Iwata Believes Single Game is Enough to Drive Wii U Momentum

By Jorge Ba-oh 13.05.2014 15

Iwata Believes Single Game is Enough to Drive Wii U Momentum on Nintendo gaming news, videos and discussion

Iwata believes that a single game could be enough to drive momentum for a games console that's showing slow growth, like Wii U.

Addressing a question from an investor on why Nintendo have set such low expectations for Wii U sales over the current fiscal year, Iwata acknowledged that there are "indeed challenges that we must overcome" and that the 3.60 million shipment estimate is what Nintendo "realistically hope to achieve."

He likened the Wii U's performance to that of the original Game Boy, where "many people wondered whether it was the end" of the system due to slow sales. The release of the Pokémon series "single-handedly changed the landscape of the system", and Iwata is hoping that Wii U will see a similar outcome as he believes that "the fate of a video game system is often influenced greatly by the introduction of a single title."

Nintendo don't believe that this year will be the system's sales peak, and is, of course, working "hard to make sure that we give sufficient momentum to the system" over the next few years.

Do you think there is a single title that can help bring the Wii U back on track?

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Ikana is offline. Ikana 13.05.2014#1

I know we've only just been blessed with the announcement of ORAS, but surely the full console Pokémon experience we've always wanted would be a system seller? Along with Zelda, Smash Bros and Mario Kart (and maybe a new Metroid Prime!) I imagine Wii U sales would really pick up. Maybe a new IP - perhaps even something a bit grittier (but more original) to appeal to the COD crowd?

 
Darkflame (guest) 13.05.2014#2

Very true.
You ever look at a graph of GB sales its insane the effect Pokemon had.

J4K is offline. J4K 13.05.2014#3

I just worry he's still looking for answers in the past when the gaming landscape has shifted so drastically. 

 
Cheesing It Up is offline. Cheesing It Up 14.05.2014#4

Whilst this is potentially true, I don't see such a game on the horizon. 
Mario Kart and Smash Brah are system sellers for sure, but they're not going to turn the console around. 
The Wii U launched with a Mario game, has since had a critically acclaimed 3D Mario game and even has Zelda (albeit a remake).

I don't know where they're going to find this kill app from.

 
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RudyC3 is offline. RudyC3 14.05.2014#5

To be fair :

1° Pokémon was a true novelty. No Pokémon game nowadays, let alone a console one, is going to have the same effect. Where are they going to find a novel thing, exclusive to their system, that will sell just as much, on a HOME CONSOLE, when the market has already more than shifted towards mobile devices?

2° The Game Boy was in the end of its life, but it HAD sold millions of units even before the release of Pokémon, and those games just sparked a new life in a once successful system which had seen the best of its life already (or so most would have thought at the time anyway Smilie ). The Wii U is definitely NOT in the same situation has it has YET to find its initial success.

Cubed3 Limited Staff :: Review and Feature Writer
 
JoshSL is offline. JoshSL 14.05.2014#6

Home console Pokémon isn't a system seller (Pokémon Colosseum and XD), and even if it was, Nintendo don't want market interest in the handheld titles to dwindle because of a home console game overshadowing them. The "great big" home console Pokémon game people want will never happen because it would by definition have to be better than anything the handheld games could put out to be what people want, and Nintendo don't fancy putting people off future handheld titles while also putting so much money into something that has never proved to be a system seller for home consoles before.

Jacob4000 said:
I just worry he's still looking for answers in the past when the gaming landscape has shifted so drastically. 

Cheesing it up said:
Whilst this is potentially true, I don't see such a game on the horizon. 
Mario Kart and Smash Brah are system sellers for sure, but they're not going to turn the console around. 
The Wii U launched with a Mario game, has since had a critically acclaimed 3D Mario game and even has Zelda (albeit a remake).

I don't know where they're going to find this kill app from.


I agree with Cheese, it's potentially true but I don't think it's going to happen. Most instances of it happening in the past have come from Nintendo, but they've been largely a mix of fluke and supreme market intuition that they just haven't been showing lately.

