Wii U: “Our competitors need to react to what we’re doing”, says Reggie

While I suppose they are doing something different, they need to get off their high horse because at some point, they won’t have a winning formula and they will crash own.

For me, Wii U is a disaster! Having a tablet-size controller on my hand and having to keep up with two screens at the same time is a MASSIVE turn off and a CHORE! I wont be buying the console no matter what games come out for it, exclusive or not.

They have taken it way too far with their supposed innovation this time and I dont like it AT ALL. I’d happily settle for far prettier graphics, thank you very much.

The whole “Wii U will appear irrelevant” thing really speaks to how much the people are actually omitting the fact that the Wii was also launched with significantly less powerful hardware, and a “gimicky” control scheme, and yet, it’s outsold the other consoles by more than 20 million units. That’s not a little, that’s as much as the original Xbox sold it’s in entire life. And that was with the Xbox 360 on the market and the PS3 barreling down the way.

Now it’s alone, it’s got a different “gimicky” control scheme (which looks fantastic for asymmetric multiplayer), it’s already sold well, it has better hardware than the old Wii, capable of running current games, so unless the new Xbox and Playstation really change up things, like, really change up things, I don’t think Nintendo is going to shed a sweat.

@2

You can’t really compare Wii and Wii U. The Wii was a perfect storm – you had a large segment of people that went out and bought it based on the simple controls, accessibility and price.
Those people aren’t looking for a new console, the either still have the Wii (which they never bought games for – it had the lowest software attach rate this gen, best I can remember) or have moved on to play Angry Birds and Cut the Rope on their phone and tablet. They’re not going to shell out £250+ for a console that, in their eyes, does the same thing as their iPad.

I don’t think it’s going to kill Nintendo, but they’re not going to lead next gen with it.

@3
+1

#2

Correct.

Ninty are not pandering to tech whores and pixel counters, they are continuing to evolve the medium with new ways to play.

It’s a winning strategy, but it doesn’t appeal to the statisticians that post here. All they care about is having the biggest number, and innovative gameplay doesn’t fit neatly into a metric that can be waved at a rival.

Some of them have the barefaced cheek to call themselves gamers.

As usual though, their opinions have no impact on the outcome. Gamers will buy the WiiU. Forumites will not understand why.

@Fin True, very true, about the perfect storm thing. That’s why they made the controller a tablet. Dangle it in front of the right reluctant people, and bam, “like a tablet, but more games” at the same price.

I wish our competitors would feel the need to react to what we’re doing, thought Reggie.

@3

It’ll do fine.

Remember Nintendo are also killing it with the 3DS and even DS to a certain extent.

There already making profit out of the box which is the main thing and the best strategy for a company in this space.

Take the PS3. Even if it out sells the Wii in the long term, it only started turning profit mid way into its life. That’s a long haul for investors to take into consideration. Same with 360 obviously, added to that you had the RROD situation.

The only thing that could confuse things next gen would be the subscription model. The PS4 / 720 could appear better value you if it was subbed at £20 a month, people can be tricked into contracts much easier than forking out £500 on a new machine.

This is something the Wii didn’t have to worry about over the much more expensive PS3.

The only thing with this are less people will own both the PS4 and 720 consoles. The contracts based model may force people to choose which machine they want and stick with it.

I mentioned before, there’s a good chance the Wii U will become a second console for people just like the Wii did last gen.

Looking at Nintendos last quarterly financials, i wouldnt say they’re “killing” anything. Unless of course they’re trying to commit suicide with a $367 million operating loss…

@6

More games? Have you see the Apple App Store or Google Play recently?

@8

Yeah, like I said, it’s not going to kill Nintendo, but I really can’t see it being the moneymaker the Wii was.

@10

They could always do a 4 – 5 year generation with the Wii U, then out beef the 720 and PS4 then!

That would be interesting, maybe they have timed things better.

I think that people needs to realize that a casual will not remain a casual its entire life, he/she will evolve to a more avid gamer, this has always been the case in gaming, and in other many things/situations in life, therefore i think the casuals the Wii bringed to the business will jump to the WiiU, because they are becoming more avid gamers, especially craving for more nintendo titles, thats what they will want, and within time experience other consoles as well, because of this, and that the WiiU will share a better indie line up, and third party line up, it will do well, just like the 3DS with the DS situation, i think it will come close to wii numbers.

@12

They don’t though, casual gamers generally stay casual. Parents, family etc, they don’t go from playing Wii Sports to wanting Black Ops, they go from playing Wii Sports to playing Angry Birds. They also don’t have any brand loyalty – they’ll just play whatever is put in front of them (which is why I think that market segement has now moved onto phones and tablets).

