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[LegendofLex]

Has to make it a worse bomba than Ps3. PS3 didn't hit Sony's targets but even if Sony expected 150 million, the WiiU did worse.

Wii U lost a couple low-performing quarters of Wii profit.

PS3 wiped out all of PS2's profits in two years and Sony still hasn't made them back.

Nintendo's really good at console failures.

I honestly think casuals were actually too satisfied with the Wii, so much so that they saw no need to pay $300+ for a new box (if they actually managed to figure out that it was, in fact, a new box, and not an addon, lol). The Wii already did what they wanted, and better graphics are not a selling point to them. On top of that, it had a confusing new controller that effectively negated what was so special about the Wii to them (motion controls).

It really doesn't help that there wasn't a single brand-new game that came out prior to 2014 that didn't look like it could have been a sequel developed and released on Wii.

 

[Azuran]

100 million LMAO HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. The WIi U is a way bigger failure than I realized.

The fact that no one got fired after this disaster shows me that Nintendo's future is looking bleak as hell. They really need to dump all of those dinosaurs stuck in the 80s as soon as possible or things aren't going to get any better.

 

[HotHamBoy]

That company is naive as hell.

Yeah. It seems so.

One thing that they don't seem to understand is brand confusion. Wii U? 3DS? 2DS? "NEW" 3DS???

People don't work that way.

I think another thing they didn't understand was that it was a different world than it was in 2006. That was a pre-smartphone world. The Wii U was by no means a novel concept and it was too expensive. The Wii's $250 pricepoint and novel motion-controlled Wii Sports pack-in was huge in its success. All that shit was old hat by 2012 and the casual/kidd market was/is playing on phones and tablets.

 

[AmyS]

How many WiiU's have sold to date, 12-13 million?

 

[Kai Dracon]

At this point, I still think Nintendo's basic issue is that the console game industry went to places Nintendo as a company doesn't want to be. As in the reason why Nintendo stopped competing with the hardware race is game consoles moved up from being $200-250 devices to $350-$400, along with the emphasis in game development on production value heavy games specifically designed to compete with hollywood for the attention of the public.

If Nintendo wasn't publicly traded and didn't have to make shareholders happy with those "Nintendo-like profits" that have practically become a cliche saying, I wouldn't have been surprised to see them having already pulled out of game consoles entirely and focus on portable game playing devices. A market where people don't expect a the same thing as what consoles have turned into.

The success of the Wii must have temporarily shored up Nintendo's hopes that a market could still be maintained for a pre-2005 dedicated game console.

 

[120v]

That fact that no one got fired after this disaster shows me that Nintendo's future is looking bleak as hell. They really need to dump all of those dinosaurs stuck in the 80s as soon as possible.

well they are drastically changing direction, supposedly. i mean not long ago you'd be laughed off over suggesting nintendo going mobile

 

[TheXfactor]

They did ignore that the Wii already lost most of its mindshare by the time they finally released the Wii U, that Wii U's gimmick really wasn't anywhere near as attractive or novel as the Wiimote and that 300$ is kinda too much to ask for for a Nintendo console, especially when the comparable competitors were cheaper.

Wii U and 3DS both felt like Nintendo thought they could do no wrong after Wii and DS. Both were very flawed systems with questionable gimmicks and bad launch strategies.

Okay.. The wii u was a clear train wreck in terms of naming, price, launch lineup, and advertising. They did nothing right, I get that.

But some of y'all trying to act like you predicted that 3ds cluster launch, please. Everyone thought it was gonna be a mega mega hit. The advertising at the time felt right, the conferences felt awesome, the gimmick was
At the height of 3D movies so it felt ahead of its time, hell the price point a 250 wasn't that bad either(or so it seemed). Hell I remember people praising the name saying "wow so simple and you get the gimmick right away! So smart!" So please spare me with the whole "they should have known" no one knew. Literally no one, 99% of people on here thought it was gonna sell 100 million plus. They did everything right with it according to analysts, just costumers shifted a different direction that no one predicted. Revisionist history astounds me sometimes

 

[Shpeshal Nick]

I'm interested, you wouldn't mind elaborating ?

I just always held the belief (rightly or wrongly) that Nintendo kinda fluked the Wii and DS. At the time, the GameCube was obviously struggling big time and the Wii remote was going to be an accessory for the GameCube to try and reinvigorate it.

