Dan Adelman: Wii U Name to Blame for Sales

Should always have been "Wii 2" at least, or something different entirely.

"Wii U" still sounds like an accessory to the Wii and the longer Nintendo leave it, the harder it might get to really push that message.

People understand sequential hardware numberings, especially now we're in the days of practically annual phone installments.

( Edited 05.08.2014 08:00 by jb )

Yep, was a problem the second it was announced with that name. One of the big fuck ups from Nintendo, no doubt. Needed to also look drastically different to the original Wii, too. Just go for black only to begin with, with a very different shape to Wii, and drop the 'Wii' name altogether. Too late now, though.

I can understand why they named it Wii U though, I mean the Wii was so successful it was more known than the Nintendo brand in a way. Sort of like the whole iPod, iPhone,Playstation thing. Wii 2 may have worked better (even though I dislike it more), but overall I think it's a combination of many things that's effected Wii U sales.

The power of the system
The name
The controller
Launch pricing
Lack of support from 3rd party and some big gaps where no games were coming out

That's what I've gathered from seeing posts on internet forums, Twitter Facebook, You Tube etc.

I wouldn't say it's the defining factor causing sales issues, but it is a factor, possibly an important one.

The thing is, in an age where the electronics industry is defined by iPads and phones, adding a letter to the system doesn't differentiate it from the previous system like it may have done in the old days. That's where Nintendo tripped up, they didn't take into account that they are trying to create waves in a market who are currently trying to decide between 5 different phone models, some of which just aren't different enough to be worthy of a purchase. Lack of good marketing and info for Wii U adds to that, and so on.

It's a shame because like he said, it's a great system. Failure to communicate its strengths is a big problem, and the name is part of that.

I admit I always wanted to call it the Nintendo Vi
Aside from sounding like "Wii" and having an obvious connection, its also Nintendos 6th home console.

"The thing is, in an age where the electronics industry is defined by iPads and phones, adding a letter to the system doesn't differentiate it from the previous system like it may have done in the old days."

And yet that's exactly what Apple do isnt it? Its either 1 number or "s" at the end.
Nothings simple really.

Darkflame (guest) said:
"The thing is, in an age where the electronics industry is defined by iPads and phones, adding a letter to the system doesn't differentiate it from the previous system like it may have done in the old days."

And yet that's exactly what Apple do isnt it? Its either 1 number or "s" at the end.
Nothings simple really.

Nintendo can't claim to do that. No console can. Consoles don't have the universal appeal that tablets and phones do, and in a market dominated by tablets consumers are confused that consoles still even exist, let alone "which model" they should be getting.

The failure here is that Nintendo failed to recognise that their market isn't the tablet and phone market, because their consoles are nothing like a tablet or phone and the average consumer has only been sent mixed messages as to what it even is.

Been saying this since the beginning - it should have been called "Super Wii".  

Love the wii u, but Christ it has a retarded name.

If this was such a big factor, the 3DS would have never recovered the way it did. We had plenty of "Oh, this is just a DS in 3D?" nonsense in the early times, after all. Sure, the name didn't help, but to say it alone cut sales in half seems quite silly to me. There's a lot more to these things.

Eh, I don't buy it.

I refuse to accept that the general public can grasp "3DS is not DS", "Xbox One comes after Xbox 360," "Xbox 360 is not a controller for Xbox", "Super Nintendo is not the same thing as Nintendo", "Gameboy Color/Advance/SP/Micro/Gameboy are not all the same thing", but for some reason suddenly decide "Wii U is the same thing as the Wii!"

That's absurd.

Nintendo's first mistake wasn't naming the system Wii U, it was naming the system Wii U and then only showing the controller at E3.

When the Wii was announced, they only showed the controller, but it was obvious that Wii was not GameCube. When Sony announced the PS4 and only showed the controller, nobody was confused because PS4 is clearly not PS3. But when Nintendo announces "Wii U" and then shows only a controller, it's easy to see why people think this is an add-on controller to the Wii.

That said, that was two years ago. If you still think the Wii U is a controller for the Wii, you're being willfully ignorant. You literally have to be trying to not understand that the Wii U is a new console.

And half of the sales? Not even close. What would've boosted sales were if Nintendo launched with a Zelda or Super Smash or Metroid or Star Fox or a main series Mario or pretty much any third party support at all. As it is, the console is almost two years old, and we have:

-No major FPS (save for inferior versions of Call of Duty that don't get updated and don't get DLC)
-No major RPG
-No Zelda except an HD port
-One main series Mario that is arguably the weakest of the 3D Mario generation
-One Mario Kart
-No Metroid or rumblings of any Metroid on the horizon
-No Super Smash for about 2 more months
-No Star Fox with rumblings of early production just now becoming clear
-No new IP announcements until a few weeks ago, the exception being Wonderful 101 and Bayonetta 2 (which still isn't out)
-No major third party support outside of a few select Activision/Ubisoft/Warner Bros titles.

