The Wii U is doing really bad, 3DS is doing great

[compl3x]

Wii U moved 160,000 across the globe last three months

 

 

Nintendo's latest earnings have come in an overall things aren't that bad looking for the company. They had a positive net return with ?8.62 billion ($88 million) this last quarter. Nintendo is forecasting its net profit to increase to ?55 billion ($563 million) by the end of the fiscal year.

 

 

So here's the bad news. The Wii U moved 160,000 consoles around the world between April 1 and June 30. 90,000 in Japan, 60,000 in the US, and 10,000 across Europe and Australia. Ouch. This bring total lifetime sales up to 3.61 million now. Meanwhile, the Wii moved 210,000 in the same time period. This also helped finally hit 100 million Wiis sold worldwide, by the way.

 

 

Good news is that the 3DS is doing great! It was the best selling hardware the last two months in a row here in the US, and has moved 1.4 million units this quarter.

 

 

Software wise, just over one million games were shipped in this same quarter on the Wii U, while the 3DS saw over 11 million software units moved. The biggest contributing factors have been Animal Crossing: New Leaf moving 5.4 million, and Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon moving 2.65 million.

 

http://www.destructoid.com/the-wii-u-is-doing-really-bad-3ds-is-doing-great-259083.phtml

[Blackhearted]

Wasn't something like this already posted somewhere on the forums like last week?

[compl3x]

Possibly.

 

It is about Nintendo so it should be in the Nintendo forum. *does quick check* not seeing anything.

[Shiranui]

I may be forced to buy a WiiU next year, just to play Bayonetta 2. I'll probably get a second-hand one.

[Elliot B.]

If it had achievements and good online multiplayer capabilities, I'd have considered buying one.

[The Evil Overlord]

I may be forced to buy a WiiU next year, just to play Bayonetta 2. I'll probably get a second-hand one.

A SEGA game on a Nintendo???

Weren't they competitors?

<joke only>

[astropheed Veteran]

Suddenly, I want it less....

 

These 'it's doing badly' threads certainly aren't going to help the case. People only want what people in general want, most of the time. It's why people advertise their 'Millions of people are already X (or Xing)!' crap.

[Brian M. Veteran]

Don't get me wrong I love my Wii U - but there's one thing a Nintendo console needs - lots of decent first party Nintendo games.

 

Ditch the basic kit, drop the premium one to say ?150. Then, next year - ?150 for a fantastic console with Mario Kart, 3D Super Mario, etc etc will sell IMO.

 

Plus, retailers are slowly driving the nails into its coffin - Asda have taken it off the shelves, none of the Game stores around here actually have a Wii U on display (my local has 3 Wii U games, all of which are old titles and full price I kid you not) and even the HMV on Oxford street has a fairly poor show.

[dead.cell]

Doesn't help that they keep pushing remakes too lately. I'm all for nostalgia and whatnot, but friggin come on...

[Elliot B.]

Where it the best place in the UK to buy a second-hand Wii U? Cex? eBay?

[Yogurtmaster]

Nintendo really messed up with the Wii U.  The name sounds like it's just an addition to the Wii, the marketing is all wrong and the device is all wrong.

Nintendo ran out of gimmicks on the Wii, they threw everything at it.  UbiSoft actually had a tablet called something like Wii Draw.

 

Tablets are all the rage today, but you can buy any tablet you want and it will work with the Xbox One and PS4 out of the box.  So, that just kills any features that Nintendo has.

Microsoft even has a dedicated WiFi Radio and chipset for WiFi Direct that will work with every Laptop/Tablet/Smartphone and of course a next generation Kinect 2.0 that does everything that Nintendo has and more.

 

Here is what I would do if I ran Nintendo...

 

0) Communicate directly with the fans and let them know of some of the changes.  Communication is key here.  Work together with them as they will be buying the products. 

    We would be doing an E3 Keynote and on the show floor, we would do Nintendo Directs, we would do blogs and chats.  If we would be using social networks and we would be not hiding anything. 

    Hiding doesn't do anything other than just make you look bad, we have seen this with Microsoft.

