Thoughts on the common reasons for Wii U fails

[MindzEye]

Y'know, I don't think I ever saw a commercial for the wii u. Not sure how I found out exactly, but I think it was a 3DS ad. (Imagine if I never got one, I'da never gotten the other.)

I feel what lacked on the wii u was its backwards specs. Eighth generation consoles (I've heard) have some exciting features for online play and social media, but Captain N could not step things up: Internet play is still a drag, social interactions are disappointing,- and made much slower last year - and the games just don't appeal to guys my age.

 

[Taiiny]

The Wii U didn't fail at all. It just didn't do as well as the competitors.

 

[Hayleia]

I'm not sure if this has been already been mentioned but I was just turned off by the restrictive online play options. When comparing the features to Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo is behind.

What features are you thinking about?
(Note, I'm not contesting, I'm just so out of the "home console" world that I really have no idea what you're talking about )

 

[MindzEye]

What features are you thinking about?
(Note, I'm not contesting, I'm just so out of the "home console" world that I really have no idea what you're talking about )

I think he was talking about live-chat, easier friend-status viewing, cross-format ease, and other internet eases the Wii U just doesn't have.

I don't know what more he meant, but that's 'cuz I never knew what other consoles were like online: why always the subscriptions?

 

[Shin]

It may have had a bad start as the launch title didn't launch with it... and it all got confusing what it actually was. And as Erix said about everything to do with online when it came to the Wii U. But other than that it had a decent run, with titles like Xenoblade chronicles X, Sm4sh and sploon among many others. I cant say that it failed because of that.

 

[Artisan]

Here's from my point of view:
Lack of advertising on TV (I may have seen just one of the ads on TV and it had Just Sing as one of the games shown in the ad) since most Nintendo's official videos would probably be on Youtube and the 3DS eShop which I doubt anyone checks for that long or even has time to.* I guess Nintendo Power/E3, and word of mouth was all Nintendo needed in terms of showing it to the people.

It gives the appearance of a console for a group of people for parties, especially with the Gamepad and the fact there's only one and you can still use Wiimotes. The games for the system didn't really help it when it first launched. All you basically had was Mario 2D platformers and a dependence on third parties for some good games. Yes the Wii was popular but this console has a similar name to the Wii so people probably just thought it was a small upgrade from the Wii. Maybe part of the reason was the price at the time but I think it's a reasonable price now.

*side note at least allowing you to get rewards coins in My Nintendo by visiting the eShop was a plus.

 

[Major]

I wouldn't really say it failed but more along the line of it just wasn't marketed the right way so it left a lot of people confused about what the wii u was. I think at some point I would want to get one my self but mainly to just do workouts cause I can just get one of the dance dance games and have some fun with that . Sadly even tho the wii u has some game it doesn't have enough good games on it to us for a gaming system souly .

 

[Blue Knight]

I'm not sure if this has been already been mentioned but I was just turned off by the restrictive online play options. When comparing the features to Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo is behind. Sure, they have great franchises on their system, but I'm getting older and my interests are changing. They just seem stuck on the same games and I needed something new. So I never ended up buying the Wii U console. I think I might be done with Nintendo.

I don't understand these complaints.

Restrictive online play options? You mean, like voice chat that wouldn't go well with Nintendo trying to be family friendly. Having kids yell racial slurs and swear on voice chat wouldn't exactly go well with their image. And, I prefer free online play to subscription based one, myself.

Getting older and interests changing is natural. Does this mean they should start oversexualizing Princess Peach, giving Link machine guns and bazookas and making Pokemons show how they get burned, electrocuted, bitten, and more? I doubt it.

Making the same games? Sorry, but the "same games" they keep releasing are generally either remakes or intended to call back to older games. I wouldn't even consider calling, say, Hyrule Warriors the same as Link's Crossbow Training, or Link's Crossbow Training to Zelda TP. Nintendo, even taking into account when they DO rehash games, they don't even fall into the top 10 companies guilty of this.

 

[Eric Cartman]

I feel it's the lack of games and the lack of support for them. Like splatoon barely lasted for a year when it comes to updates leaving people who got it last summer to not experience splatfest. I felt like splatoon ended too fast.

 

[24460]

I feel like it had something to do with the fact that the purpose of the original Wii was to:
a.) Strengthen the ability for wireless multiplayer, and
2.) Help people use exercising as an excue for playing video games have a fun way to get fit, kind of...