The Wii came out seven months before the first iPhone, does everyone really think the audience that bought the Wii hasn’t moved onto smartphones?

#13 well i do believe they do, all avid gamers started like casuals, and furthermore casuals first started with one type of game, and then going for multiple type of genres, is the normal cycle of any hobby you start like casual and then became avid, first the person taste something and then as the adquire taste getting stronger they keep seeking more and more diverse feelings under the same experience, is like heavy metal fans, most of the metal headers started with bands like ac/dc, judas priest, iron maiden, hellowen, etc and then they keep evolving listening to speed metal, trash metal, death metal, etc, you keep broadening your tastes, which makes you more avid in the end, but i grant that will make an interesting investigation for an study on the subject.

“The Wii came out seven months before the first iPhone, does everyone really think the audience that bought the Wii hasn’t moved onto smartphones?”

no i dont think so, if that was the case nintendo titles wouldnt be on the most sold list of this gen, is the same as the 3DS with the DS, we might believe the DS players went to smartphones, but they are upgrading their handhelds to the 3DS as well, it will happen with the wiiU too.

I know plenty of Wii owners who could definitely be defined as casuals who bought the system after seeing it on Oprah, played Wii Fit once or twice, and then moved on to iPhone. The Wii U isn’t even on their radar anymore.

Yes, some casual gamers become hardcore gamers, but not all of them. Many of them move on to the next thing and unless Nintendo start appearing on all the “women sitting around a table gossiping” shows again, the Wii U will not get those people again.

Ohh they’re reacting alright, just like the rest of us. The reaction is simply laughter though.

It’s not appropriate to use a comparison of games that are sold in a box and recorded on one set of sales figures against games that are given away (and monetized via in-app purchases) and not recorded in the same set of sales figures. Angry Birds isn’t tracked in the same way as Mario Galaxy, for example. So implying that smartphone products don’t compete for the same customer mindshare that Nintendo (and other) products do in such a way is a skewed analysis.

Nintendo have acknowledged this threat to their demographic with Iwata making dismissive comments about how such free games as cheapening the(ir) market.

There’d be no need for such comments if the markets had no overlap. But they do.

JM

Well, I never expected him to say anything different. After all he is an employee who needs to serve his company.
One thing though, no one is talking out input methods for 720 and ps3 except a kinect2 rumor. I think we should have got some indications by now if next-gen consoles supported touch screen /dual screen interface, because that will impact next-gen game development significantly.
The industry itself (3rd party devs) don’t expect any upturn in sales because of wiiu, seeing how ubisoft (3rd party supporting wiiu most)ceo has gone on record that next-gen consoles from sony and ms are needed by industry. I don’t know how long ninty consoles can last without 3rd party support that ms and sony consoles enjoy and will continue to enjoy.

None of this changes the fact that we are all a bit disappointed with the wii u. It’s a bit shit compared to what we were hoping for from a company that made so much money on the wii. I got a wii, only wii sports and mariokart were games i kept, the rest was shovelware. good job they released this before microsoft and sony announced their consoles, then they would have looked a bit pathetic with this fisher price next gen console….

@19

Sweeping statement much?

There’s a lot of shovel ware on all consoles once costs to develop on them come down.

Wii was cheap to develop for from the off, so yes there was a lot of shit out there.

Even so, it doesn’t take a genius to find the games that offer real playability.

The Wii was host to at least 30 games that every gamer should try at least once. Considering you can pick one up second hand for about £40 I’d say that was a pretty good investment.

Troll harder next time.

Watchdogs from Ubisoft has already talked about its use of tablets in the gameplay.

I think it’s safe to assume that the new consoles will use tablet style controllers at some point, I mean Somy are already copying with Vita connectivity and MS with Smartglass, so it’s only a matter of time before they add the tablet into a control scheme.

Then que loads of Sony & MS fans trying to make out its the best thing ever ala Move and Kinect.

I’m sure then everyone will be loving it just the same as always! lol

@20 why didn’t you come up with a defence for the wii U? I was just saying the wii was a gimmick that me and millions of others bought into, a perfect storm indeed. I wouldn’t make the same mistake again. Do you even know what trolling is? go on wikipedia, bell end

@21

“I mean Somy are already copying with Vita connectivity and MS with Smartglass”

They were in development of those two object and released them before the WiiU so I wouldn’t go far as saying its copying.