But around the same time, the GameBoy line was a tad stagnant and Sony was muscling in with the PSP and Nintendo needed something. So they went back to their game and watch roots and announced the DS as a "third pillar" and spoke about the blue ocean.

The fact that they dropped the GameBoy pillar so fast once the DS was successful it just came across to me like they didn't believe the DS would be that successful. Then they promptly built the Wii (a recased GameCube) and cashed in on the new market the DS captured.

But what REALLY made me feel that those were flukes were the follow ups.

"Ok so we have the DS, what the hell do we do now?"

"3D is big isn't it? Let's add 3D to the DS!"

"Ok we have the Wii, what do we do now?"

"Tablets and second screens are big right now, why don't we add a tablet to a more powerful Wii?"

To me, it just seems like Nintendo are at a bit of a loss on how to make themselves more relevant than they currently are. I'm reeeeeally hoping the NX isn't just a traditional home console because to me, it shows Nintendo still aren't where they need to be.

 

[ffdgh]

Well...whoever said that certainly was optimistic...

 

[HotHamBoy]

Okay.. The wii u was a clear train wreck in terms of naming, price, launch lineup, and advertising. They did nothing right, I get that.

But some of y'all trying to act like you predicted that 3ds cluster launch, please. Everyone thought it was gonna be a mega mega hit. The advertising at the time felt right, the conferences felt awesome, the gimmick was
At the height of 3D movies so it felt ahead of its time, hell the price point a 250 wasn't that bad either(or so it seemed). Hell I remember people praising the name saying "wow so simple and you get the gimmick right away! So smart!" So please spare me with the whole "they should have known" no one knew. Literally no one, 99% of people on here thought it was gonna sell 100 million plus. They did everything right with it according to analysts, just costumers shifted a different direction that no one predicted. Revisionist history astounds me sometimes

There were plenty of red flags for the 3DS. Too expensive, shit OS, SHIT eShop. Tiny screen, tiny resolution, garbage-tier launch window.

 

[aBarreras]

There were plenty of red flags for the 3DS. Too expensive, shit OS, SHIT eShop. Tiny screen, tiny resolution, garbage-tier launch window.

did you even read what he said?!

 

[Elfforkusu]

I'm still of the opinion that Wii U was mostly a historic marketing failure.

Being underpowered and with a gimmick controller that Nintendo themselves didn't know what to do with didn't help. But the name was awful, the unveiling was awful, the branding was awful. Everything on the marketing side was staggeringly bad.

 

[zma1013]

Try to imagine Wii selling 100 million units with the PS4's lineup front and center instead of Wii Sports.

It isn't going to happen.

The Wii was an anomoly, a fad, made successful by people that said, "That looks neat and fun, I think I'll try that." And then afterwards said, "well that was a fun experiment, but I'm done now." A lot of these people's interest with gaming and the Wii seemingly began and ended with Wii Sports. I would not look upon relying on this as a good, long term business strategy.

And despite the current competitive landscape having this "requirement," the dedicated console market is shrinking, the space for games that don't fit the current AAA norm is shrinking, and console companies are relying largely on network services revenue to actually approach profit levels from generations ago.

It's almost like console gaming actually just sucks at entertaining people.

Well I can only guess at the reasons for this but probably the older generation may be tiring of games in general, while another generation is being brought up playing games in a completely different way and consoles are probably less appealing.

I'm very much a dedicated gamer but fewer and fewer things are looking interesting nowadays.

 

[HotHamBoy]

did you even read what he said?!

Yeah, and I remember how I felt before it came out. I remember thinking the price was bananas and that the hardware looked like shit.

I remember there not being any games on the schedule that I wanted to play.

 

[Hiltz]

Quite frankly, all three platform holders never learn from all of their mistakes. I mean, Microsoft made new ones with Xbox One which has damaged the brand even after Microsoft made necessary changes to remain competitive. Sony to its credit, learned from most of its mistakes in the last home console generation, but then there's the PS Vita. Nintendo managed to make similar mistakes with both 3DS and Wii U, and the latter in particular, had several new blunders that Nintendo crippled it with.

 

[gamerMan]

They should project the NX to sell 100 units.

Thankfully, the NX is launching with Zelda: Breath Of The Wild. That game is not only the strongest launch title in awhile, it finally delivers on "next-gen" gameplay with its system's design.

