Wii U sold 3.5 Million units in the first year with ZERO competition. They had the entire "next generation" console market all to themselves and that is all they could do.

Yet they projected 9 Million units in year two when they knew the competition would triple next holiday season. Dumbest projection ever, whoever signed off on that should be fired.

This thing was selling abysmally at certain points this year, barely over the 50k a month mark! Absolutely horrible.

So then Mario 3D World comes out and it does 1.5M sales in two months. In two months that overlapped with the XB1 (3 millionish), PS4 (4 million ish) and Zelda Link Between Worlds, which even got several game of the year nominations. So not only did Nintendo have to compete with Xbox and Sony, they had to compete with themselves! Many Nintendo fans enjoy both Mario and Zelda and they can't be played at the same time. So most people were going to wait on one of those games for sure... probably the Mario one since many did not own Wii Us.

So all of that pent up demand trickled through the holiday season and kept selling units... I bet they are still selling decently during the post-Xmas tax and gift card season too.

The Wii U would already be dead if it weren't for Mario 3D World. Hard to say where it goes from here, but in a couple of years you could possibly look back and cite that as a turning point for the system.

[BlastProcessing402]

Dropping the gamepad would open a huge can of worms.

They'd have to completely redo the system interface (you can't even change the settings on the system without the gamepad).

Next you'd have to make sure all the devs/pubs make all games completely playable without the gamepad, which while many are, a lot aren't. Making the few third party supporters change gears and make sure gamepads are optional could piss off those with games already near to completion.

Then you have the problem of games already out there on store shelves that do require the gamepad, but other than a small icon on the back (and the lack of icons of other controllers) don't make it clear they won't work on these new hypothetical gamepadless WiiU. Little Jimmy's not gonna be happy when he gets a game for his birthday then finds out it won't work.

[Tanooki]

Jonebone is right you know. For all the whining about failed expectations which they should have seen 6 months back, for what they did actually move a vast amount of it for the year was done in 6 weeks from the point Mario popped up. IF they can sustain a decent amount of systems sold per month, they'll do ok, but they're crippled and that's the end of that story other than how crippled. It's crazy when you think about the numbers games. The haters joyously loving their face value numbers eat up the shit sandwich being served, but when you dig into what they were up against, the fact that Mario alone with Zelda WWHD being a footnote partner in crime to assist shoveled out that many units up against Zelda on 3DS and 2 new systems moving that many millions of competing dollars going on it was solid. I'm not as upbeat though, I'd love to see how they continue to roll the sales through Jan->April, perhaps June for a real 2014 trend to see if it was a holiday fuzzies bump or a sustain new level of growth and that too is what third parties are doing now as they can clearly convert games (with a bit more work than should be necessary) solidly to the thing the PS3/360 gets so there's a chance dangling out there of decent support for at least as long as the PS3 gets new games as we know most likely they'll run that far longer than MS cares to with 360 as that's just how Sony is (10 year plans.)

They won't kill the box, if they did the few million who bought one will tell them to take a f'ng walk and go buy probably PS4 because Sony has the variety that Nintendo gamers would want to have over the One by far, and being $100 less would be helpful too when being pissed the hell off and selling that shit at a loss on craigslist, ebay, amazon or wherever else. :) I've been with them since 1985 and I can say with strong resolve I'd never buy a console of theirs again where they'd see a dime off it end of story. If I did get one, it would be used, cheap, and same with the games as they'd not get a shiny penny out of me again outside of their handheld devices.

[Trebuken]

When Mario Kart 8 hits the Wii-U library will have enough first party titles that any Nintendo fan should have no problems at $199. Nintendo is expected to lose a bunch or money versus there forecasts, and have announced that they will be making changes of some kind.

I believe everyone has their price, but a $199 Wii-U is a deal especially considering the PS4 and Xbone prices and there boring launch line-ups.

[Atarileaf]

When Mario Kart 8 hits the Wii-U library will have enough first party titles that any Nintendo fan should have no problems at $199. Nintendo is expected to lose a bunch or money versus there forecasts, and have announced that they will be making changes of some kind.

I believe everyone has their price, but a $199 Wii-U is a deal especially considering the PS4 and Xbone prices and there boring launch line-ups.

It's the non-Nintendo fans they need to worry about - the fence sitters, as it were. And I'm sorry but I don't think yet another edition of Mario Kart with a new coat of paint will tip the scales in favor of the system.

[Leo_A]

You can't take the numbers at face value, you have to actually analyze them.

