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[Sophist]

before release, you had studios going around saying that the device wasn't powerful enough to port their games from ps3/xbox 360... also online gaming being the new thing on console. also missed gta5 the biggest game ever.

 

[Boss Mog]

It would've helped but not "saved" it. There were quite a few clueless parents who bought Wii U games thinking they would run on their WIi, that's for sure.

 

[Robb]

if it did then is a lesser catastrophe.

iirc it didn’t take all that long until they started selling each WiiU at a profit.

But even at launch, when they were selling the system itself at a loss, Nintendo confirmed that they’d make a profit as long as at least one game was sold alongside it. And since we know they sold 14M in hardware and 103M in software, roughly 7 games per console, they definitely made money.

But I have no idea if it was enough to offset other expenses like R&D, advertising etc. etc.

 

[digdug2]

Better communication from Nintendo starting from the announcement of this console could have saved it from being an absolute bomb. Had they effectively communicated that this is a brand new console to the masses, it would not have tanked in the manner it did.

It would likely not have sold gangbusters, but it could have had respectable numbers if they had conveyed that this was Wii 2 or a Super Wii. It would have also helped Nintendo if they had better 3rd party support. But, sometimes you have to make mistakes so that you can learn from them.

 

[Soapbox Killer]

before release, you had studios going around saying that the device wasn't powerful enough to port their games from ps3/xbox 360... also online gaming being the new thing on console. also missed gta5 the biggest game ever.

Do you remember which studio(s) thought this? I can't think of any game that was on PS360 that couldn't run on Wii U? I'm not saying you're wrong since I remember it too but I don't recall who said this?

 

[Geometric-Crusher]

iirc it didn’t take all that long until they started selling each WiiU at a profit.

Nintendo lies, they have been making profits since day one, the loss generated by the WiiU is the result of speculation in the stock market and high R&D making games, it may not seem like it but the Wii U is the Nintendo console with the biggest first party budget ever.

 

[Sophist]

Do you remember which studio(s) thought this? I can't think of any game that was on PS360 that couldn't run on Wii U? I'm not saying you're wrong since I remember it too but I don't recall who said this?

anonymous. i think this is the article that started it all:

Wii U less powerful than PS3, Xbox 360, developers say

Nintendo's upcoming Wii U console may generate full HD graphics, but it's not up to the graphics power of the Xbox 360 …

www.gamesindustry.biz

 

[Panajev2001a]

The Wii U is the only Nintendo console I hate. The slooooooooow interface and the self-discharging battery in the tablet was disastrous.

It was a series of very good ideas (even the GamePad was really ergonomic and added GamePlay ideas) badly executed and they waited waaaay to long to launch it too. It was their last console where the UI had a sense of fun and magic (MiiVerse was a really clever idea for example).

Switch has great games and some innovation controllers wise and they unified their product lines which helped. But the console UI for example is soulless…

 

[Jinzo Prime]

It was a series of very good ideas (even the GamePad was really ergonomic and added GamePlay ideas) badly executed and they waited waaaay to long to launch it too. It was their last console where the UI had a sense of fun and magic (MiiVerse was a really clever idea for example).

Switch has great games and some innovation controllers wise and they unified their product lines which helped. But the console UI for example is soulless…

They need to go back to the 3DS interface. It was the perfect compromise between speed, readability, and whimsy.

 

[PatientGamer]

Whilst the "Wii U" nomenclature was a bonehead branding decision, their problems run much deeper.

The vast majority of Wii players were people who have never played games or had dedicated gaming devices before. Families were the main demographic, suburban mums & grandmas with children who come over for 'party time'. They're the 'candy crush' generation, I'd be hard pressed to even call them 'casuals'.

Also, once you've had a few sessions on the Wii, you rarely went back unless you had multiple people round for some fun time. Once the Wii U was announced, it's overall design and gaming choices gave this core demographic zero reason whatsoever to upgrade. It does everything the Wii does, plus it has some other titles you can only get on it. There is no incentive or reason to buy it.