 

[120v]

I'm still of the opinion that Wii U was mostly a historic marketing failure.

Being underpowered and with a gimmick controller that Nintendo themselves didn't know what to do with didn't help. But the name was awful, the unveiling was awful, the branding was awful. Everything on the marketing side was staggeringly bad.

well that's the thing, you really can't market that

 

[JABEE]

I don't think that is a good enough answer when making sales projections. That's quite possibly the worst explanation you can offer.

 

[WillyFive]

I'm still of the opinion that Wii U was mostly a historic marketing failure.

Being underpowered and with a gimmick controller that Nintendo themselves didn't know what to do with didn't help. But the name was awful, the unveiling was awful, the branding was awful. Everything on the marketing side was staggeringly bad.

The Wii U was bad decision making from day one of initial conception. Every decision made was the wrong one for the market;

*be it engineering - a low watt design when everyone else was going for higher graphics

*market - aiming for core gamers despite the aforementioned engineering making the product unattractive to that market

*branding - naming it Wii U, using a brand that is popular with an entirely different audience and yet attaching it to a device that has nothing to do with it other than being backwards compatible with it

*messaging - Nintendo avoided at all costs to tell audiences that this was a next-generation system, and instead seemingly did everything in their power to make the Wii U seem like an add-on to the original Wii (leading to articles complaining why Nintendo didn't introduce a new system...about the same conference where they unveiled the Wii U)

It was all a severe misunderstanding of the entire outside world; and showed that Nintendo lives in a bubble so opaque that they didn't know that people wouldn't want a tablet with a tiny screen with a resistive touchscreen that could only operate within a set radius of a black box that looks like a system they already had ("why do I have to buy a Wii just to get the Wii U, can you get it separately? Every box I see seems to include it" - actual people that approached me at retail).

 

[protomouse]

The Wii was an anomoly, a fad, made successful by people that said, "That looks neat and fun, I think I'll try that." And then afterwards said, "well that was a fun experiment, but I'm done now." A lot of these people's interest with gaming and the Wii seemingly began and ended with Wii Sports. I would not look upon relying on this as a good, long term business strategy.

The 9:1 software tie ratio kind of defeats this general argument.

 

[Narroo]

well that's the thing, you really can't market that

Smart Phones, tablets, and Macbooks are underpowered computers, and people love those to death, so I'm not sure how much power matters. Sure, they're portable which is a major plus, but most of the people I've seen who love those really don't seem to care about horsepower or technicals too much.

Honestly, I'm just surprised the Wii was a fad.


...I hope the NX is something interesting. I still haven't bought any 'current gen' consoles and only the Wii U looks attractive.

 

[WillyFive]

The 9:1 software tie ratio kind of defeats this argument.

Yeah, the Wii and 360 were very competitive in attach rates. I still had lots of people wanting to buy Wii's after the Wii U came out; Nintendo lost the audience to competitors (like iOS and Android) because they didn't cultivate it.

Honestly, I'm just surprised the Wii was a fad.

It wasn't any more of a fad than any other game console. It lived it's full 5 year lifespan, just like past Nintendo systems.

 

[JABEE]

I'm still of the opinion that Wii U was mostly a historic marketing failure.

Being underpowered and with a gimmick controller that Nintendo themselves didn't know what to do with didn't help. But the name was awful, the unveiling was awful, the branding was awful. Everything on the marketing side was staggeringly bad.

And it all started with the brand and the aimless strategic positioning of the device. It was almost as if Nintendo woke up one morning and realized we should probably make a follow-up to that successful thing, any ideas?

Their idea seemed 2-3 years late. Nintendo was too busy coasting on the Wii margins. It's as if their obsolesce and cultural fatigue caught them off-guard.

 

[civilstrife]

Did they really think retirement homes and the like were going to replace their Wiis with Wii U, of all things?

I don't say that to disparage Wii's accomplishments. Quite the opposite. It's draw among non or lapsed gamers was HUGE. To this day, you can find them in hospitals, retirement homes, and millions of suburban households. It was a huge success for its time. A phenomenon.

I just cannot fathom how Nintendo looked at the Wii U gamepad and thought that that would be attractive to any of those people.

 

[rpg_fan]

Remember, Yusef Medhi projected this gen to total at least 400 million. I don't think Nintendo's projections are that far out of line given what they were looking at from a previous gen standpoint.