Being called the Wii U isn't making people not buy the Wii U; having no must-have games is.

That all said, everything changes when Super Smash drops. I try to be cautiously optimistic, but I recently learned my local GameStop is doing a midnight release for the Wii U version. That's insane; my store never does that. They aren't doing one for Sm4sh 3DS, they didn't do one for Pokemon X/Y or any Call of Duty. The only times I know of that they did midnight releases were Skyrim and GTA V. Smash 4 Wii U is going to move A LOT of units. Hopefully this will bring in some third-party support as well.

I think in the end we'll see the Wii U become GameCube part 2, a seriously underrated console with some of the best games of all time that unfortunately very few people will ever play. But it's not because of the name, it's because they took two years to release anything worthwhile, and in the meantime lost all third party support, leaving first-party titles to carry the system.

Edit: Not to mention like 1/3 of GameStop's shelf space consists of Wii accessories. If that many people really believed Wii U was a Wii accessory, I actually think it would be selling better than it is now, not worse.

( Edited 05.08.2014 16:57 by justonesp00lturn )

The name and the console looking very much like the Wii certainly did not help.

justonesp00lturn said:
If that many people really believed Wii U was a Wii accessory, I actually think it would be selling better than it is now, not worse.

No, the name isn't THE single factor, but it definitely produced a real problem from that very moment they settled on the name. The thing is, the Wii was almost like a fad which eventually dropped off massively in the last couple of years before the Wii U came along. Majority of casuals had moved on from the Wii fad, which is why Wii sales were extremely slim at that point. It had run its course. Massively successful, did its job, etc, but ran its course.

At that point, I think Nintendo should have realised that anything related to the Wii name wouldn't have worked. It was time to deliver the next new thing but with an all-new name and marketing strategy. I think even 'Wii 2' may have been a tough sell to all those casuals that had previously bought a Wii and since abandoned it once their few months playing Wii Sports was up. Nintendo definitely created a huge problem for itself by sticking with the Wii name when the original Wii's reign had been long over. It needed to introduce the next console at least a year earlier, instead of trying to squeeze the juice out of the Wii for the last couple of years.

What everyone says is right though - it's definitely not just the name; it's a combination of many factors. I believe the name definitely gave Nintendo a far bigger problem than was necessary, however.

But what's done is done now. I think Nintendo has definitely realised that. I don't think we'll ever be seeing 'Wii' in any future Nintendo hardware names.

justonesp00lturn said:
Eh, I don't buy it.

I refuse to accept that the general public can grasp "3DS is not DS", "Xbox One comes after Xbox 360," "Xbox 360 is not a controller for Xbox", "Super Nintendo is not the same thing as Nintendo", "Gameboy Color/Advance/SP/Micro/Gameboy are not all the same thing", but for some reason suddenly decide "Wii U is the same thing as the Wii!"

That's absurd.

Nintendo's first mistake wasn't naming the system Wii U, it was naming the system Wii U and then only showing the controller at E3.

When the Wii was announced, they only showed the controller, but it was obvious that Wii was not GameCube. When Sony announced the PS4 and only showed the controller, nobody was confused because PS4 is clearly not PS3. But when Nintendo announces "Wii U" and then shows only a controller, it's easy to see why people think this is an add-on controller to the Wii.

That said, that was two years ago. If you still think the Wii U is a controller for the Wii, you're being willfully ignorant. You literally have to be trying to not understand that the Wii U is a new console.

And half of the sales? Not even close. What would've boosted sales were if Nintendo launched with a Zelda or Super Smash or Metroid or Star Fox or a main series Mario or pretty much any third party support at all. As it is, the console is almost two years old, and we have:

-No major FPS (save for inferior versions of Call of Duty that don't get updated and don't get DLC)
-No major RPG
-No Zelda except an HD port
-One main series Mario that is arguably the weakest of the 3D Mario generation
-One Mario Kart
-No Metroid or rumblings of any Metroid on the horizon
-No Super Smash for about 2 more months
-No Star Fox with rumblings of early production just now becoming clear
-No new IP announcements until a few weeks ago, the exception being Wonderful 101 and Bayonetta 2 (which still isn't out)
-No major third party support outside of a few select Activision/Ubisoft/Warner Bros titles.

Being called the Wii U isn't making people not buy the Wii U; having no must-have games is.