I did

There's absolutely nothing abnormal about that sales spike. It's very much a typical pattern especially for kid/family friendly Nintendo to do a huge chunk of their hardware/software sales during the Christmas season and I think it's a fallacy to give Super Mario 3D World credit for most of that. In view of what they sold prior to the Christmas season throughout 2013, if anything, their Christmas numbers weren't even par for the course.

With the allure of Super Mario 3D World, I had hoped it would push their numbers well past what they actually accomplished. Yet it looks like it had fairly little effect on sales since many of the copies they sold most assuredly went to existing Wii U owners. In light of its sales numbers, I doubt that Super Mario 3D World was primarily responsible for more than say 250,000 consoles being sold during the Christmas season. Pretty awful for something everyone hoped would be a system seller and a partial savior for the Wii U.

No other way to spin it. It simply hasn't had the effect that everyone including Nintendo hoped for. This was supposed to be a major factor in getting Wii U to their sales projection yet the most it seems to have done is inch the Wii U just past the original Wii at the last minute in units sold for 2013 after Wii led throughout most of the year (Wii dominated Q1 by a wide margin, held a narrow lead after Q2 thanks to the Wii U's price drop and Wind Waker HD, and it wasn't until Q3 where Wii U finally pulled ahead of its 2006 predecessor).

[Trebuken]

It's the non-Nintendo fans they need to worry about - the fence sitters, as it were. And I'm sorry but I don't think yet another edition of Mario Kart with a new coat of paint will tip the scales in favor of the system.

I agree. I just believe that with Mario Kart 8's (and what is released before then) release the Wii-U will have a sufficient library to justify a $199 price point, which is imaginary at this point.

Personally, I have not played Mario Kart in awhile and have been getting an itch to do so. An HD face lift will be enough for me...but I hear your point...franchise fatigue...

[Leo_A]

If Wii U is $199 this Christmas, I hope they consider how they do so carefully. You risk sending a message to consumers with such a move (A $100 price reduction) that might do more harm than good.

They want to promote the system, not scare people away with a suggestion that a nearly brand new console platform is starting to already be phased out.

[jonebone]

Didn't the 3DS go from $250 to $170 within 3 months of release? $299 to $199 on the Wii U 18 months later doesn't seem nearly as bad.

[Leo_A]

It indeed dropped $80 early in its lifespan. I had that in the back of my mind both times I've spoken about a large Wii U price drop in this thread.

I merely lent a word of caution for how they approach a possible price drop, I didn't say that one wouldn't work, just that it could be disastrous if poorly implemented. They're going to have to tread a very thin line if they take such a drastic step with their pricing if they actually want it to be beneficial rather than harmful.

I believe that a much more normal $50 drop is what we have in store prior to the Christmas 2014 shopping season. If we have a $199.99 Wii U option, I suspect it will represent a second attempt at releasing a viable basic SKU.

[jonebone]

So Nintendo 3rd quarter numbers are official (note their 3rd quarter is really our 4th quarter, their fiscal year is thru March). I wish I could post this graph here but it's an infographic or something, so you have to click the link:

http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/29/5356564/nintendo-earnings-q3-2013

Cliffs:

Nintendo sold 3.06 million Wii Us during the holiday 2012 season when it came out.

Then it sold 0.85 million Wii Us from January thru September 2013.

But sold 1.95 million Wii Us from October thru December 2013.

You could spin it how you want, but the numbers seem to be trending in the right direction. Of course I'd expect a substantial pullback after the holidays, but I bet they can do at least 600-700k in Jan-March. That would seem like a drop off... but that would still almost equal the previous 9 months of sales.

No doubt it is sluggish, I just think it is moving in the right direction now.

[Tanooki]

At this rate I'm not really sure it's so much spin but at least for this span of time, denial. The fact in 9 months they couldn't sell 900K total and then in the last quarter pulled 1.95M units of the 2.9M total units for the year says good things again against all their own 3DS hardware that sold and the mad rush of sales on the Sony and MS fronts. The point they now have almost 6M units out there in a little over a year isn't bad, not fantastic either, but it's a decent pace against the sales of other new hardware in recent generations.

Either way though that's 2013, and that year is dead meat. 2014 is the decider and really between now and I'd think June we need to see a sustained pattern of sustained sales or growth (if they're lucky) to call this problem nipped as far as moving hardware and that's compared to the yearly sales of 2013, not the mass holiday sales movement compared as that would be delusional.

They'll never keep pace with MS or Sony this go around, the waggle gimmick for non-gamers and casuals just isn't there because they're too incompetent to peddle the tablet as the next stupid easy thing to do despite having lots of examples of tablets everywhere doing just that, let alone that Wii U is a new system and that it even exists.