What they should've done is invest in the Switch from the getgo and work with 3rd parties to get content on their console. They would've stomped the PS4 and Xbox One (not that they were ever competing with them), even if they launched a year or 2 later. There's nothing revolutionary in the Switch tech that wasn't doable back in 2014. The price may have been a little higher - perhaps $50-$100 more max?

 

[Geometric-Crusher]

1- no x86 cpu
2- weak hardware
3- very expensive controller
4- tablet as controller, bad concept,
5- third parties need to spend time and money optimizing
6- expensive console for what it offered
7- bad marketing (But there's no point in good marketing if the product is broken)
8- worst Nintendo lineup ever
9- the idea of focusing on casuals
10- flag on youtubers

change this and you will have a better console, in short the problem is the console itself

 

[Soapbox Killer]

anonymous. i think this is the article that started it all:

Wii U less powerful than PS3, Xbox 360, developers say

Nintendo's upcoming Wii U console may generate full HD graphics, but it's not up to the graphics power of the Xbox 360 …

www.gamesindustry.biz

Thank You.


I remember EA saying that they ported the PC version of Most Wanted to Wii U and not the PS360 version since it was better equipped but that is my only direct memory. Nevertheless, in practice I don't think there are many games if any that wouldn't work.

 

[Tams]

I loved the controller, even it felt like a Fisher-Price toy.

But it added too much to the BoM, so they had to go for a less powerful CPU and GPU, which ultimately meant third parties did not get on board.

Given that the Wii was a flash in the pan and saw pretty bad hardware and software sales in its later years, any successor needed to appeal to third party developers a lot more from the beginning. The Wii U did have that at the very beginning, but the insufficient power and low user base put off any more than the initial releases from major third parties.

The reveal, though less so the name, likely easily cost it a good 5-10 million sales though. And that ultimately killed any momentum that it needed to succeed.

 

[existensmaximum]

No, the Wii U concept was trash, as was the implementation. Sluggish UI, everything was outdated and nobody wanted a screen in the controller. Also, they couldn't be bought separately.

So many weird decisions from Nintendo.

 

[Panajev2001a]

They need to go back to the 3DS interface. It was the perfect compromise between speed, readability, and whimsy.

Wii was even better . Still, there is NO reason an interface like Wii U’s one could not be even fancier and more complex and blazingly fast on the kind of processors and RAM they have available here (and flash storage for “swap”).

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

Fatal design flaws killed Wii U. Answer is no.

 

[Rockondevil]

Hard to say. But I think it definitely would’ve done better.
Wii numbers? Probably not. But not WiiU numbers that’s for sure.

 

[Geometric-Crusher]

Iterative sequences works for the PlayStation brand, so why wouldn't it work for the Switch brand?

this depends on the generational leap.

If the games on the new Switch are cartoon, cel shading, then calling the console '2' won't cut it, people will continue with the Switch 1.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

this depends on the generational leap.

If the games on the new Switch are cartoon, cel shading, then calling the console '2' won't cut it, people will continue with the Switch 1.

Your personal preferences for game aesthetics have zero consequences in the game industry.

 

[Alexios]

It strayed from everything that made the Wii the Wii so, no. They should have gone all in, just design better/better tracked controllers (like modern VR controllers with all needed and expected inputs, no weird discrepancy between hands with remote & nunchuck) and make it more powerful. Limited compatibility with original remotes in few games didn't make it a real successor. Even if haters called motion controls a fad, with better designed controllers it could accommodate traditional gameplay equally (or use motion where it's widely accepted as an excellent if not better alternative, like T & FPS, survival horror, point & click, fitness) and innovation would be promoted without tracking issues & missing inputs. They'd improve concepts that worked (or would work if tracking did), from Wii Sports & Zelda to Metroid Prime 3 & Red Steel 2 and get casual hits like Beat Saber out of VR.