@Monkey
What Sony are doing with Vita is an extension of what they already did with PSP. If anything Nintendo are copying Sony some regards. The streaming is very remote play.

Oh God this article is hilarious. Reggie thinks people should react? Sony and Microsoft aren’t reacting because they think you’re a joke and you are.

Pretty much agree with most of the comments in here. The Wii brought in a lot of casuals but they would have moved on a long time ago. Nintendo lost majority of their hardcore fans with the Wii, that was their biggest mistake.

Yes, the Wii has a huge number of consoles sold, but most of them are full of dust and haven’t been used in years.

Once the next Sony and Microsoft consoles come out the Wii U will be irrelevant just like the Wii.

@22

“I got a wii, only wii sports and mariokart were games i kept, the rest was shovelware”

The rest was shovel ware…

That’s just obviously not true, hence why I thought it was trolling or flame bait or whatever else you want to call it.

I’m tired of trying to defend Wii U, it’s selling we’ll, it’s got some nice launch games etc etc…

MS and Sony will probably bring out tablet controllers and more powerful machines. There’s not much else to say really.

I don’t know why people feel they have been mislead by Nintendo with the Wii U.

@23 & 24

I know, I should choose my words carefully. I don’t want to get pulled up on this again.

Nintendo is innovative with how the use there devices, they don’t invent them.

Mario 64 – Crash Bandicoot
Mario – Sonic
Mario Kart – Crash Team Racing
Gameboy – Game Gear
Wii Remote – Move
F Zero – Wipeout
Zelda – ???
Smash Brothers – PS Allstars
Wii Fit – your shape fitness evolved
N64 pad + Rumble – Dual Shock
Pokemon – Monster Rancher / Digimon
Mario Party – Rayman Ribbids

These aren’t all things Nintendo invented, more things they actually backed and made popular rather than jumping on a band wagon.

That’s quite a lot of ‘imitation’ from other companies / devices.

^ Yep.

Nintendo certainly innovated a lot, way back, when they used to be a company who targeted core gamers.

I think he stated the obvious, of course they will react and/or are reacting right now, in some sort of way, being in applications or products like smartglass and or in a price point view, etc, in a lot of areas, and this gen was an example, the wii obviously make them react with move an kinect, but this is business and is the way it goes, is a common practice on all business side of things, once a device is popular it will have some sort of reaction from the competition.

Having said that i think the wii has been called many names, but irrelevant is not a fiting one, because if it was irrelevant then we wouldnt had move and kinect in the first place, for being irrelevant it will needed a lot of things, like no relevant sales, not having games with the most sold numbers, which indicates a good following and that gamers liked the console, good strong line ups for is entires lifecycle, the wii was the most prolific for nintendo made titles, and even a great deal of third party efforts,etc, i think the wii, as being as underpowored as it was, it was the most relevant console since the NES days, and i will say the DS was the same, and both were the most riskies moves this business has seen in a lot of time, something that is in itself pretty relevant, just because both did succeded and both were used as inspiration for doing devices like them from the competition.

p.s nintendo with the wii did please the core gamers, like any other console they had done in the past, we had two zeldas games, two mario 3d titles, two metroid titles, a mario 2d main title (which a lot of time passed since one) saying that it did forgot is core, is not valid, to the eyes of nintendo avid fans.

@27
Its an incestuous little industry, you can produce a similar list for other platform holders and developers. Any list you produce is going to be tempered by your personal tastes and preferences though. Nintendo innovates, but so does everybody. You’ll just see the stuff you connect with more.

MS and Sony don’t have to “react”.

We’ve already seen MS’s 720 plans from 2010. They are infinitely more appealing than what Nintendo has managed to bring with the WiiU.

I’m sure that whatever Sony have also, almost certainly, been working on is just as much of a leap over the WiiU as well.

@28 Nintendo can still innovate, when they actually bother.

The problem right now is that they simply don’t bother half as much as they used to.

While I agree with most of you, there is one demographic that no one has mentioned that is a big part of Nintendo’s business, and there is an endless supply of them..kids. And as long as Nintendo maintains their image, they’ll be in good shape.

Someone ruffled the ninty nest here. Its hilarious how anything remotely not in love with ninty is considered trolling now. Keep up the facade, its good fun.

RE Nintendo innovating,

It’s true, less seems to come out lately. But they’ve been in the game longer too.

We’re already seeing that with Gears of War, God of War etc…

You fall back on your reliable stable. This is why it was hard and stupid for Sony to make PS Allstars, they haven’t got the quality there yet. Maybe in a few years, but Bioshock Big Daddy? Get outta here!