The gaming landscape hasn't even changed that much from the core essence of what people want. Peoples tastes fluctuate, and that's exactly what Nintendo's getting wrong by relying so heavily on 2D Mario when people seemed to want that last gen. They didn't want 2D Mario, they wanted Wii Sports, and Brain Training, and Nintendogs, because they were all new and fascinating and interesting and they defined entire genres and systems and new technologies. They stayed along for the 2D Mario ride because that's as entry-level as it gets.

Iwata is right in that, no matter how the "gaming landscape" changes, be it for better or worse, the masses just want something that everyone can be interested in, something they can talk about with their acquaintances and get an equally fascinated response about. Mario did it for the NES, Tetris did it for the GB, and then again with Pokémon, multiple games did it for the Wii and DS. It's the same reason mobile gaming is booming today on the backs of the successes of a few major "small" games like Angry Birds. If there's any company I trust to "accidentally discover" that kind of widespread pull again in the future, it's Nintendo, but I don't trust it to happen multiple times in the same decade because I don't think anyone can be that intuitive (and because the kind of amazing success that the PS2, DS and Wii had ultimately seems to lead to dangerous levels of complacency in oneself)

HOWEVER.. this thought process is definitely a good one for Nintendo to have because it shows that Iwata is going to be actively pursuing something new and fresh and fascinating for the forseeable future. Eventually people stopped thinking Wii Sports was hype as fuck, but originally we all had tons of fun with it. This kind of thinking is not going to encourage them using the same franchises over and over, they've already done that with the Wii U. We already have 2D Mario 3D Mario a Party game Wii Fit and Mario Kart and they haven't saved it, they're going to be forced to start spilling out crazy game ideas. It means we're going to start seeing actual new ideas sooner rather than later, and they may not be the traditional kinds of games a lot of people want but they might be fascinating eventually.

( Edited 14.05.2014 13:52 by SuperLink )

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Vorash Kadan 14.05.2014#7

It'll take more than just ONE big title to boost sales for the Wii U, Nintendo NEEDS to start putting out money hats to gain exclusive rights for already established franchises...like MGS, Tales of, Batman, Final Fantasy (except for 7 & 13 as those are let downs) Battlefield ect.

Don't know what it's gonna take but Nintendo NEEDS to start paying it since massive third party support it required for consoles to succeed these days.

It is not wise to speak on subjects you do not know all facts about, nor is it smart to judge a game based on looks alone. PSN: Nintendo_Gamer 3DS: 4296-3029-7422
 
JoshSL is offline. JoshSL 14.05.2014#8

Vorash Kadan said:
It'll take more than just ONE big title to boost sales for the Wii U, Nintendo NEEDS to start putting out money hats to gain exclusive rights for already established franchises...like MGS, Tales of, Batman, Final Fantasy (except for 7 & 13 as those are let downs) Battlefield ect.

Don't know what it's gonna take but Nintendo NEEDS to start paying it since massive third party support it required for consoles to succeed these days.


If not even Microsoft can pay enough to acquire exclusive rights for games in those franchises I doubt any other console manufacturer could.

When buying franchise exclusivity there's a reason you usually only see it happening to the slightly lesser known ones. You can buy support for games like that, but exclusivity for franchises like MGS, Batman and Battlefield will cost more than an arm and a leg (more than they're worth) when the publishers working on those titles know that they could very easily just put the game on PS3 or 360 and have it make them more money than Nintendo could possibly pay them.

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Endless Solitude (guest) 14.05.2014#9

He's right: it needs one game - one that provides a gameplay experience that can't be replicated on other platforms. 

Here's my suggestion for what it's worth:  A two-player adventure/dungeon crawler game - where the first player uses the Wii U pad to create the dungeon and place the monsters/treasures/traps - whilst the second player roams through it.  

curtiscdragon is offline. curtiscdragon 14.05.2014#10

Yes I do one word FINAL FANTASY.............

