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"Wii U" section of Wal-Mart Changed to "Nintendo"?

The Walmart stores near me did this last year for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. Sony material (PS3/4/Vita) is all under "Playstation" and Xbox 360/One is under "Xbox", they have a "Nintendo" section with Wii/Wii U/3DS software under it. It has nothing to do with "NX being unified library" stuff, but I guess every bit of "evidence" supporting that notion will be noted.
 

Neoxon

Junior Member
The Wii U is finally being phased out.
As is the 3DS. Both systems are entering the twilight of their lives.

The Walmart stores near me did this last year for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. Sony material (PS3/4/Vita) is all under "Playstation" and Xbox 360/One is under "Xbox", they have a "Nintendo" section with Wii/Wii U/3DS software under it. It has nothing to do with "NX being unified library" stuff, but I guess every bit of "evidence" supporting that notion will be noted.
But now the rebranding is widespread. I'll report back if I notice anything at my Walmart.
 

Mellahan

Concerned about dinosaur erection.
If anything, it may be a subtle nod to the unified future Nintendo sees - handlehd and console sharing one ecosystem. Nintendo.
 

btrboyev

Member
They are doing the same thing at Target. I think they are just making room and shelf space because of sales. Just like all Vita games are on clearance right now.
 

Neoxon

Junior Member
They are doing the same thing at Target. I think they are just making room and shelf space because of sales. Just like all Vita games are on clearance right now.
Except that none of the Wii U & 3DS games are on clearance right now.
 
NES, SNES, and N64 were just commonly referred to as just Nintendo.

I heard people call the SNES Super Nintendo and the Nintendo 64 just N64 but Nintendo was still the primary name for the device for a lot of users especially old people like parents who made most purchasing decisions.

Maybe they're trying to bring that kind of brand recognition back?

Well, when talking portables, Nintendo never dropped "Nintendo" from the name of DS and 3DS - moreover, it incorporated it directly in the logo:

Nintendo_DS_logo.png


(By the way, best logo for Nintendo product IMO.)

The only time when Nintendo deliberately dropped "Nintendo" from its product name is Wii because of different marketing to different audiences, Wii U just kind of inherited this.

Even amiibo boxes have big noticeable Nintendo logo in front of it, although nobody says "Nintendo amiibo":

 

TI82

Banned
Local target did the same thing. Wii U Wii 3ds and DS are all relegated to one fairly small section behind skylanders next to the clearance bin. It was removed to extend the ps4 section and for a guitar hero demo.

Guess they are just keep what sells?
 

TI82

Banned
AAnother interesting tidbit: when I was still in the air force, probably around the first January after the pa4 and xb1 launched our local BX did the same thing and crammed all the 3ds ds Wii and Wii U games into a single rack shelf, not even a wall shelf which was reserved for everything else.

So I wouldn't read too much into it. Just stores dumping product.
 

Iacobellis

Junior Member
If the NX is a single device that works for handheld and console gaming, then that will be big. It will be a true convergence of what Nintendo has been trying to achieve with the connectivity between platforms since the Game Boy and Super Nintendo.
 

kirby_fox

Banned
I'm pretty sure this is less re branding and more space consolidation. Back when I was hunting amiibo, Wal-Mart was the worst store. One would have color faded Wii games for full price, others would have Wii U games under the PlayStation banner. Amiibo weren't in a dedicated area, but either an end cap or on whatever pegs they could find. The only reason I found Wii Fit Trainer is because I kept looking and found a ton on an end cap no where near the other amiibo or even in the gaming section anymore.

I would guess with amiibo selling well, this could be an old thing Wal-Mart had to use for stores trying to cut down on clutter.
 
I'm pretty sure this is less re branding and more space consolidation. Back when I was hunting amiibo, Wal-Mart was the worst store. One would have color faded Wii games for full price, others would have Wii U games under the PlayStation banner. Amiibo weren't in a dedicated area, but either an end cap or on whatever pegs they could find. The only reason I found Wii Fit Trainer is because I kept looking and found a ton on an end cap no where near the other amiibo or even in the gaming section anymore.

I would guess with amiibo selling well, this could be an old thing Wal-Mart had to use for stores trying to cut down on clutter.
Red makes is officially rebranding I think. They haven't used that since GameCube.
 

kirby_fox

Banned
Red makes is officially rebranding I think. They haven't used that since GameCube.