 

[Nibel]

They seemed to live in their 2006 bubble for way too long

 

[runnin_blue]

I was responsible for selling the Wii U, and I knew what was good about it, so I talked with those in charge of sales about the importance of conveying the attractiveness of Wii U to consumers.

This bit worries me. Was he in charge of the confusing early Wii U marketing campaign?

 

[Vinland]

I just always held the belief (rightly or wrongly) that Nintendo kinda fluked the Wii and DS. At the time, the GameCube was obviously struggling big time and the Wii remote was going to be an accessory for the GameCube to try and reinvigorate it.

But around the same time, the GameBoy line was a tad stagnant and Sony was muscling in with the PSP and Nintendo needed something. So they went back to their game and watch roots and announced the DS as a "third pillar" and spoke about the blue ocean.

The fact that they dropped the GameBoy pillar so fast once the DS was successful it just came across to me like they didn't believe the DS would be that successful. Then they promptly built the Wii (a recased GameCube) and cashed in on the new market the DS captured.

But what REALLY made me feel that those were flukes were the follow ups.

"Ok so we have the DS, what the hell do we do now?"

"3D is big isn't it? Let's add 3D to the DS!"

"Ok we have the Wii, what do we do now?"

"Tablets and second screens are big right now, why don't we add a tablet to a more powerful Wii?"

To me, it just seems like Nintendo are at a bit of a loss on how to make themselves more relevant than they currently are. I'm reeeeeally hoping the NX isn't just a traditional home console because to me, it shows Nintendo still aren't where they need to be.

I'd say this is a pretty reasonable view of history.

 

[Coriolanus]

The Wii was an anomoly, a fad, made successful by people that said, "That looks neat and fun, I think I'll try that." And then afterwards said, "well that was a fun experiment, but I'm done now." A lot of these people's interest with gaming and the Wii seemingly began and ended with Wii Sports. I would not look upon relying on this as a good, long term business strategy.

Or, to put it in a different way, the wii's success stems from the exact same place rock band/guitar hero's success originated.

Followed about the same trajectory too.

 

[Jubenhimer]

It's not nearly as condescending or rude as you're making it out to be, and it's more of a defense of video games as an art form than anything. He's just pointing out the obvious that most casual gamers don't take the time to appreciate what makes video games fundamentally different than other forms of entertainment.

In that case, then it's Nintendo's job to show them that difference. They need something that can be enjoyed by casual gamers, then gradually show them the depth behind it to keep them engaged. And engage them with a simple, clean, and friendly presentation. They true had something going with the Wii, but they failed to properly understand their own consumers with the Wii U. Talking down to them with $60 rehashes of games they already played, instead of showing them what makes gaming truly special.

This is why I stand by the fact that Splatoon is the most Nintendo-like thing to come out of Nintendo in years. It represents what Nintendo is all about, simple, intuitive fun for all ages. But it also represents what Nintendo should've been doing this entire generation. Showing casual gamers the real fun of gaming by easing them into a seemingly daunting genre with a simplified, friendlier interface and gameplay.

Going into the NX, Nintendo needs to show people why they should care about video games as a medium, and what kinds of experience they can help craft. And they need to do this, with fresh, novel ideas that are accessible and affordable. Not expensive retreads of stale experiences.

 

[Elfforkusu]

well that's the thing, you really can't market that

Sure you can! The Wii was massively underpowered.

I do agree that the lack of a Wii Sports-style expression of the concept hurt, but nobody knowing what a "Wii U" was hurt more, IMO.

And it all started with the brand and the aimless strategic positioning of the device. It was almost as if Nintendo woke up one morning and realized we should probably make a follow-up to that successful thing, any ideas?

Their idea seemed 2-3 years late. Nintendo was too busy coasting on the Wii margins. It's as if their obsolesce and cultural fatigue caught them off-guard.

Yeah, I think all their accumulated issues that were papered over by the Wii/DS success came home to roost. To a lesser extent with the 3DS as well (thought not as much, since they were able to coast on great software for a while there)

 

[yongeandcollege]

Wii U lost a couple low-performing quarters of Wii profit.

PS3 wiped out all of PS2's profits in two years and Sony still hasn't made them back.

Nintendo's really good at console failures.

Sales vs Expected Sales is the metric used in my comment.

