A question I have been asking myself recently about the Wii U console after realising its terrible line up of games is “Is Nintendo winging it?”.
I was one of the first people in the United Kingdom to get my hands on a Wii U Black Edition having queued up for the midnight launch at Game. The queues were small and I was home in 15 minutes.
When looking at what games to purchase with my shiny new Wii U console I instantly noticed the lack of decent supporting titles with the exception of Mario which we all know is a very classy title. The game that came with the console Zombie U, I felt was a very generic ‘zombie game’ with no real innovations at all, the gameplay was clunky and the looking around with the controller felt more like a gimmick rather than something implemented to improve gameplay.
Being nearly 18 months since Nintendo released their long-awaited console and 16 months exploring the world, I returned home to my Wii U hoping there would be some awesome titles out, after all 18 months is a long time for developers to start supporting a next-generation console. I find myself asking my original question – “Are Nintendo winging it with their Wii U Console?”.
A look at Nintendo’s profits to-date since the Wii U console release
Nintendo recently reported that its fiscal year ending March 31st 2014 that took a 46.4 Billion Yen ($457 million) loss-making this the third year of losses for the Japanese video game console manufacturer.
In the past 12 months, Nintendo has sold just 2.72 million consoles with total lifetime sales at 6.17 million units, compared to Sony who have already sold 6 million Playstation 4 units and Microsoft with their next-generation console, Xbox One at 4 million consoles, it’s evident that Nintendo is struggling to find traction in the gaming market.
Game developers not really bothered about Wii U?
Do you think game developers have realised the Wii U’s fate and just can’t be bothered? Zelda is still being developed even after a year and a half of
releasing the Nintendo Wii U console, which primarily was my initial reason for buying the console as well as a few other choice titles such as super smash bros, however, it seems the best games are being held back a little (In my opinion) in an effort to keep us hanging on to our consoles.
While a few ‘ok’ titles have been released for the Nintendo Wii (Donkey Kong, Super Mario World and the Recent smash Mari Kart 8) I am yet to be blasted away in a complete oar with revolutionary gameplay or effects – everything is just a polished version of an older game with nothing really evolving. While there is games on the horizon that I do wish to play, the PS4 and XBOX ONE games already look like an amazing lineup and they have been out a fraction of the time the Wii U has been out.
So this leaves me asking myself – “Do I keep my console in a bid that Nintendo will encourage game developers to support their flagship gaming console or Do I trade it in before Nintendo hit the pit and no one wants to buy a Wii U at all.”