Considering how poor Wal-Mart keeps their electronics, I'd not be surprised if this was a print out by corporate using the old logo.

But without pics, this is my imagination at work.
 

Diortem7

Member
They just changed the signage at my store this morning. I don't remember exactly how it looked but there were red signs with a white Nintendo logo and pictures of Mario, Link and Donkey Kong bellow it.
 
If the Vita section is still there, then that's a bad sign. If Wally World consolidated their gaming section to Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony....then that's not too alarming for Nintendo.
 

Femto.

Member
GameStop is the same way as well, both the 3DS and Wii U banners are gone. Which are replaced with the same red Nintendo banner and the Wii U section has a picture of Pikachu accompanying it while the 3DS has Mario.
 

cyba89

Member
This is pretty interesting, would like to see pics. Perhaps NX is closer than I thought.

NX stealth launch this holiday confirmed. There will be a Direct with Kimishima standing there just saying: "NX available now!" Dropping da bombs Iwata-style.
 

Kriken

Member
That's okay my friend, not a big deal. Just sharing some info I've seen. No need for hostility :)

Hostility? You wish. There's nothing to read into any of your posts, you're as blunt as a hammer and completely transparent. But if it flatters you...
 

Iacobellis

Junior Member
GameStop is the same way as well, both the 3DS and Wii U banners are gone. Which are replaced with the same red Nintendo banner and the Wii U section has a picture of Pikachu accompanying it while the 3DS has Mario.

Sounds like Nintendo is banking on using mascots rather than system names to attract customers.
 
Getting ready to phase out the Wii U, and bring in a unified branding for the next handheld, console, and amiibo's. Their mobile outings may even use the same branding for their advertisements and the like. Gotta get that brand awareness happening.

I wonder if they'll use red cases and go back to the red Nintendo logo for the NX. Will make a nice contrast to Playstation's blue and Xbox's green.
 

dickroach

Member
A few years before the Florida Marlins changed their name to the Miami Marlins, they changed their away jerseys to say "Marlins" instead of "Florida," to subtly get fans to forget the Florida part.
This is definitely something like that. Nintendo's phasing out the 3DS and Wii U names to get people ready for the Nintendo Home and Nintendo Go or whatever (I think they might go for something like that. NX is still a code name, yknow).
 
I visit my local Media Wolrd time to time. They arranged a very little Wii/WiiU section and a 3Ds only section. It's gamecube era all over again to me.
Xbone and ps4 section is dramatically wider than Nintendo's, but (I shit you not) all thar stuff is collecting dust.
 

HUELEN10

Member
Are... Are you guys serious? An alleged Walmart store uses a red Nintendo logo to conglomerate stock, with no evidence mind you, and people are saying this points to NX or is Nintendo's doing in any way?

It is way, way too early to tell, at least wait until press.nintendo.com updates or something.
 
Getting ready to phase out the Wii U, and bring in a unified branding for the next handheld, console, and amiibo's. Their mobile outings may even use the same branding for their advertisements and the like. Gotta get that brand awareness happening.

I wonder if they'll use red cases and go back to the red Nintendo logo for the NX. Will make a nice contrast to Playstation's blue and Xbox's green.

They have a head start also, see:

erc8yGI.png
 
Are... Are you guys serious? An alleged Walmart store uses a red Nintendo logo to conglomerate stock, with no evidence mind you, and people are saying this points to NX or is Nintendo's doing in any way?

It is way, way too early to tell, at least wait until press.nintendo.com updates or something.
It is silly to think that way. By their logic, PS4/PS3/Vita being under a "PlayStation" logo means PS5 and PSV2 (Lol) will mean unified library, hybrid devices, etc.
 

jfoul

Member
And you know this because?

Might be in contact with a regional Nintendo sales rep. Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo would send reps to my location almost every two weeks when I worked retail a long time ago. A lot of times they would provide all promo and display material for their section, and make changes when marketing shifted.
 
I always forget about this, thank god NoE didn't jump on the trend.
Looks fine for 3DS games like that, but for stuff like Mario Kart 8 it's just... no.

Yeah, it's beautiful on 3DS (the red "3" likely helps and white and red look good together). But on Wii U they use a slightly darker shade of red and they still use the blue banner which clashes horrendously with it. Why they didn't pull a New Super Luigi U with the coloring I don't know.
 
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