[Leo_A]

Go dig up some stats. The bulk of your sales that time if year is the norm rather than something special.

[ScourDX]

Nintendo need another $20 price cut. $179.99 is a sweet spot.

[Bojay1997]

So Nintendo 3rd quarter numbers are official (note their 3rd quarter is really our 4th quarter, their fiscal year is thru March). I wish I could post this graph here but it's an infographic or something, so you have to click the link:

http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/29/5356564/nintendo-earnings-q3-2013

Cliffs:

Nintendo sold 3.06 million Wii Us during the holiday 2012 season when it came out.

Then it sold 0.85 million Wii Us from January thru September 2013.

But sold 1.95 million Wii Us from October thru December 2013.

You could spin it how you want, but the numbers seem to be trending in the right direction. Of course I'd expect a substantial pullback after the holidays, but I bet they can do at least 600-700k in Jan-March. That would seem like a drop off... but that would still almost equal the previous 9 months of sales.

No doubt it is sluggish, I just think it is moving in the right direction now.

I can't see 600K-700K in the next three months, at least not without a significant price cut. There were plenty of WiiU deals during the holidays including individual retailer discounts and gift card deals that probably helped those numbers as did the Zelda bundle that appealed to fence sitters and collectors. There are no major releases outside of the new DK game between now and March. We might get Mario Kart 8 in April and Super Smash is probably a Fall title. No idea when Bayonetta 2 is coming, but the release schedule is super thin with only something like 8 confirmed titles between now and the Fall. Frankly, unless there are some major announcements at E3 with Fall/Winter 2014 release dates, I think the WiiU is in for another very, very slow sales year.

[jonebone]

My reason for optimism on Wii U sales from Jan thru March is an equally disappointing PS4 / XB1 lineup. There is absolutely nothing worth buying on either of those anytime soon... Titanfall is getting some hype but people aren't paying $500 for a system to play that.

I've always viewed the Wii U as a complementary system to either the XB1 or PS4 (not a replacement for them), so perhaps some of those bored PS4 / XB1 guys will spring for the Wii U.

I think XB1's $500 price point is definitely going to hurt it as well. PS4 is really going to pull away from XB1 this year as XB1 stalls out. And this is coming from someone who owns a XB1 and Wii U currently.

[Bojay1997]

My reason for optimism on Wii U sales from Jan thru March is an equally disappointing PS4 / XB1 lineup. There is absolutely nothing worth buying on either of those anytime soon... Titanfall is getting some hype but people aren't paying $500 for a system to play that.

I've always viewed the Wii U as a complementary system to either the XB1 or PS4 (not a replacement for them), so perhaps some of those bored PS4 / XB1 guys will spring for the Wii U.

I think XB1's $500 price point is definitely going to hurt it as well. PS4 is really going to pull away from XB1 this year as XB1 stalls out. And this is coming from someone who owns a XB1 and Wii U currently.

While the Xbox One is definitely slower to sell, they are still selling regardless of a lack of games. In fact, Target, Best Buy and the NEX that I visit every week are consistently selling through everything they receive within 5-7 days of receipt. The PS4 is continuing to sell out at an incredible rate. My local Target and BB restocked last weekend and they sold through 10-15 PS4s each within hours of opening. The NEX received over 50 PS4 units on Friday night/Saturday morning and by Sunday morning they were gone. The audience for the PS4 and Xbox One is completely different than the WiiU outside of the small percentage of us who are platform agnostic. I don't really think sales of the WiiU have any relation at all to sales of the PS4 and Xbox One, so unless there is a price cut and some great new titles in the coming months, I don't see much hope for a WiiU sales surge.

[jonebone]

While the Xbox One is definitely slower to sell, they are still selling regardless of a lack of games. In fact, Target, Best Buy and the NEX that I visit every week are consistently selling through everything they receive within 5-7 days of receipt. The PS4 is continuing to sell out at an incredible rate. My local Target and BB restocked last weekend and they sold through 10-15 PS4s each within hours of opening. The NEX received over 50 PS4 units on Friday night/Saturday morning and by Sunday morning they were gone. The audience for the PS4 and Xbox One is completely different than the WiiU outside of the small percentage of us who are platform agnostic. I don't really think sales of the WiiU have any relation at all to sales of the PS4 and Xbox One, so unless there is a price cut and some great new titles in the coming months, I don't see much hope for a WiiU sales surge.

Agreed on PS4s flying off shelves, I hardly see them in stock anywhere. But I don't agree with the XB1, I see a ton of them in every store every time I stop by. They don't seem to be selling well at all.

