Iwata: One Game Can Turn Wii U Sales Around - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 25 February 2015 / 5,387 Views
Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata has told investors in a new Q&A that one game can turn around the sales for their eighth generation home consoles, the Wii U. Sales for the original Game Boy were slowing down, until the release of Pokemon Red / Blue.
"Following the generally accepted theory on platform lifecycles, it is natural for you to presume that the sales of Nintendo 3DS will drop X per cent each year or we cannot expect a huge increase in Wii U sales," sasid Iwata. "On another front, we have witnessed one single software title completely change the entire picture of our business many times."
"For the last few years I have been wondering whether people inside the company have a clear image as to exactly how we could expand the gaming population," he added. "We could not show a significant difference to our consumers as long as we were repeating similar things that we had done with Nintendo DS and Wii."
“We released Wii Sports Club and Wii Fit U for the Wii U system, but they did not have the same strong impact that the original Wii versions had. Those who have tried these Wii U games know that we have actually realised a variety of new things, but at a glance, they look just similar to their predecessors. I realised that we would have to redefine our definition of video games in order to cope with this situation."
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A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. Outside, in the real world, he has a passion for the outdoors which includes everything from hiking to having received his B.A. in Environmental Studies. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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He said this about a year ago just before Mario Kart 8, and neither that or Smash really turned things around.
A pokemon RPG actually could. Or maybe a new IP. Yes it is very possible, but very unlikely. It is rare to achieve that goal.
No, it's too late at this point. Not even when Zelda comes out will there be a big difference when figured annually. If they were smart, they would lower the price of the system substantially and bundle an AAA game like Zelda. I think that would have more staying power...
Sasid Iwata?! That sounds funny as all hell.
If none of Nintendo's top IPs could do it... Mario, Zelda, Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros.... I think he is blowing smoke up his own A$$....
One game is not going to completely turn around the horrible system sales, sorry. Time to focus of the next system.
I do see in Splatoon some hope to increase sales in a major degree, but it lacks advertising it needs.
In order to "turn things around" you need some eally huge, like Pokemon was to the gameboy. So only a new IP can do it.
Or Pokemon, i suppose.
Nintendo needs innovation. Not gimmicks! The Wii was called "innovation" but its obvious now that it was a gimmick. Innovations change things and make future iterations of the innovative thing (WiiU) and things of the like it (PS4, XBOX ONE) carry on said innovation (i.e. Nunchuk Motion Controls). Instead, WiiU abandoned those "innovations" and Sony's and Microsoft's attempts at such controls have failed and have gone by the wayside.
Nintendo needs news ideas and/or rebranding. Sure Mario and his buddies will garner good reviews and sell to devoted fans. But thats what's going on now and the company is struggling. We shouldn't be on a 10th Mario Party, an 8th Mario Kart, and a 43rd Zelda. It's time for new things Nintendo! I want to love you again.
It could...but you'd have to actually come out with a game :P Maybe the new Zelda could help turn things around?
MK8 did increase the weekly sales. So maybe doing a similar type of promotion.