 

 

1) Do not make anymore Wii U consoles.  Let inventory deplete as much as possible. (Keep a watch of the inventory cycle, be aware of cutting that down as per industry standards)

2) Sell that remaining inventory at a realistic but small loss (Focus on cutting costs as much as possible, also examine overhead as well.  Watch this monthly).

3) Release the software and see if it generates anything.

4) If the "Killer Software" titles do nothing and the price drop does nothing then follow through with dropping the system over a period of time

 

5) If Number 4 fails, then contact Microsoft across the street of the NOA HQ and obtain devkits for XB1 (higher quality software here is the goal and to rest some IP and bring new IP into the picture)

6) Work a deal with Microsoft to lower or exclude license agreements (money for producing software on the MS system)

7) Start planning software titles for the XB1 (obtain tools such as development tools and an engine that can be unified at Nintendo's )

8) Focus on the 3DS full steam ahead and reducing the price of the system to get it close as possible to the 99 price point over time.  Focus on cutting costs and watch inventory.

9) Meet the Occulus Rift guys.  I want to see what it would take to get them on board at Nintendo.  I want to focus on a modified version of this for Nintendo.  I want to also focus on putting a camera on the front so people can see without taking off the product.  Games, Games, Games for this product and then reuse the Wii U graphics for this.  Reuse when possible.  Make sure we can be profitable with this.  Examine costs and profit margin here.

10) If 9 is good and we should at this point be making profit on the 3DS as well as Xbox One Titles, hire more Western support.  The goal here is to not lean too much on previous IP's.  We can have a Mario or Zelda, but lets not try to milk the IP to death, lets add in a little variety and also quality of graphics and game play.  Nothing stale and has to be original.  Nintendo isn't going to make an FPS, that just isn't Nintendo.

11) Advertising and Marketing the "New Nintendo".  This is **** HUGE ****.  The marketing for the "Occulus Rift" product can be a buy in addition to that of the consoles you already own.  The 3DS, a powerful nugget of goodness that is priced cheap to tempt people into buying it because of the great games and low price.   When you get to the 99 dollar price point that is almost irresistible.

 

    I have always liked Pixar as far as graphics, lighting, and animation.  I know you can't get there exactly, but that is the kind of graphics that I would shoot for if I was ahead of Nintendo, 1080p of goodness using the latest graphics technologies and getting some of that magic back on game play as well.  Having new IP's and lessoning the older IP's only when we can do something new and original.

[Blackhearted]

^Ya know yogurt, you could made that typical "nintendo should go 3rd party" post alot simpler than that.

 

Doesn't help that they keep pushing remakes too lately. I'm all for nostalgia and whatnot, but friggin come on...

 

The only remake coming for the wii u is Wind Waker HD. Just cause they're doing 1 remake doesn't mean that's all they're doing.

[Azies]

Nintendo really messed up with the Wii U.  The name sounds like it's just an addition to the Wii, the marketing is all wrong and the device is all wrong.

Nintendo ran out of gimmicks on the Wii, they threw everything at it.  UbiSoft actually had a tablet called something like Wii Draw.

 

Tablets are all the rage today, but you can buy any tablet you want and it will work with the Xbox One and PS4 out of the box.  So, that just kills any features that Nintendo has.

Microsoft even has a dedicated WiFi Radio and chipset for WiFi Direct that will work with every Laptop/Tablet/Smartphone and of course a next generation Kinect 2.0 that does everything that Nintendo has and more.

 

Here is what I would do if I ran Nintendo...

 

0) Communicate directly with the fans and let them know of some of the changes.  Communication is key here.  Work together with them as they will be buying the products. 

    We would be doing an E3 Keynote and on the show floor, we would do Nintendo Directs, we would do blogs and chats.  If we would be using social networks and we would be not hiding anything. 

    Hiding doesn't do anything other than just make you look bad, we have seen this with Microsoft.

 

 

1) Do not make anymore Wii U consoles.  Let inventory deplete as much as possible. (Keep a watch of the inventory cycle, be aware of cutting that down as per industry standards)

2) Sell that remaining inventory at a realistic but small loss (Focus on cutting costs as much as possible, also examine overhead as well.  Watch this monthly).

