Sales of the Wii U have been less than stellar, but with some big titles looming this year Nintendo president Satoru Iwata believes that there’s still room for growth with the struggling console. This in stark contrast to what industry analyst Michael Pachter had to say yesterday when he said that Nintendo needs to realise that the Wii U is a failure and move on. However, Iwata points out that despite the Japanese trend for smartphone gaming, the majority of gamers in the United States and Europe love to use home consoles on their big screen TV’s.
Q: Why have sales of the Wii U remained flat?
A: I believe the Wii U business still has considerable room for growth, as a number of software titles that are compatible with the console are slated for release in 2015.
The way Japanese gamers enjoy video games is different from their counterparts in the West. More and more Japanese gamers play on smartphones and 3DS hand-held devices. On the other hand, a majority of gamers in Europe and the U.S. still connect their consoles to TVs and play them on a bigger screen. In the global video game market, game titles for consoles are still dominant, and that market is much larger.
Q: What are you doing to shore up your console business?
A: Newer consoles are equipped with a function to process micropayments using Suica electronic money cards [in Japan]. Our service that allows people to purchase games online using those cards is popular.
It is also possible to turn smartphone games from other software makers into 3DS-compatible games and offer them for relatively low prices. We intend to pursue a variety of options. Only those products and services that receive strong support from customers will survive.
wow I have the ability to read in iwata’s voice 0_o
I have an ability not to have that ability at will.
Please Understand that I don’t buy this anymore. Either way it doesn’t really matter as the Wii U’s sales have risen enough to call it a decent console. It won’t beat the Xbox Won All in One Entertainment System or the Playstation 4, but it put up a valiant fight and still had a lot of fun titles.
& 2 be honest. I love my Wii U! Sony & M$ are counterparts of each other. They literally do EVERYTHING except have the games I wanna play other than 3rd party titles.
Like “N” said in the beginning. We’re not gonna duke it out with the competition. We’re doing/ offering something different than them.
That’s denial right there
i want to see stranga damage contollin this. :’)
keep dreaming fagot. :’D
You forgot to change your name before replying to yourself… AGAIN.
http://i.giphy.com/oFRI4g517yWaI.gif
Honestly since Nintendo owns the handheld market I’d love for them to put their development budget into making an awesome handheld with the ability to connect to the TV and play the same games on the big screen.
It deeply concerns me how exactally Nintendo is planning to go into the smartphone market. The games for smart phones tends to be riddled with micro transaction garbage and the same game reskinned differently. Seeing shit like Meme Run on the eshop already makes me worried….
Yeah, I love Nintendo. I’ve felt for a couple of years now that as a company, they need to be able to appeal to the older players and the younger players without sacrificing image. The very few adult aimed games aren’t enough for what I would see as the force that drives people like me to buy a Wii U. Honestly, its hard to want to leave something because you feel as the consumer that Nintendo may not be able to keep up with the tastes of growing gamers.
Golden Armour On.
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-Lord Iwata: The way Japanese gamers enjoy video games is different from their counterparts in the West. More and more Japanese gamers play on smartphones and 3DS hand-held devices. On the other hand, a majority of gamers in Europe and the U.S. still connect their consoles to TVs and play them on a bigger screen. –
I’m sorry my lord but isn’t it time already to execute a plan according to that statement?…
Our Homeworld needs to be Renintendofied while the western cattle should get game releases more often on home consoles…
Wii U did fail to dominate, I still believe it will make an overall profit however. As for dropping the console, that would extremely stupid of Nintendo, unless they can actually make a better value proposition as the sold-at-loss rivals. Late 2016 is pretty much the earliest they can release a new console and not totally piss off existing userbase.
Who cares there’s a Banjo Kazooie spirtual successor in R&D, I cant want to see how that game will turn out to be. If the Wii U sales can’t improve by then, then do something futuristicly NOW with the Fusion to make it a win.