PS: I want Wiimote Pluses for emulation & for ages now they're so hard to find. It sold gazillions, stock was surely leftover as every shop had stacks of accessories etc. so where the fuck is everything and why can we only find shitty knock offs or overpriced originals in box and game/console bundles?

 

[Zannegan]

Would have done better as the "Wii HD" with redesigned analogue Wiimotes. Then they could have sold the "U-con" separately to those that wanted the wireless streaming feature. It would have cost us Nintendo Land and ZombiU, but few other games used the second screen in a meaningful way.

 

[nordique]

I think it would have lead to more sales. How many more is not certain but for example, when I look at my extended family that owned a Wii and now a switch, small sample size but about 10 or so casual gamers, (buy the system and maybe 4-5 games), only one of them heard of a Wii U and was like “oh it was that add on thing right”

The rest think the switch was the successor. It’s wild. Wii U was really known among the more core crowds only

 

[Jsisto]

You actually just reminded me the Wii U existed. And I say that as a Nintendo exclusive console gamer that owned a Wii U.

 

[Tazzu]

I remember when the Nintendo fans were saying they won E3 after the reveal!

 

[Hunter 99]

I loved my wii u and I think calling it wii 2 would have made a fair bit of difference.maybe 20-40 million more maybe,maybe not?

Saying that I played most of the 1st party nintendo games that were ported to switch way before switch owners were all over them like they were something new and incredible.

Super mario 3d world,DK TF,mario Kart,zelda for example were all on wii u way before switch.
Even though the switch is a great console and I'm not bashing it but most of the 1st party games were already played to death for wii u owners before the switch even had a look in.

The reason my switch was just a zelda machine for years,I already played most of the games on my wii u.

 

[mysticboy]

More games and better marketing would've saved it. Also naming it Wii Tu would've both conveyed the message they went with as well as being obvious to the masses that this is a new system since "Tu" sounds like "two".

Nintendo also should've paid for 3rd party ports. Every game that ran on the 360/PS3, every game the Wii missed, hell, games the Gamecube missed, should've been on Wii U. Except for X1/PS4 only games for obvious reasons. This way, the Wii U would've had a steady stream of 3rd party games throughout its life and getting new games that ran on 7th gen console at least until 2015.

And they should've took the loss and sold it $250. They would've easily made that back in sales.

 

[Mhmmm 2077]

No, casuals don't want nor wait for another console.

 

[Saturn Dragon]

Nah. Wii was a one and done deal.

Non gamers bought it, used it a bunch of times before 2008 and it was over.

The Wii brand was dead both for casuals and hardcores.

EDIT: I think even Nintendo KNEW that the whole Wii concept was dead already, but still had some faith on the initial "Wii brand" success. Why would they name it "Wii U" but ditch the motion controllers then?

 

[Sophist]

Thank You.


I remember EA saying that they ported the PC version of Most Wanted to Wii U and not the PS360 version since it was better equipped but that is my only direct memory. Nevertheless, in practice I don't think there are many games if any that wouldn't work.

Another:

Metro: Last Light developer calls the Wii U CPU "horrible, slow"

Awhile back Metro: Last Light publisher THQ said it would not develop the first-person shooter for Wii U, despite it ap…

www.eurogamer.net

 

[Zannegan]

I remember when the Nintendo fans were saying they won E3 after the reveal!

Who? I just remember the stunned "That's it?" following their last surprise of a lamely rendered fireworks display over Nintendo Land.

I do, however, recall the denial among hardcore Nintendo fans that the console could barely outclass or even be weaker in some respects than the PS3/360. The whole "Nintendo would have to try to make it that weak" arguments sure came back to haunt some of us.

 

[ConkerTheSquirrel.]

I remember when they unveiled the WiiU console at E3 and thinking, "is it a peripheral?" Nintendo was very unclear with what the damn thing was.

The fact I had thought that... I initially thought it was an optional peripheral!