That all said, everything changes when Super Smash drops. I try to be cautiously optimistic, but I recently learned my local GameStop is doing a midnight release for the Wii U version. That's insane; my store never does that. They aren't doing one for Sm4sh 3DS, they didn't do one for Pokemon X/Y or any Call of Duty. The only times I know of that they did midnight releases were Skyrim and GTA V. Smash 4 Wii U is going to move A LOT of units. Hopefully this will bring in some third-party support as well.

I think in the end we'll see the Wii U become GameCube part 2, a seriously underrated console with some of the best games of all time that unfortunately very few people will ever play. But it's not because of the name, it's because they took two years to release anything worthwhile, and in the meantime lost all third party support, leaving first-party titles to carry the system.

Edit: Not to mention like 1/3 of GameStop's shelf space consists of Wii accessories. If that many people really believed Wii U was a Wii accessory, I actually think it would be selling better than it is now, not worse.

you can say the same for ps4 and xbone.  yet they didnt get low sales.

It shouldnt of even been called wii anything, wii has always been a stupid name, it sorta worked at the time with the slogan "we would like to play" but now its like "we you something something i dunno look mario kart". I liked how the older systems names discribed what they were, naming them after their own company or what its graphics were or literally being a cube that plays games. Now its a misspelt concept.

Azuardo said:
Not when it's an accessory that costs £250+ it wouldn't.

True, but I would think enough people would at least check it out, and it only takes one time of looking at the thing to realize it's a console, not an accessory.

No, the name isn't THE single factor, but it definitely produced a real problem from that very moment they settled on the name. The thing is, the Wii was almost like a fad which eventually dropped off massively in the last couple of years before the Wii U came along. Majority of casuals had moved on from the Wii fad, which is why Wii sales were extremely slim at that point. It had run its course. Massively successful, did its job, etc, but ran its course.

At that point, I think Nintendo should have realised that anything related to the Wii name wouldn't have worked. It was time to deliver the next new thing but with an all-new name and marketing strategy. I think even 'Wii 2' may have been a tough sell to all those casuals that had previously bought a Wii and since abandoned it once their few months playing Wii Sports was up. Nintendo definitely created a huge problem for itself by sticking with the Wii name when the original Wii's reign had been long over. It needed to introduce the next console at least a year earlier, instead of trying to squeeze the juice out of the Wii for the last couple of years.

What everyone says is right though - it's definitely not just the name; it's a combination of many factors. I believe the name definitely gave Nintendo a far bigger problem than was necessary, however.

But what's done is done now. I think Nintendo has definitely realised that. I don't think we'll ever be seeing 'Wii' in any future Nintendo hardware names.

I think you hit the nail on the head. Nintendo's biggest problem was assuming they had brand loyalty. The Wii sold something like 100 million units, and they assumed any majority of those users would automatically adopt the Wii u. They were wrong.

What's worse is they should've seen it coming. Sony made the same assumption when the PS2 sold 150 million units and they decided to follow it with an architecturally weird, overpriced PS3, and that did not go well for them. Nintendo should've seen what Sony got wrong and realized that when it comes to video games, there really isn't much brand loyalty. Fanboys are loud, not numerous. Always have been.

Insanoflex said:
you can say the same for ps4 and xbone.  yet they didnt get low sales.

Actually, Xbox One sales are pretty lousy. Besides that, I wouldn't say the same thing about those two at all. They both launched with very weak lineups, but look at the games currently announced. Pretty much every game announced since last November is or will be on PS4, Xbox One, or both. You can't say the same for Wii U.

Wii U is a console for people who like Nintendo's first-party games. PS4 and Xbox One will be playing almost all major releases for a decade to come.

Whatever- same can be said for ps4 then.

justonesp00lturn said:
I think you hit the nail on the head. Nintendo's biggest problem was assuming they had brand loyalty. The Wii sold something like 100 million units, and they assumed any majority of those users would automatically adopt the Wii u. They were wrong.

What's worse is they should've seen it coming. Sony made the same assumption when the PS2 sold 150 million units and they decided to follow it with an architecturally weird, overpriced PS3, and that did not go well for them. Nintendo should've seen what Sony got wrong and realized that when it comes to video games, there really isn't much brand loyalty. Fanboys are loud, not numerous. Always have been.

You live and learn, though. Sometimes these things have to happen for you to make them not happen in the future. Sony's been through that process with the PS2 to PS3, as you mentioned. Now it's Nintendo's turn. With any luck, things will go a lot smoother for Nintendo's next hardware.

Yeah definitely. The illusion of brand loyalty being infallible is something that's harmed almost everyone in the games industry since its inception. Consoles aren't like Microsoft Windows or Apple products, their reach is not as universal, and brand loyalty doesn't grow from success of a single product but of the consistent continued success of many products for sometimes decades.

