Nintendoās latest home platform hasnāt had the best of times since the system was released back in 2012ā¦boy, has it really been that long? Nintendo thought that the Wii U would ride to success on the coattails of the Wii. Unfortunately the luck theyād enjoyed since 2006 had run out.
I remember that day in June when I first saw the Wii U. Iād just arrived home from school and did what a student who had finals coming up was expected to do. Grab some snacks, put my feet up and look at Nintendoās E3 presserā¦donāt judge me for I was only 13 :D
When I saw that controller I was blown away. Iād never seen anything like it. I remember telling all my friends about it the next day at school, they couldnāt care less and I couldnāt understand. I mean finally a Nintendo system with graphics comparable to the 360 and PS3 with all those great third-party games all in one place. I expected a great deal from the Wii U and in the end is was left deeply disappointed.
Okay now that my rambling is out of the way let us get down to business. HereĀ is the reason I think the system tanked.
Marketing, what marketing? ā This was probably the biggest culprit behind the Wii Uās failure. During Christmas of 2012 I remember being bombarded with ads Sony and Microsoft focusing on their systems and exclusives. However, I only remember one ad by Nintendo and to be honest it wasnāt really focusing on the system but rather the gamepad which is where the problem lies.
Now donāt get me wrong. I love the gamepad and Iām happy that the idea (according to rumors) will live on in the NX. But the thing is the majority of Wii owners bought the system, popped in Wii Sports and never touched the thing again when the novelty of waving their hands in the air to play a virtual game of tennis wore off. They didnāt keep up with the latest releases by Nintendo and so unsurprisingly they had no idea the Wii U was a new system. And Nintendo certainly didnāt help by the not only making the Wii U pretty much identical to the Wii but by also only focusing on the gamepad. I literally knew people who thought that the Wii U was the gamepad and that is was yet another controller for the Wii.
NintendoĀ were not clear enough that Wii U was indeed a new system and they certainly didnāt spend enough money on marketing the thing. I think had they gone with a simplified message clearly stating that the Wii U was ānew system and new experienceā with games like Mario and COD all in one place they wouldāve done much better and wouldāve moved more units.
(Do you notice the difference in the ads above? Do you see why the system on the left was a thumping success and the one on the right was a disaster? )
In fact had the Wii U gained a proper install base it would have seen much more love from third-party developers. And to be honest some of them tried, we got COD Ghosts, AC4 and even Watch_Dogs.
In conclusion I think if proper marketing was done it would have lead to a larger install base which in turn wouldāve encouraged third-part developers to create more content for the system which of course wouldāve attracted gamers. I mean who wouldnāt want a capableĀ system from Nintendo (Wii U is not underpowered) where they could play Smash, Mario Kart, Assassins Creed, Call of Duty and others all in one place?
Opinion: What Nintendo Did Wrong With WiiĀ U Nintendo's latest home platform hasn't had the best of times since the system was released back in 2012...boy, has it really been that long?