Very stupid naming.

 

[Alan Wake]

The name was horrible, but if it had been a success no one would've thought about it. The Wii U had tons of issues. Most of all Nintendo assumed they could pull the same trick again: a weak console with a gimmick and a bundled game. Since the Wii didn't have much else at launch the Wii U didn't need to either. Nintendo thought Nintendo Land would be the new Wii Sports. Reggie Fils-Aime pretty much said as much. They were cocky after the success with the Wii. I mean, watch this.

 

[dragonyeuw]

Nah. They could have called it Wii HD, redesigned the console and wiimote, ditched the gamepad, and used the money for the latter on beefing up the hardware to where it was just a bit under the base Xbox One.

And with all that, it maybe sells 20 million, max 25. By 2012 I think the mass market had moved past the motion control concept.

 

[Woopah]

No. Wii was an irreplicable success aimed at a casual audience that used it briefly before moving on.

Wii U should have never happened.

the people who bought the Wii didn't want a new system.
the Wii catered too much to non gamers, which are really bad customers to have for a gaming system. they didn't buy many games, and they would have never bought a Wii 2, no matter how it's named.

the Wii also alienated core gamers by having massive timespans where nothing of interest released, and where the only games you saw release were super low quality shovelware trash.

imo the Wii was the reason the Wii U failed.

The average Wii owner bought quite a few games, so targeting that expanded audience wasn't really a bad idea.

The issue was that the Wii U didn't have enough games to appeal to that audience. The Switch on the other hand does have games for that audience.

 

[Bonfires Down]

The fact that the tablet looks and feels like a cheap and bulky toy is a complete turnoff for me. I don’t know but I think I’m not alone.

 

[Panajev2001a]

The name was horrible, but if it had been a success no one would've thought about it. The Wii U had tons of issues. Most of all Nintendo assumed they could pull the same trick again: a weak console with a gimmick and a bundled game. Since the Wii didn't have much else at launch the Wii U didn't need to either. Nintendo thought Nintendo Land would be the new Wii Sports. Reggie Fils-Aime pretty much said as much. They were cocky after the success with the Wii. I mean, watch this.

Biggest problem for me was the very poor execution of the concept and constantly throwing a spanner in the works. They designed a fun UI and integration with a curated network like MiiVerse and paired it with a slow and clunky OS implementation.

They wanted third party support and they spent time customising heavily a very old design (look at older posts here about the eDRAM in the GPU and how it was connected to the CPU with a low latency interface and Nintendo’s dream of general purpose compute shaders): Xbox One and PS4, which launched barely a year later, were on a modern GCN design while Nintendo heavily customised the previous generation AMD arch.

They wanted to launch asynchronous gameplay with a touchpad based game pad and massively overestimated how people would take a stylus and a resistive single touch touchscreen vs a more common capacitative multitouch touchscreen (bit of pinch zoom and the precision issue for MiiVerse designs could have been solved).

I liked playing New Super Mario U with the Wii Remote or the Pro Controller while handing my wife the GamePad and having her help me out in the level. She is engaged, but she does not have to play platformer games which she does not like, for example.

Etc…

 

[Madserb2023]

It would have done better if it was a Wii 2. Might have sold another 6 to 7 million units more. If they doubled down on the motion controls and not had a second screen, it would have done even better. Just a better Wii basically. Would never have done better than the first though.

 

[diffusionx]

When Nintendo announced the Wii U, it seems like even they were struggling to explain why it exists or what purpose it serves. When the people making something can't explain it, then it has no chance. The problem with the system was not branding.

 

[WhiteWaterM00se]

It would have surely helped. They still needed to make it look physically different than Wii.

The fallout w/ EA, and Nintendo not understanding HD development is what killed Wii U. The software droughts were outrageous and Nintendo refused to money hat much 3rd party support. This is what truly killed it.

Not having a DVD or Blu-ray player included, didn’t help it either.