3) Release the software and see if it generates anything.

4) If the "Killer Software" titles do nothing and the price drop does nothing then follow through with dropping the system over a period of time

 

5) If Number 4 fails, then contact Microsoft across the street of the NOA HQ and obtain devkits for XB1 (higher quality software here is the goal and to rest some IP and bring new IP into the picture)

6) Work a deal with Microsoft to lower or exclude license agreements (money for producing software on the MS system)

7) Start planning software titles for the XB1 (obtain tools such as development tools and an engine that can be unified at Nintendo's )

8) Focus on the 3DS full steam ahead and reducing the price of the system to get it close as possible to the 99 price point over time.  Focus on cutting costs and watch inventory.

9) Meet the Occulus Rift guys.  I want to see what it would take to get them on board at Nintendo.  I want to focus on a modified version of this for Nintendo.  I want to also focus on putting a camera on the front so people can see without taking off the product.  Games, Games, Games for this product and then reuse the Wii U graphics for this.  Reuse when possible.  Make sure we can be profitable with this.  Examine costs and profit margin here.

10) If 9 is good and we should at this point be making profit on the 3DS as well as Xbox One Titles, hire more Western support.  The goal here is to not lean too much on previous IP's.  We can have a Mario or Zelda, but lets not try to milk the IP to death, lets add in a little variety and also quality of graphics and game play.  Nothing stale and has to be original.  Nintendo isn't going to make an FPS, that just isn't Nintendo.

11) Advertising and Marketing the "New Nintendo".  This is **** HUGE ****.  The marketing for the "Occulus Rift" product can be a buy in addition to that of the consoles you already own.  The 3DS, a powerful nugget of goodness that is priced cheap to tempt people into buying it because of the great games and low price.   When you get to the 99 dollar price point that is almost irresistible.

 

    I have always liked Pixar as far as graphics, lighting, and animation.  I know you can't get there exactly, but that is the kind of graphics that I would shoot for if I was ahead of Nintendo, 1080p of goodness using the latest graphics technologies and getting some of that magic back on game play as well.  Having new IP's and lessoning the older IP's only when we can do something new and original.

 

Nintendo is too proud, they'd rather ruin the company than create software for other systems. They just need a major price drop, people aren't stupid, they know the system is going to be considerably weaker than the X1 and PS4, so they won't buy it at nearly PS4 or X1 prices.

[Elliot B.]

Nintendo is too proud, they'd rather ruin the company than create software for other systems.

To be fair, they still have plenty of money and team talent to be able to continue with that decision.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

The only remake coming for the wii u is Wind Waker HD. Just cause they're doing 1 remake doesn't mean that's all they're doing.

i'm betting he was talking more nintendo in general -looks at the ds & 3ds-

[Yogurtmaster]

^Ya know yogurt, you could made that typical "nintendo should go 3rd party" post alot simpler than that.

 

 

The only remake coming for the wii u is Wind Waker HD. Just cause they're doing 1 remake doesn't mean that's all they're doing.

 

If that is all you got out of it then you failed.  Third party for consoles needs to happen, but there is a lot more that needs to happen as well.  They need to innovate.  They need to work on two types of 3DS successors, one is a successor to the 3DS as a pure game platform with the Android OS and other one as the same platform as this but with a phone and do research on how to do it properly.  You need to read the list, Nintendo going exclusive third party is a small aspect of what is happening and I am sorry that you missed the entire post.

[Lord Method Man]

Nintendo doesn't need to "go third party." This is nauseating gaming conventional wisdom tripe that's been passed around for about three years now.

[Yogurtmaster]

Nintendo is too proud, they'd rather ruin the company than create software for other systems. They just need a major price drop, people aren't stupid, they know the system is going to be considerably weaker than the X1 and PS4, so they won't buy it at nearly PS4 or X1 prices.

 

Let's say that they try reducing prices and they try the big software and it still sells poorly, now what?  What is their plan?