They do rely on their ‘pedigree’ stable a little too much but the innovation is still alive if you look for it.

Things like Animal Crossing, Wave Race, Miiverse, Smart Guide, DS etc…

All are risky ventures that have been frowned upon, but nearly always work out well.

I admire the fact that Nintendo takes risks and see’s them through.

Sony to me seem un confident and arrogant from a business perspective and unsure of their own devices.

I really dont understand why is wrong, or it is an issue, to realize that they did react or had reacted to some nintendo strategies, with move, kinect, smart glass, and vita-ps3 or ps4 iteration is a proof they are doing it, and they will do it, iam not saying is bad or anything on those lines, iam enjoying all of them too, but saying they didnt react or will not react is denying what is happening in the industry, of course is not that they will change their direction or overall strategy, like nintendo did with the blue ocean philosphy, and thankfully they will never do, we need different styles and tastes in this industry, is good and healthy, but that doesnt mean they will add something on their overall strategy to cater to the nintendo crowd too, i dont see the problem realizing this, that will not make them less (sony, microsoft), it is common business practice and pretty common sense too, really dont understand the denial in this topic.

@36

It is common, I just have more respect for the person who took the original ‘risk’, or Nintendo, as I like to call them!

Well some folks here get it, and some don’t.

For the record I agree with Reggie. Graphics aren’t the biggest factor in gaming anymore. Nintendo proved that with Wii, proved that with 3DS, and are going to stick with that for idea for WiiU. And while traditional Trip A studios and pubs continue to see hard times, many devs and much talent has jumped into other areas of gaming. You can’t keep making square pegs when the market offers you round holes.

Nintendo does so well, because for the most part they can connect with what large numbers of people want. And they offer that. The WiiU GamePad was a gamble. It is expensive to make, would be in short supply, and was risky to see if both Devs and Gamers would/could want to use it. I bet within five years tablets and console gaming go hand in hand. Tell me honestly, that Move and Kinect weren’t both brought to market due to the success of Wii?

Btw Gek, WiiU(like SmartGlass and Vita) was also in development before WiiU launched. You have zero point with that one bud. MS and Sony want to ride their current consoles as long as posible before bringing us new hardware. Also GBA was used in Gamecube games(PSO)(Four Swords Link)(others etc). Heck even the GameBoy has been using two screen(rather well at that) for a long time too. Duel Screens weren’t just interduced. Nintendo has been making use of the idea for a while now.

But I think Reggie is right, look for the other guys to follow suit in one form or another with a second screen to console function.

Let me sum up everything some of you guys are feeling:

Wah Wah Wah, I don’t like Nintendo. Sniff Sniff. Why do they keep selling?

Cause that is pretty much it right there. The answer is easy:

Because there are more of them(that enjoy Nintendo systems/games) then there are of you. Again Nintendo knows what the market wants and delivers.

End of.

@26 – How can it be considered trolling to say that you didn’t like the other games a system had to offer? If the stuff to him was shovelware, to him it was shovelware. It’s his opinion.

@29- How can someone call eight titles over the lifetime of a system proof that the hardcore were being catered to, when the competitors had three times as much EACH every year, geared towards the hardcore?

@35 – I find it hilarious that the company that constantly puts out new IP’s and takes constant chances is being called afraid of risk, while the company that has stuck with the same five franchises for thirty years is being credited as brave.

As for All-Stars, I agree they shouldn’t have done a Smash Brothers format, but to say that they don’t have the characters…if anything, they haven’t used enough of them. Big Daddy shouldn’t be in there, but I can think of ten great Playstation characters that should have been instead, that would have reflected the brand more. All-Stars, for the most part, seems to be more a celebration of marketing more than the Playstation legacy, which is quite robust. I personally prefer its characters to Nintendo’s any day of the week (although I still think Sega’s blow Sony’s away).

@40

And they send them out to die. Again, a problem with SONY not the individual devs.

And, if he thought the stuff was shovel ware, he obviously doesn’t understand what the word means.

Mario Galaxy, Skyward Sword shovel ware? Come on… :/

#40 Cupula “I find it hilarious that the company that constantly puts out new IP’s and takes constant chances is being called afraid of risk, while the company that has stuck with the same five franchises for thirty years is being credited as brave”

Not denying that Sony puts new IP´S, and thank God for that, i mean they do bring new Ip´s, and not saying they are risk free neither, they arent and of course theres a risk on that, but one cannot put on the same level this with the overall change in strategy nintendo did with the Wii and DS, that was a major risk and shift for nintendo, if they failed with those, we will not be talking about nintendo anymore, if a new ip fail, when is doing a new board project and start a new one all over again, or re do it with better improvements, in the worst case is lossing an X amount of money, therefore both are not on the same level of risk, by the way, having new ip´s nonthelss is a great thing, being sony, microsoft, or nintendo.