Sony did it with the PS3 and arguably the Vita, Microsoft did it with the XBO, and Nintendo have done it multiple times with their home consoles, the latest being the biggest trip up. Hopefully now, they finally know better than to ever rest on their laurels, especially in such an infantile industry that is always growing and changing faster than anyone can predict.

Using the name "Wii" again wasn't a terrible idea, but it could have been utilised far better, it was obvious from launch day that the Wii U didn't even have a quarter of the marketing thought and effort that went into the Wii.

( Edited 05.08.2014 20:46 by SuperLink )

SuperLink said:
Using the name "Wii" again wasn't a terrible idea, but it could have been utilised far better, it was obvious from launch day that the Wii U didn't even have a quarter of the marketing thought and effort that went into the Wii.

That's a good point! I remember the Wii launch was massive! They went all out with marketing here in Europe and it got lots of mainstream coverage. I'm pretty sure it was on the national news even.

Marzy said:
That's a good point! I remember the Wii launch was massive! They went all out with marketing here in Europe and it got lots of mainstream coverage. I'm pretty sure it was on the national news even.

The Wii and Wii U's marketing isn't different because the Wii U isn't as popular.. marketing is all on Nintendo. Why didn't the Wii U get as much marketing or as clever marketing as the Wii? There were so many laurels and Nintendo was resting on all of them, unfortunately.

I think a big part of lack of a large marketing campaign was again due to the fact they were banking on the name selling the thing alone, as well as word of mouth.

It doesn't excuse the act - all new products need to be marketed, but I can't think of any other reason why marketing was so lacklustre. It was relying too heavily on the 'Wii' name, which had all but died off.

Then the confusion kicked in and we started to see some panicked ads trying to scream "THIS IS NOT A WII, ITS A BRAND NEW NINTENDO CONSOLE IT DOES NEW STUFF"

Lol - I said it before and I'll say it again, their advertising was pants. They didn't promote ahead of launch, little to no hands-on sessions.

Nintendo didn't expect brand loyalty - I dont remember any quotes to that effect.
They did, however, expect the WiiU pad to be a thing that would attract people.
It simply isn't.

Darkflame (guest) said:
Nintendo didn't expect brand loyalty - I dont remember any quotes to that effect.
They did, however, expect the WiiU pad to be a thing that would attract people.
It simply isn't.

The second thing is another definite factor though. These things all add up to poor product planning.

"-One main series Mario that is arguably the weakest of the 3D Mario generation
-One Mario Kart"

hu? 3D World is much much better regarded then Sunshine by most - and a good game in absolutely terms everywhere.

And we only ever get one Mario Kart.

Not saying software isnt a problem, but dont pad your list out! 

The Wii U GamePad isn't failing due to lack of merit, it's failing due to lack of Nintendo explaining why it's so awesome. You wouldn't believe how many times I tell people on Reddit what off-tv play is, and how it absolutely blows their minds.

I forgot about Sunshine, but to my knowledge that game has a strong cult following. 3D World is definitely a great game, but it is in essence New! Super Mario Bros. on a 3D stage. 3D World lacks the same draw that Galaxy, Galaxy 2, Mario 64, or even Mario Sunshine had. There's no semblance of a story, no magical "OMG, I'm doing (gameplay feature X) and it's awesome!" moments.

My point about Mario Kart wasn't the number, it's that almost two years into the console's lifespan, Mario Kart is the console's first killer app. Wonderful 101 comes across as inaccessible, Pikmin never appealed on a mass scale, Wind Waker is an HD port, New! Super Mario Bros. is a take-it-or-leave-it title; Mario Kart is the first real "this is why you buy the console" game for the Wii U. Barring that, it lacks enough smaller titles as a group to convince people they need the console. This year we're finally getting an original Zelda, a Super Smash, Bayonetta, a major RPG in Xenoblade; then Nintendo mainstays like Star Fox, Fire Emblem, The Legend of Zelda etc. are just now appearing in the pipeline.

So basically the Wii U was kind of a clusterfuck. Nintendo failed to explain why people should want it, and they failed to deliver enough games to do it for them. It launched too soon with too few games. No, it's not beyond saving, but I think it's far beyond being a major contender this console generation. I think it might, and that's a very sketchy might sell somewhere in the same region as the Xbox One, but if it does, it's only because Microsoft screwed the pooch almost as hard as Nintendo did this time around, by releasing an underpowered, overpriced system on the heels of always-on DRM and the biggest privacy scandal the world has ever seen, to the point where even dropping the DRM policies couldn't win gamers back.