 

3DS isn't a problem, but their home consoles are a problem and other than Occulus Rift I can find no other alternative that would make the platform different.

All of Nintendo's "Gimmicks" (not being used In a bad way)  have been used up on the Wii.

 

The thing you guys have to understand in Business is that you have to be different.  Their games are different than the competition, but people don't want to buy a console for those games and like I said Nintendo has used all their hardware game gimmicks on the Wii.  So, what is their plan?

 

Sure, they have tons of money, I agree but then they have no console market anymore.  So, they just lost that.   If they make another console, the results will be the same.  How can they fix this issue?

 

I have laid out my suggestions pretty clearly and I really don't think they have a choice because no matter how many console generations that they put out from here on out, if it doesn't do something radically different like offer Occulus Rift or if it doesn't offer some Hologram type graphics or does something different in some way then they are screwed.  I doubt Augmented reality can do something that VR cannot.  VR in my opinion is better than AR.  Maybe they can do AR glasses or something if they don't want to do Occulus Rift.   They have to do something and they are running out of gimmicks.   A tablet isn't going to compete against Microsoft or Sony's machines.

Nintendo doesn't need to "go third party." This is nauseating gaming conventional wisdom tripe that's been passed around for about three years now.

 

Okay, suggest something better because if they lower prices like they did in the UK and get their big games out because what may happen is that they may run low on shelf space after this Christmas.

 

The Xbox One is going to be a large box, the PS4 much smaller box.  However both are largely coming at the same time in this November and Nintendo isn't selling in hardware and the software sells are sold more online than they are in stores so the stores think it's a total failure so they want to make room for more space.  The Wii U isn't a small box in itself, so they will get less and less space on the shelf and eventually probably be pulled off the shelf altogether in the USA and other places. 

 

So, what is your answer?

[Showan]

I'm actually trading in my Wii U (my daughter never plays it) today...

As much as I despise Gamestop, they are doing a double store credit for the Wii U...

So I've get back around $240 store credit or so...

Also letting go of one of my PS3's as well...

[Brian M. Veteran]

Over here, I think game stores (the brick and mortar ones) are partly to blame too.

 

I went into HMV today - they had 4 Wii U games on the shelf at full ?49.99 each, and nothing else. It kinda makes me sad, since the Wii U is actually a fantastic console to use (I, for example, love the fact that I can take the gamepad downstairs and just carry on playing) - it just severely lacks content.

[spenser.d]

Nintendo doesn't need to "go third party." This is nauseating gaming conventional wisdom tripe that's been passed around for about three years now.

 

I don't think they need to go third party, but I certainly wish they would.  I'm not buying Nintendo hardware for the handful of IPs they make that I enjoy, no matter how much I enjoy them at this point.  I can deal with that as there are plenty of other games on Xbox to keep me more than occupied but I'd love to be able to play Nintendo IP without buying their hardware.

[dead.cell]

i'm betting he was talking more nintendo in general -looks at the ds & 3ds-

 

Pretty much. I don't see anything exciting coming from Nintendo themselves, and they're pretty much the driving factor when it comes to getting a Nintendo console.

[Shiranui]

A SEGA game on a Nintendo???

Weren't they competitors?

<joke only>

 

SEGA, inexplicably, would not (could not) cough up the money for its development. Nintendo stepped in with the cash, and fans of the original are now stuck with the dilemma of whether or not they should buy an otherwise pointless console just to play one game.

[Xilo]

Iwata really needs to go. He's ruining Nintendo.

[Slammers]

Wii-U not selling well is not a big deal really.

 

Nintendo is still outselling other consoles with the 3DS.

Nintendo is still making millions and millions of dollars.

 

In another 12 months time, the Wii U will have enough first party games to warrant a purchase for even the most hardened of Nintendo critics. 

 

Nintendo will release another full console after the Wii U, not matter how bad the Wii U does. They will learn from their mistakes, and they have enough cash and brains to do this. 

 

The only people that really loose out are the people that paid full price for Wii U's on release, only to have barely any good games for the first year. I am one of those people but im not complaining. I'm too busy having a blast with the excellent Pikmin 3.