Which leads me to another point, nintendo stucking with the same 5 franchises for 30 years, man you really want to denied the new ips nintendo help created or created since the n64 days, i dont mind that you believe that, but dont put it like it is true or fact, even if you had said stucking with the same 5 characters, will not be true.

@41
And you assume you understand the meaning of a fanboy huh?
I know how much ninty innovated, considering their last new franchise was pikmin in 2001, and that’s more than a decade now.

Some people here are getting too high thinking everything x company does “is in-tune with the market”. Remember, its an open market, no company stays the tog dog forever. People forget the past easily, when the situation was different.
Who knows, both sony and ninty had their days, maybe now its Microsoft’s turn to shine?

I think, if anything, Sony are worse with supporting their sequels than they are with their new IP’s. God of War Ascension, Starhawk, and whatever the new Ratchet & Clank series aren’t getting anywhere near the press that Beyond: Two Souls and Last of Us have gotten or even Heavy Rain or Infamous did when they were first announced.

Sony kinda put all their hype into supporting a new IP and then the subsequent games in the franchise kinda have to stand on their own.

@42 – please do educate me on the new franchises and no, you can’t count ones that are now owned by Microsoft because of Rare and no, you can’t count titles like, say, Xenoblade, because not only is it not a franchise yet, but the use of the prefix “Xeno” was purposely used to try to evoke memories of their previous “Xenogears” and “Xenosaga” titles from Square and Namco.

#45 chibi robo, batallion wars, custom robo, pikmin, disaster day of crisis, dynamic blade, luigis mansion etc.

P.S xenoblade it does count, it only has xeno on its title for reverance of the creator, but it was firstly name monado Beginning of the World, they call it xenoblade in honor to the creator Tetsuya Takahashi, its another story.

Credit needs to be given too when an exisiting IP gets a new and different way to play. You can’t call every Mario game the same, for example. New SMB, Galaxy, Paper, etc deffenitly different games. And different IPs. How one treats their top IP is very important. Over do it and it kills public interest and that can sap sales and damn your IP. What is the point of making 4 Uncharted games that play exactly the same?

If I have 12 in house franchises, and mix them up, hold onto some, while promoting others. It works. I don’t need 35 different IP. I don’t need a new IP every year. I just need to be smart enough to know how to handle the IPs that I do have.

Add to that if my IPs are fan favs and loved, why wouldn’t I want to give the fans what they want? NSMB WiiU is selling extremly well. I wouldn’t want to make my next Mario release a 2D sidescroller tho. I would want it to be a Paper Mario or a 3D mario. Or a Mario Kart. Or Smash Bros. Or…well you get the idea.

this is a vg247 classic: nintendo article: clupula and dragon are back, bashing full force. you can count on them. ALWAYS. the rest is just history repeating.
they will tell you starhawk is better than mario galaxy because it is more innovating. kirby is a shovelware kids game, little big planet is a masterpiece. they will tell you the wii u tablet is shit because you only have 2 eyes but will praise ps3/vita. there really is no need to argue. i hate to say it, it sounds offensive but, honestly, i think it must be true: they just can´t feel the nintendo magic. it´s a gene missing or something. you cannot blame them for it but you can try to ignore them.

@45

Creating all these new franchises is very commendable. But if the competition is keeping up with you without having to do that, all the while your haemorrhaging money, would you say that was wise?

Nice for gamers (hence why I’ve got my PS3 for Uncharted, Yakuza etc…) but maybe a poor move from Sony’s behalf.

Remember a lot of the Sony Ip’s are just average games: Infamous etc… Their multiplatforms are weak too.

Ideally you need:

PS3 – Exclusives
360 – Multiplatform and Exclusives
Wii / Wii U – Exclusives

@46 – Pikmin is the only one of that list I actually would count. Chibi Robo was something my ex girlfriend’s 7 year old sister played. And did Day of Disaster even get released in the West? I know it didn’t come out in North America, because I remember people upset about that.

And as for Xenoblade, they can say it was in honor of its creator, but let’s be honest about that. It’s a way to try to make people initially think the Xeno series was continuing on the Wii. That’s what most people I know thought when they heard the title, until I’d correct them.