Batman: Arkham City, Ninja Gaiden 3, and Mass Effect 3 didn’t necessarily sell Wii U as next-gen hardware. Wii U had a fairly weak launch lineup with many of its main games being ports of previously released last-generation games. It was always going to be a tough act following a huge success like the Wii, but the fact that Ubisoft still released Just Dance on the Wii even after it stopped releasing it on the Wii U really sells that point.īut the third-party support issues didn’t begin and end with Just Dance. Nintendo’s prior success cannibalized its future system’s success. for Wii U, and Pikmin 3 among many others, major third-party developers were still releasing on the Wii for its superior install base. Despite having exclusive games for the system like Super Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Bros. Nintendo’s weak advertising and messaging didn’t make a convincing enough case to motivate people to pick up the system. But because it tried to hew so close to what made the Wii a success, the fact there was any confusion at all was a blow to the company. It shouldn’t be difficult to explain what the Wii U was. The fact that the commercials treated their audiences like idiots didn’t really help matters much either. The perception, at least according to the commercials, was that the system was a kids toy that parents just didn’t get and had to explain to them why it was worth getting. While Nintendo nowadays gravitates towards the family-friendly demographic, the ads for the Wii U were focused on one thing: explaining to parents what the system even was. Nintendo’s marketing for the system was all over the place. Was Wii U a new system? Was it an add-on to the Wii? It still had Wiimotes, so were those the controllers for the system? What was the point of this GamePad attached to it? But when Nintendo announced the Wii U, it confused those new consumers that had bought a Wii. While there certainly was a sector of the gaming community at the time that had nothing but scorn for Nintendo during the Wii generation, the Wii still sold gangbusters and had a substantial install base.
You know it, I know it, the world knows it, but I think it’s worth exploring one final time why it did as poorly as it did.īecause when you think about it, it shouldn’t have been as poorly received as it was. With the Wii U now on its deathbed and many trying to download the last few digital-only games worth playing on the system, like those digital Wii games (grab Pandora’s Tower and Punch-Out!!), it’s easy to say that the Wii U was a massive failure. On March 27, the Wii U eShop will shut down, with no more digital purchases on Wii U games taking place and an era of Nintendo’s history officially coming to an end.
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