 

[King Of 3D]

I think that the Wii U could have been really successful, and I even think it had the potential to be really good, but the lack of games compared to 3ds (in my opinion) made it unsuccessful compared to systems like ps4 and xbox one!
I think also the gamepad could of had more potential but it didn't succeed that much.

 

[etrian_warrior]

Well, I'm on the fence here. I think it could've been much better but it could also have been much much worse. Logically, I have no clue how to sort my ideas... here's my pros/cons list instead:

Pros: 3DS sync
Eshop compatibility
Multiple/Large (potentially) screens for various uses (TV+Gamepad)
Interesting multiplayer concept for some games (one player on gamepad, others on TV)
Browser available to use freely with no drawback (then again 3DS has the same thing)

Cons: Gamepad could have had way more potential
Loses the "get fit" aspect
Smaller amount of game releases than almost any other system
Horrible online interface (from what I've seen)
Not portable or compactible

So, overall, I think the Wii U although a decent idea could have been much better with a bit more development and beta testing time, but I certainly feel it could've been much worse as at least it has it's advantages. Personally, as soon as the switch comes out I think my Wii U may get extremely neglected as it will become everything the Wii U was and should've been but again I still feel Nintendo could've done much worse.

 

[Kalomaze]

The launch for it wasn't really that great, and it lacked good advertisement up until recently, at the predicted end of the Wii U's production life. The sales for the Wii U haven't actually picked up until about 2014 when titles like Mario Kart and Smash Bros making appearances for the fans to love. They fixed most of their mistakes now, but it's kinda late since the Wii U is pretty much gone after 2 or 3 years >.>

Hopefully the NX has a way better launch than the Wii U, otherwise who knows how well that thing will sell? >.<

"Hopefully the NX has a way better launch than the Wii U"
serious deja vu going on here.
its tough to tell someone to get a switch on launch with a weak lineup like that

 

[etrian_warrior]

"Hopefully the NX has a way better launch than the Wii U"
serious deja vu going on here.
its tough to tell someone to get a switch on launch with a weak lineup like that

I still think regardless people will still buy a switch in anticipation of certain, for example I pre-ordered the Switch but probably won't play anything other than BoTW until Mario Kart 8 Deluxe comes out. I don't think the problem will be whether or not it sells but more of a who is truly determined and has all the patience.

 

[Farhaan Raja]

Horrible marketing, lack of good launch titles (there was no mario or new zelda game at launch or near launch), hard for developers to port games and any game that was ported was lackluster.
Plus, the gamepad functionality wasnt great. With the DS or 3ds, the screens are directly next to eachother, making it fairly easy to see both. With the wii u, you would have to keep looking up and down, even more so with games like star fox zero.

There were a few good games, but they were all first party. Nintendo needed sales to attract 3rd party devs, and 3rd party devs would only make games if there were more sales, thus killing the system.

 

[Frost]

Hmm when I think about it the only thing that really comes to mind is the lack of games

 

[Ashkil]

There are a few reasons.

1. The biggest reason I feel is that the XBone and the PS4 just had far better games, and were continuing to get releases for far more exciting games. Where you could count the number of games on two hands for the WiiU you would want, for the PS4 it would take massive lists. So not only were they more powerful, and gave much better resolutions and graphics, they also just had so many more games. The Switch is succeeding because of the promising list of games to be made, the fact the Breath of the Wild is a completely new Zelda, and probably one of the greatest games of all time and was released when the PS4 and XBone were already feeling a little old.
   
2. The concept of the Wii is exciting, as is the Switch. The WiiU gimmick is cumbersome and difficult to use.
   
3. Terrible marketing and advertising
4. A bunch of really bad games - especially Star Fox Zero combined with a lack of real exclusives to care about. Smash, Mario Kart, Bayonetta and Splatoon are all I can think of that would incentivize me. That too all of these aren't even launch games.

 

[Farhaan Raja]

Casuals as a whole didnt even know that the Wii U was a new console. They assumed it was a new controller for the Wii. There are a few reasons for this:
Nintendo's adverts didnt make this clear. For example, if you've seen one of the Switch ads, they clearly say "Nintendo switch, the new home console that you can play anywhere!"
It looked too similar to the Wii
Loads of peripherals were released for the Wii (wiimote, nunchuck, motion plus, classic controller, classic controller pro, wii zapper etc), so it was a fair assumption to make that the U was another one.