GG you just give a list of facts woth absolutely no reasons WHY its happening, its clear why all that is happening.

• Many games are very publicaly shamed for missing feature parity

Because of the hardware difference.

• Rather than delay other versions to match up with a U release, they leave the U version as an afterthought. In perception terms, this hurts confidence too

Why would any company ever do this, what kind of insane buisness strategy is that. The U version IS AN AFTERTHOUGHT. If you are going to sell a pathetic amount of copies but you still made a Wii U version its an afterthought.

• Games often do not take advantage of Wii U's unique possibilities. With a baseline of offscreen support, many games don't go the extra mile. Check out Deus Ex to see the kind of added value there.

Again because of the hardware and input diffenences most companies dont want to waste extra time to change their game. Plus many gamers hate new controls, just look at the motion backlash and many think the pad is pointless. The pad is nice but its not really changing any game.

• Many games are actually scaling back Wii U features like Batman Origins compared to City
• Ports are made by C-team developers not by the main teams, showing that it's lower priority - if gamers can see (team x) isn't taking it seriously why should they? Ubisoft Bucharest, Human Head studios, Demiurge, Straight Right?

Because of the difference of hardware, why should the main team be forced to rework the game to fit a console where it will sell like crap.

• The priority is often given to other versions in the media, where are the hands on wii u skus or interviews for multiformat games? They're fairly far and few between and the emphasis is either put on 360 or PS4/XB1. Where is the enthusiasm and detail on Wii U skus? In one of the few cases where the opposite was true, Rayman Legends sold more than the rest combined on Wii U as a proportion.

Wii U is so unpopular that even game sites are prioritizing where most people will read the articles.

• Previously exclusive games go multiplatform - Rayman, Deus Ex for instance. I'd like to see how Titanfall performs on XB1 if it was delayed then released on every other platform under the sun

A result of the poor sales of the wii U, Ubisoft felt it would have been better to delay and launch everywhere, that was stupid on their part.

• Paid advertising - Nintendo doesn't do this, whilst it has been confirmed that other companies contribute significantly to marketing spends on multiplatform titles. I'm not saying this is a bad thing or that Nintendo is holier than thou. I'm saying that when you see adverts for many multiplatform games Wii U is completely absent from them - bizaarely. I've seen plenty of Rayman adverts which only mention 360 and PS3.

You answered yourself here. Again Nintendo wants to be different, they dont foster relationships like MS or Sony does.

• Publishers low ball shipments for Wii U skus leaving a paltry number of copies out in the wild, this has been confirmed by retailers
• This leads to the next problem, lower store prescence. How many stores have you gone into and found the Wii U shelf to be barren or 2 to 5 games wide? How can you buy a product that not's availible to buy? Not everyone shops online and this completely cuts out impulse buying, as well as confidence

And there are still a bunch of those copies sitting on shelves. Stores didnt start off with a tiny wii u section, it got adjusted quick when they realized it wouldnt sell.

This was not a self fullfilling profecy that caused the Wii U to fail, it was a series of bad decisions and refusal to make changes that anyone who follows the industry could see it was going to be a struggle for Nintendo. Maybe the negativity pushed it over the edge to the level of sales we have now but Nintendo was always looking at GC level sales for this console.

Lets also not forget that the Wii has been mostly dead for almost two years before the Wii U hit. The Wii bubble lasted like 3-4 years, the gen lasted 6 years. Wii support fell off, everyone saw the bubble was over and Nintendo never did anything with the Wii U to show they would create a new one. The wii did not a normal console cycle, it was very different from 360/PS3s kinds of sales, it was not friendly to all the main franchises third parties were making on 360/PS3. Nintendo showed nothing that they would make the Wii U any diffferent, so why should third parties go out of their way when they already saw the outcome with the wii. They saw the success of 360/PS3, One/PS4 support makes perfect sense, Wii U did not.

Yodariquo said:

You're both in agreement - third parties largely never gave an honest effort so nobody wants their crap.

I still love the tests that Capcom gave the Wii audience. Hey guys you bought RE4, here have a lightgun game!

For most people this would be a normal pic of normal people riding the subway.

But not for us, for we know better. We see greatness here!

Yodariquo said:

You're both in agreement - third parties largely never gave an honest effort so nobody wants their crap.

Well for the major franchises I understand why they wouldn't give much effort cause of how different the system is, poor online, poor sales outlook, there isn't much of a point.

but effort in terms of a game made for the system, one that fits more with the Nintendo usual audience, almost no one tried. Ubisoft is about the only one that gave effort. I think that is what wii u needs more of, no one is going to buy the ports on wii u, most have other primary system. They need third party exclusives, big ones. No one will buy a wii u cause it also has witcher 3, they will buy it if it has say chrono trigger 2 exclusive. But Nintendo needs to be the one to go after these exclusives and market the shit out of them.

Third parties DO NOT need Nintendo.

Nintendo sort of maybe needs third parties.

Nintendo doesnt seem to understand this. Its like "hey we made a system, we expect you to make games on it."

robio said:

A god rides amongst the mortals.

Iga_Bobovic said:

He looks so sad... ok fine he looks so Fedor.

What do you think is in the bag?

Interesting quotes from Iwata

Originally Posted by Iwata

I’m concentrating my mind on how to rebuild Nintendo rather than how I would take responsibility when things don’t work out in the future.


The Wii U isn’t in good shape. That’s the presumption we have as we consider reform.

With regards to plans to acquire ten million of its own shares, Satoru Iwata explained this as a step to compensate for poor sale conditions, and to reward shareholders in any way possible.

Originally Posted by Iwata

That won’t merit shareholders, that’s why we decided on the buyback. But that’s not all the reason. We’ve been rewarding our shareholders mainly through high dividends, but we cannot generate as much profit as we used to make.

Further price cuts are unlikely to spark fresh demand for the console, Iwata said today.

At least he understands the situation.

Today could be GIGANTIC. It could change the fate of Nintendo forever. This could be the day we all look back on and say that is the day Nintendo failed/succeeded

(that is how you hype an event. )

aspro said:

Iwata will announce today that 2014 will be the Year of Wailuigi.

So in 2014, we will see Waluigi Ware and Waluigi's Woods remix?

robio said:

What time is this conference happening?


And I'm still not convinced this won't be the year of Birdo.

8pm EST. It will be on the phone or whatever I think.

Every one is just waiting for Nintendo to have some answer for what is happening. Tonight will be a big moment.

robio said:

I really think people are going to be let down on this call. I don't foresee any brilliant ideas or strategies. I have a feeling we're going to hear more stay the course crap sadly.

I'm afraid this will be the case.