Recently I heard sony sold their shares of Square in the company. It would be great if the creator of final fantasy Hironobu Sakaguch bought the shares and with the close relationship Square an Hironobu  have with Nintendo Hironobu could buy and take back  over his creation and put the game on Wii U. Final Fantasy 17 would work with the original creator at the helm in charge again . I feel its a match made in heaven . What do you think agree or disagree ?

 
jb is offline. jb 14.05.2014#11

Endless Solitude (guest) said:
Here's my suggestion for what it's worth:  A two-player adventure/dungeon crawler game - where the first player uses the Wii U pad to create the dungeon and place the monsters/treasures/traps - whilst the second player roams through it.  

Great idea - being able to lay traps and spawn enemies at will would be great too - bit like ZombiU but as a  dungeon crawler/RPG.

Cubed3 Admin/Founder & Designer
 
Darkflame (guest) 14.05.2014#12

RudyC3 said:
To be fair :

1° Pokémon was a true novelty. No Pokémon game nowadays, let alone a console one, is going to have the same effect. W

WiiSports did for the Wii.
BrainTraining did for the 3DS.
Single Games can still massively boast sales.

You dont need "a pokemon game", you need something as different as pokemon was at that time. Hard, but not impossible.

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RudyC3 is offline. RudyC3 14.05.2014#13

Darkflame (guest) said:
WiiSports did for the Wii.

Wii Sports did so only thanks to the Wiimote effect. If it had been a sports party game with classic controls it would never have sparked that same interest. I don't see any game having the same effect on the Wii U from being coupled with the Gamepad, frankly, or even if they came up with another great idea, it should have happened near the launch of the system.

Cubed3 Limited Staff :: Review and Feature Writer
 
JoshSL is offline. JoshSL 14.05.2014#14

RudyC3 said:

Wii Sports did so only thanks to the Wiimote effect. If it had been a sports party game with classic controls it would never have sparked that same interest. I don't see any game having the same effect on the Wii U from being coupled with the Gamepad, frankly, or even if they came up with another great idea, it should have happened near the launch of the system.

Well yeah Wii Sports did it bc of the Wii Remote, that was the whole idea, and that's the kind of idea Iwata is probably hoping to aim for. We still get systems today that essentially sell on a single game.

I don't see it happening either, but to say it would never happen when people 5-10 years before the Wii or DS would never have seen Wii Sports/Brain Training/etc selling a whole system coming is a little short-sighted. The games industry isn't so inundated with rules and sense as that.

Rather than necessarily seeing it as an inevitable failure, I don't see why people can't at least try to look forward to seeing what kind of things they come up with. A goal like this means an increase in original games and software, I don't think that's "bad" for anyone let alone the industry. Right now this, along with attempting to minimise manufacturing costs to prevent additional losses, is the best decision in both the short and long term they can make given their dire situation.

( Edited 14.05.2014 22:46 by SuperLink )

Twitter | C3 Writer/Moderator | Backloggery
 
Vorash Kadan 17.05.2014#15

curtiscdragon said:
Yes I do one word FINAL FANTASY.............

Recently I heard sony sold their shares of Square in the company. It would be great if the creator of final fantasy Hironobu Sakaguch bought the shares and with the close relationship Square an Hironobu  have with Nintendo Hironobu could buy and take back  over his creation and put the game on Wii U. Final Fantasy 17 would work with the original creator at the helm in charge again . I feel its a match made in heaven . What do you think agree or disagree ?

I agree for the most part, but Square needs MASSIVE restructuring before they can regain the respectability that they lost with FF13. FF14 proved they can pay attention if their company's life depends on it so let's hope they keep a close eye on X for Wii U & learn that some JRPG elements are still just fine the way they are & don't require a radical change that can be a turn for the worse.

It is not wise to speak on subjects you do not know all facts about, nor is it smart to judge a game based on looks alone. PSN: Nintendo_Gamer 3DS: 4296-3029-7422
 

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