Despite this, Nintendo did prove to have some excellent ideas. Miiverse, TVii (was better than Xbox’s idea), Splatoon1 (still best Splatoon game w/ tablet), Mario Maker, Wind Waker HD. But it suffered from not having a game changer game like Wii Sports included w/ the system.

 

[Davey Cakes]

The Wii U did something that also really hurt the Xbox One. It forced a $100 peripheral on people that wouldn't even be used properly in every game. I don't even think the Gamepad is a horrible idea; it was utilized very well in some games. Nintendo Land and Wii Party U were super fun. Super Mario Maker benefited greatly from a second screen. I just don't think it's wise to hinge a system on that. The Wiimote was a different story.

Also, the thing had terrible marketing towards mostly children that completely alienated third parties.

If Nintendo just did a Wii HD then it would've performed better. Perhaps Nintendo could've traded the Gamepad cost for better internals or storage.

The best thing about the Wii U was that it was a stepping stone that helped Nintendo learn how to do HD development .They were never going to recapture the "lightning in a bottle" of the Wii. Might as well try to innovate within the games themselves with the improved tech.

 

[Syphon Filter]

Apples to oranges. Yes, PS3 was a loss leader for Sony, but consumers buying over 80M of them is a different matter.
That's why your initial "3 didn't save the PS3 from being a catastrophe" post was dumb as selling over 80M units is no small feat, and it's not like selling 100M units would have prevented it from losing a ton of money to Sony.

ps3 was a failure for sony. lost an extreme amount of money and marketshare.

 

[Dodo123]

If only Nintendo had been smart enough to call it a "Super Wii"...
You would be surprised how many users here agree with the sentence above lol

 

[Mozza]

No, the casual crowds that helped the original Wii had simply moved on, pretty much the same for the DS to the 3DS, admittedly on a smaller scale. Nintendo simply hit a lightning in a bottle genereation with both the Wii and DS.

 

[IDKFA]

No, the casual crowds that helped the original Wii had simply moved on, pretty much the same for the DS to the 3DS, admittedly on a smaller scale. Nintendo simply hit a lightning in a bottle genereation with both the Wii and DS.

Do you think the same will happen with the Switch 2?

 

[Sorcerer]

The name was tainted at that point in time. The W's, Wii and Waggle (controls). The novelty of the Wii was over, and nobody cared about a wireless tablet that had to be within 10 feet of the tv and had no other function. I remember Miyamoto saying something like the tablet could act as a horn for driving games (honk-honk). That's certainly a statement from a company that had lost their way. Even he had no clue what to do with the damn thing.

Third party dev's were probably tired of making specific games that could only be played on the Wii/Wii-U due to their odd control schemes.

 

[ViperZombie]

I worked in retail at the time and the amount of average customers who thought is was just a Wii with a packed in tablet was insane, I had regular conversations around where to get 2DS games when they released the 2DS as well.

 

[Alan Wake]

Do you think the same will happen with the Switch 2?

You never know, that's what's always interesting with a new Nintendo system. But Switch is a much stronger IP at the end of its time than the Wii was. That console more or less fell off a cliff at the end while the Switch is still doing really well.

 

[Alan Wake]

The fact that the tablet looks and feels like a cheap and bulky toy is a complete turnoff for me. I don’t know but I think I’m not alone.

Compared to the Switch it looks like a cheap toy for sure. But I don't think that would've mattered as much if it had done incredibly cool things.

 

[Codes 208]

Would 2 have helped? Yes, but heres the thing:

The switch (hybrid handheld/home console instead of a home console with very limited gamepad) is what the wii u should have been.

Hell, i would have settled for if the gamepad was both a peripheral and a standalone sku (think the switch lite versus a regular switch)

 

[Ceadeus]

It sure would have been better than showing the gamepad again and again making people believe it was only a new accessory for the Wii.

But then Wii2 kinda sounds like We too and it's just a bit weird.