 

[OfTheOverflow]

While it was an individual, that individual happened to be the guy who 'was responsible for our sales base in the United States'. That seems like someone who is an indication of the wider company belief or at least had the position to spread that belief within the company. This isn't just some PR guy.

 

[Hero of Legend]

While it was an individual, that individual happened to be the guy who 'was responsible for our sales base in the United States'. That seems like someone who is an indication of the wider company belief or at least had the position to spread that belief within the company. This isn't just some PR guy.

Wouldn't that have been Scott Moffit if that's true?

 

[civilstrife]

I just always held the belief (rightly or wrongly) that Nintendo kinda fluked the Wii and DS. At the time, the GameCube was obviously struggling big time and the Wii remote was going to be an accessory for the GameCube to try and reinvigorate it.

But around the same time, the GameBoy line was a tad stagnant and Sony was muscling in with the PSP and Nintendo needed something. So they went back to their game and watch roots and announced the DS as a "third pillar" and spoke about the blue ocean.

The fact that they dropped the GameBoy pillar so fast once the DS was successful it just came across to me like they didn't believe the DS would be that successful. Then they promptly built the Wii (a recased GameCube) and cashed in on the new market the DS captured.

But what REALLY made me feel that those were flukes were the follow ups.

"Ok so we have the DS, what the hell do we do now?"

"3D is big isn't it? Let's add 3D to the DS!"

"Ok we have the Wii, what do we do now?"

"Tablets and second screens are big right now, why don't we add a tablet to a more powerful Wii?"

To me, it just seems like Nintendo are at a bit of a loss on how to make themselves more relevant than they currently are. I'm reeeeeally hoping the NX isn't just a traditional home console because to me, it shows Nintendo still aren't where they need to be.

Nah. Wii was not a fluke.

Go back and watch their E3 reveal. Couple that with their marketing, Wii Sports, Miis. Launching with Zelda, The price compared to the competition. And on and on and on...

Nintendo's messaging was STRONG. It all tied together beautifully.

Nintendo's recent missteps do not negate their successes with both the DS and Wii. Brain Training, Nintendogs, Wii Sports and the like didn't create themselves. They were a concerted effort on Nintendo's part to address a market they felt was underserved. And it payed off.

 

[OryoN]

Lofty numbers in any scenario, but to think that they actually projected that WHILE allowing the Wii name to fizzle in the last few years of its life, AND launching(then'supporting') the Wii U with the most half-assed marketing - for any major device - I have ever beheld in all my 25+ years following the industry... wtf were they hoping to achieve?

Love the big N, but that right there is pure idiocy. I certainly hope they got the wake-up call they desperately needed. I expect them to drop the ball here and there with NX, but please don't screw up that badly again!

Edit: to the post above: spot on!

 

[FStubbs]

LOL did the Wii U even reach 5 million?

 

[aBarreras]

LOL did the Wii U even reach 5 million?

LOL

 

[Freeman]

Should have hired me, I was never impressed by the WiiU, looked like it was going to bomb from day one. I was absolutely disappointed when I saw the controller.

 

[bumpkin]

It really is a shame because the Wii U has a lot of fantastic games. The problem is it doesn't have parity with its completion as far as third party games and graphics go.

 

[LeleSocho]

I cannot believe that someone in the company actually thought that thing could sell even close to 100 millions...

 

[FyreWulff]

Still don't know why they just didn't name it Wii 2.

There are tons of people that STILL think it's a Wii peripheral.

I cannot believe that someone in the company actually thought that thing could sell even close to 100 millions...

Well, considering the DS and the Wii met that comfortably right before.. I could see why, with the right hook, why the U could have potentially gotten there.

Naming the thing Wii2 (or Super Wii) would not have pushed sales to 100,000,000 units. The tablet cost too much to build meaning Nintendo couldn't cut the price to keep sales high. It was also lacking something like Wii Sports that gets sales and word of mouth off to a very hot start.

The gamepad isn't that expensive, and the price wasn't the issue - nobody wanted to touch it even during it's firesales.

 

[Koh]

What a difference switching that "U" to a "2" could have made.

You really are understating the failure here. The name didn't help from the start, but it could easily be overcome with a good product.

I know some of the people in this board hate to believe it, but the public and non Nintendo core gamers outright rejected the console. A good ad agency nor name would have changed that.