Unless a hanheld can safely & portably support true thumbsticks, the “Fusion” is a bad idea imo. True 3D movements would either be gimped, or auto-piloted, or require some awkward compensatory inputs by the player. Motion controls might help, but I dislike the idea of moving the screen, especially a smaller 1. It’d almost be like playing a mobile game, which lack dedicated buttons & rely solely on the touchscreen. Even if phones were more like the N-Gage, the controls are limited.
Also, the incentives to create exclusive & divergent games is reduced. A multiplat for a console & a handheld might diverge to the point both games play radically different. The console version might be in 3D, yet its handheld version plays in 2D. In some cases, the more “limited” game is the most creative & fun. & hey, another studio gets to be involved, creating more work & revenue for themselves & allowing them to flex their creative muscle & inject new ideas in a game, even franchise. Just as it was pre-6th gen: limitations in hardware pushed devs to compensate w/ polish & creativity. But, cutting true thumbsticks from Nintendo’s future would be disasterous.
& Nintendo couldn’t afford to cram so much power into a handheld. The “Fusion” would have to be more powerful than PS4 in order for the masses to accept it’s console side. & do we really want to buy another controller just to have true thumbsticks? Or play games where we can have the complete experience @ home, but gimped on the go? & think of the extra programming to tweak the controls & aspect ratios.
While I understand crossplay (if you can transfer saves), it seems like such a waste. 2 platforms hosting 1 game, beating it far too soon, no incentive for a new & divergent game, no incentive for the player to learn patience or a new skill (i.e. real-world social interaction), harder to enjoy other activities like reading when an awesome game is always @ the ready. Imo, console/PC gaming & handheld gaming should remain separate except w/ retro titles. But even then, eventually the thumbstick dilemma will be a factor.
Unless a hanheld can safely & portably support true thumbsticks, the “Fusion” is a bad idea imo. True 3D movements would either be gimped, or auto-piloted, or require some awkward compensatory inputs by the player. Motion controls might help, but I dislike the idea of moving the screen, especially a smaller 1. It’d almost be like playing a mobile game, which lack dedicated buttons & rely solely on the touchscreen. Even if phones were more like the N-Gage, the controls are limited.
Also, the incentives to create exclusive & divergent games is reduced. A multiplat for a console & a handheld might diverge to the point both games play radically different. The console version might be in 3D, yet its handheld version plays in 2D. In some cases, the more “limited” game is the most creative & fun. & hey, another studio gets to be involved, creating more work & revenue for themselves & allowing them to flex their creative muscle & inject new ideas in a game, even franchise. Just as it was pre-6th gen: limitations in hardware pushed devs to compensate w/ polish & creativity. But, cutting true thumbsticks from Nintendo’s future would be disasterous.
& Nintendo couldn’t afford to cram so much power into a handheld. The “Fusion” would have to be more powerful than PS4 in order for the masses to accept it’s console side. & do we really want to buy another controller just to have true thumbsticks? Or play games where we can have the complete experience @ home, but gimped on the go? & think of the extra programming to tweak the controls & aspect ratios.
While I understand crossplay (if you can transfer saves), it seems like such a waste. 2 platforms hosting 1 game, beating it far too soon, no incentive for a new & divergent game, no incentive for the player to learn patience or a new skill (i.e. real-world social interaction), harder to enjoy other activities like reading when an awesome game is always @ the ready. Imo, console/PC gaming & handheld gaming should remain separate except w/ retro titles. But even then, eventually the thumbstick dilemma will be a factor.
Iwata that was a terrible answer to that first question… They’ve been flat because you shits aren’t doing anything for 3rd parties to develop for the damn console and because there are fucking droughts every five fucking minutes
I was actually considering being a handheld-only gamer this gen. But Wii U had some great incentives (even for X-mas 2013), & then I remembered the advantages of console gaming & how wonderfully different the 2 types of platforms are.
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