Why did the Wii U die so fast? (In your opinion)

[Yumi Chi]

Honestly I don’t know why it flopped o.o I like the WiiU it’s pad gimmick is neat! I have a WiiU it plays my Wii games mainly now but Nintendo land was my fav for a long time.
i think it flopped do to lack of support & it didn’t get much love I mean come on switch got a freaking epic super bowl commercial ! Believer :

did WiiU you get that no .. it got this .. :

um I’m sorry but I was more pumped for the switch then the Wiiu yes I wanted one because at the time I didn’t own a wii no more given my disc was going we got rid of it.
wiiu had one good game to me Nintendo Land the rest was meh if Nintendo actually cared to give it love, open it up it could of lived on longer then it did & maybe get more games, I sat waiting for Pokémon snap to be remade on it & it never happened..

 

[Kamehameha]

I would say a couple of reasons. Marketing and time of release. The Wii U released right as the PS4 and Xbox One were preparing to release (just a year later). It released underpowered compared to those consoles, and when people had an option of buying a Wii U (which many people thought was just an upgraded Wii due to the name) they opted to instead save their money for the PS4/Xbox One. The game pad functionality was also confusing to the consumer. Some games utilize it in cool ways, others let you play your games on the screen portably... But you can’t take it out of your house? I think that was confusing to the consumer.

Which brings us into another big reason for it’s failure - marketing. Marketing was aimed at kids, and even that was scarce. Think of how you see Nintendo market Labo (in terms of being geared for kids) - that’s how they marketed the Wii U. Where were the games that Nintendo enthusiasts live for? Mario? Zelda? Nowhere to be found at launch. Instead, for a lot of people the Wii U looked like a toy more than a gaming console.

Obviously the Switch changed all of that. It is, in my opinion, exactly what the Wii U should have been. Marketing has been excellent, it launched with Zelda (which turned out to be one of the greatest games of all time, let alone greatest launch titles of all time), and the “gimmick” worked in our fast-paced world and was something people perhaps didn’t realize they needed or wanted, until they did.

 

[Dj2]

This is my 50th post btw.

I believe the Wii U died so fast because of one reason, it wasn't new.

The Wii U didn't offer anything new or revolutionary. Its dual-screen functionality was already used by the 3ds and the 3ds did it better. You didn't need a tv and a console for the 3ds, it was standalone. You couldn't take the Wii U with you. The Wii U was good until the Switch came out. It did everything the Wii U did and more. Sure there was no dual-screen but you could take it with you and play on the tv. The 3ds and the Wii were in almost every household. They were pioneers in their types of gaming, no one else had done it before. That's why the 3ds and Wii are still popular, but the Wii U isn't.

 

[EdwardKok]

I personally believe because the lack people not knowing what it was. Nintendo just showed us the gamepad and console but people didn't know what it was, conssumers thought it was just another accessory for the wii. I also have to agree with you on the marketing, the marketing was mainly only focussing on the wii u as a children product. Not for the other target domographic. This is why I believe the wii u failed.

 

[ariamisu]

it had a slower than usual start that almost had no end in sight.
the base price was quite high that repelled many who would normaly buy new nintendo systems at launch.
the game selection library was much too slwo to build up over time.
for few its size was quite bulky and as result and due to limited home space was skipped.
not that many exclusive titles for the device were made for it.
it seemed too dependant on the big tablet sized contorller it came with.

 

[Eric Cartman]

I felt the wii u died so fast because of very poor marketing and the lack of 3rd party games. When the wii u was marketed in 2012 it was very confusing what the wii u was supposed to be. It made it seem like it was an extra peripheral controller like the kinect for xbox 360 rather than a new console of its own. Also the look of the wii u gamepad controller is abit tacky and heavy looking. It's prolly the factor on why the switch is very slim and profesional looking in contrast to the cheap plastic wii u gamepad. Also the idea of the console is kinda flawed since the playing without the tv focus of the console is compatible with a few games. Games like splatoon require a tv which defeats the selling point of the wii u all together. The switch improves upon this idea nintendo wanted to develop by making the switch a console/handheld hybrid. Despite the wii u not selling very well as planned the wii u has been the home for pretty good ips and games.

 

[Artisan]

It had really low selling points compared to the Wii. The 3DS was really popular and pretty expensive as well. People did think it was just another Wii due to the naming. I think it died because the main games it had weren't different enough to separate it from the Wii and the graphics weren't enough either to make a difference. People still wanted to play Wii games instead.