 

[Neff]

But some of y'all trying to act like you predicted that 3ds cluster launch, please. Everyone thought it was gonna be a mega mega hit. The advertising at the time felt right, the conferences felt awesome, the gimmick was
At the height of 3D movies so it felt ahead of its time, hell the price point a 250 wasn't that bad either(or so it seemed). Hell I remember people praising the name saying "wow so simple and you get the gimmick right away! So smart!" So please spare me with the whole "they should have known" no one knew. Literally no one, 99% of people on here thought it was gonna sell 100 million plus. They did everything right with it according to analysts, just costumers shifted a different direction that no one predicted. Revisionist history astounds me sometimes

Launch software was poor, I guess. I remember trying to convince myself that any title was worth it, just for the thrill of buying new Nintendo hardware. And I couldn't think of anything. Even Wii U had better launch software imo.

Has to make it a worse bomba than Ps3. PS3 didn't hit Sony's targets but even if Sony expected 150 million, the WiiU did worse.

Targets nothing. PS3 was so costly for Sony that it put their gaming arm back at square one, and the company was already deep in debt by that point. We got a great console, but it was an ungodly disaster for Sony. The only victory they came away with was a still-popular brand to go into the current generation with. Direct competition with a market-hungry Microsoft left its mark, to say the least.

You really are understating the failure here. The name didn't help from the start, but it could easily be overcome with a good product.

I know some of the people in this board hate to believe it, but the public and non Nintendo core gamers outright rejected the console. A good ad agency nor name would have changed that.

The product in itself was flawed (ie it delivered on few of its promises and in cases simply didn't work like it was implied to), but not unappealing. Wii U's failings are so numerous and so equally deserving of blame that it's just as incorrect to simply surmise that people 'didn't want it'.

 

[And_Gignac]

The bad signs were there since 2009. Absolutely delusional.

 

[Shpeshal Nick]

Nah. Wii was not a fluke.

Go back and watch their E3 reveal. Couple that with their marketing, Wii Sports, Miis. Launching with Zelda, The price compared to the competition. And on and on and on...

Nintendo's messaging was STRONG. It all tied together beautifully.

Nintendo's recent missteps do not negate their successes with both the DS and Wii. Brain Training, Nintendogs, Wii Sports and the like didn't create themselves. They were a concerted effort on Nintendo's part to address a market they felt was underserved. And it payed off.

But they only gained that confidence on the back of the DS success validating their blue ocean strategy.

 

[tronic307]

There were already 100 million consoles out there with the Wii name; the market was oversaturated. If Nintendo were to sneakily replace the Wii they should have done so in 2010 when people were down for an HD Wii. Then BC would have been relevant and the Wii U wouldn't have represented the sad, overlong rolloff of the Wii legacy. But then we might have gotten 'DS the console' a bit later, and while I enjoyed that many people didn't see the appeal. I'm glad we'll be seeing something fresh from Nintendo ASAP.

 

[Yasumi]

This bit worries me. Was he in charge of the confusing early Wii U marketing campaign?

Thanks Kimishima.

 

[FyreWulff]

Has to make it a worse bomba than Ps3. PS3 didn't hit Sony's targets but even if Sony expected 150 million, the WiiU did worse.

The Wii U didn't wipe out all of the Wii's profits ever made.

The PS3 wiped out every single dollar the PS2 made and then some. People kind of forget that Sony basically mortgaged the farm just to get the Playstation brand back to order.

 

[Jubenhimer]

But they only gained that confidence on the back of the DS success validating their blue ocean strategy.

But Nintendo still sent a clear message and focus with the Wii. It was well thought out, well designed, and well marketed. The genius of the Wii lied in it's simplicity, ANYONE can pick up a Wii Remote and have a good time, even if they never touched a video game. Wii Sports helped to justify this.

Contrastly the Wii U Gamepad is anything but that. It came out at a time when tablets were already an established market, it was way too big and convoluted for people to grasp. It lacked the simple, pick-up-and-play design of the Wii Remote, could only be used one at a time, which made multiplayer way more complicated and unfair than it should've been. And concepts like Asymmetrical gameplay were a nightmare to explain.

On top of this, Nintendo's focus with the Wii U was all over the place. It's demonstration title, relied on a bunch of franchises only hardcore Nintendo fans will even recognize or care about, and again, lacked the simplistic intuitiveness of Wii Sports. Go watch E3 2006 and compare it to E3 2012, the difference is night and day.