Pachter deems Wii U a "mistake" Nintendo can't recover from

Wii U was a mistake that Nintendo may not be able to recover from, according to Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter.

It comes as Wii U software sales only accounted for 1.6% of the UK's total games market spend in January.

Pachter has since labelled the UK games market "a joke", due to the ferocity of retailers under-cutting each other for a guaranteed sale.

Speaking with GamesBeat, Pachter said, “I think [Nintendo] misfired on the Wii U. It’s just not that different from the other two [existing] consoles, and the gameplay isn’t as unique as the Wii. They made a mistake, it’s something they probably can’t recover from.

"I think they have made a costly mistake. And their handheld business can’t save them in the face of cannibalization from smartphones and tablets."

As a comparison, GamesBeat offers that Nintendo failed to sell over 100,000 Wii U consoles in the US through January, while some 281,000 Xbox 360 consoles were shifted by rival Microsoft in the region.

The site adds that Wii U console sales in the US are currently down 38% on the original Wii.

What do you make of Nintendo's situation and the performance of Wii U so far?

Thanks Destructoid.