Also, anyone see the DS games on Wii U announcement?! I've been preaching that they need DS games on Wii U... why else would they have a damn touchscreen controller in the first place? Now they just gave a legion of DS followers a reason to try the Wii U.

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2014/01/satoru_iwata_confirms_that_ds_games_are_coming_to_ the_wii_u_virtual_console

[Bojay1997]

Agreed on PS4s flying off shelves, I hardly see them in stock anywhere. But I don't agree with the XB1, I see a ton of them in every store every time I stop by. They don't seem to be selling well at all.

Also, anyone see the DS games on Wii U announcement?! I've been preaching that they need DS games on Wii U... why else would they have a damn touchscreen controller in the first place? Now they just gave a legion of DS followers a reason to try the Wii U.

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2014/01/satoru_iwata_confirms_that_ds_games_are_coming_to_ the_wii_u_virtual_console

Actually, I think what you are seeing is a continuing flow of Xbox One stock. They are selling, although as I said, it takes a good 5-7 days to turn over each batch various stores receive and restock continues to roll in. The PS4 just flies out the door in hours and Sony can't keep it stocked fast enough.

In any event, I don't think being able to play DS games (they will be sold through Virtual Console, so you will have to buy them again digitally as there is no cart reader available or announced as far as I can tell) on the tablet is going to convince anyone to buy a WiiU, especially if they already own an optimized DS or 3DS device as it is. It's nice that Nintendo is thinking outside of the box, but without a more comprehensive digital rights management strategy than the poor one they currently have, this isn't going to move WiiU units.

[ProjectCamaro]

I bought a Wii U when the price drop was announced this past summer with the New Super Mario Bros. U and New Super Luigi U pack-in games.

It's a cool console and I think the tablet controller is a cool idea but I normally play it with the normal pro controller as it's easier to handle and use, especially for longer gaming sessions.


Still want a new F-Zero, Starfox, or Metroid, Nintendo!:mad:

We really need these games for the Wii U!!

[retroman]

I bought a Wii U when the price drop was announced this past summer with the New Super Mario Bros. U and New Super Luigi U pack-in games.

It's a cool console and I think the tablet controller is a cool idea but I normally play it with the normal pro controller as it's easier to handle and use, especially for longer gaming sessions.



We really need these games for the Wii U!!

Thank you, I agree. I play with the pro controller or a Wii mote myself. The only time the tablet controller really gets used is when my one son wants to play xbox, and the other wants to play the Wii U. I will say when those moments happen, the tablet controller is the greatest thing.

[Leo_A]

Do any of you enjoy Nintendoland?

After over 45 hours, I've completely finished New Super Mario Brothers U and New Super Luigi U and moved on to that after just a brief look earlier. Not impressed at all so far so I hope it gets better. Is there a minigame or two that are worthwhile? Zelda, F-Zero, and several others have been duds so far. And that robot is incredibly tedious that is constantly popping up to assist.

Looks like I'll be moving on for now until I get around to buying something like Super Mario 3D World or Wind Waker HD.

[jonebone]

I think the wife and I may have logged 90 minutes on Nintendoland total. It was a neat concept but didn't really have any staying power for me. I thoroughly enjoyed both of the Marios though.

Wonderful 101 looks like it would be worth a play, but I haven't tried it.

I played through Pikmin 3 and while it was good, it just didn't wow me. Maybe 8/10, worth a play if you liked the first two.

[Tanooki]

Nintendoland is fine and all but any of the games stales pretty quickly after I'd think an hour or so maybe if you play alone. I've barely used it really, but when a friend or one of my nephews spends the night a few times a year it gets pulled out and played.

I've got enough other games on there to keep busy when I'm motivated, but lately I decided to rediscover the PS3 a little when I dug up the steelbook Tomb Raider for $15 and Dragon's Crown for $30 which are both mindblowingly fantastic. ;)

Maybe it's just time to find another Wii U game to enjoy. I've got around 10 or so of them so there's variety there and I haven't picked up any of those games that also came out on other systems months/year earlier other than I suppose RE Revelations as it started on 3DS. Rayman is super long, maybe go get that if you don't have it. Also it's hard as hell to find local, but NFS Most Wanted U is the developers (words) best version of the game if you're into racing.

[bigbacon]

even at 199 i wouldn't buy. I still feel kinda burned by the Wii and there isn't a single game on the Wii U that is making me want to own one.

really is just a jumbled mess. It is very reminiscent of Sega with the Saturn/Dreamcast.

When you get third parties pulling out of making games for your machine, that isn't good though at least nintendo is in a better position that Sega was.