Analysing the Wii U's 2014 Holiday Line-Up - Article
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 05 September 2014 / 13,302 Views
Nintendo's Wii U has finally started to gain some traction in the last two months, mostly thanks to the release of Mario Kart 8. Despite there being a notable drought in games from June through August, the Wii U system has been selling at roughly double the pace it was managing a year ago. It has even narrowly, but consistently outsold the Xbox One since early July.
However, this begs the question, can Nintendo keep this success going with the mere handful of notable titles that are releasing in the coming months? When looking at the line-up from June through December for the Wii U, the obvious title that stands out is Super Smash Bros. It is a game that will certainly push software sales, and it will undoubtedly move consoles as well, but is this title alone really enough to maintain momentum? Keep in mind, also, that Super Smash Bros. is releasing for the Nintendo 3DS just weeks before the Wii U version, and will surely cannibalize at least some of its sales.
However, it should be noted that a hot holiday season could be enough to boost the sales of this title for both consoles. While Mario Kart is regarded as a series with broader and more casual appeal, hardcore fans of the Super Smash Bros. series are sure drive up sales of Nintendo's console, at least for a short while.
Outside of Super Smash Bros., the Wii U has a series of spin-off games, or what at least would appear to be less significant titles given the characters involved. I'm referring to Hyrule Warriors and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, the latter of which is not actually set to release in 2014 for the European and Australian regions.
As potentially acclaimed as Captain Toad could prove to be, it is certainly not a game that's going to make gamers run out and buy a Wii U. Hyrule Warriors, on the other hand, is a bit of an unknown. Dynasty Warriors has never really been a particularly high-selling franchise, and the most recent releases have all fallen well short of the one million sales mark. Furthermore, none of them have actually been released on a Nintendo platform before. It seems that its success will rely solely on the 'Hyrule' in the title and the hope that Zelda fans will jump on board.
A year ago Zelda fans received The Wind Waker HD for the Wii U; a beautiful HD remake that was critically acclaimed, but it didn't exactly storm the software charts, selling just over one million units. One therefore has to wonder, given the modest sales of The Wind Waker HD, if many Zelda fans will be prepared to purchase a Wii U for Hyrule Warriors.
The last notable title coming to the Wii U this holiday season is Bayonetta 2. While the first Bayonetta title was met with much critical and fan acclaim, it was not a hardware mover. On the one hand, Bayonetta 2 is a Wii U exclusive, so any fans of the series will need to purchase a Wii U if they want to own the game. On the other hand, the original title was not on the Wii and so Bayonetta 2 is releasing on a platform whose audience is likely not invested in the series.
Will this highly touted game manage to convert users to the Wii U? Only time will tell on that front. Nintendo is however looking to push its own fanbase towards the series with a number of franchise-themed costumes that are based off of some of the firm's most popular icons.
Unfortunately, that's pretty much all the Nintendo fans have to look forward to this holiday for the Wii U, because of a complete lack of third party support. Even the handful of third party titles that would've appeared on the Wii U in past years, such as Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty, are noticeably absent from this year's release schedule.
And so the Wii U is relying almost solely on Super Smash Bros. being the blockbuster hit that people expect it to be. I fully expect that Super Smash Bros. will be the game to own this holiday season and will garner dozens of game of the year awards, but outside of this one title there is very little software that is going to be sold to existing Wii U owners and less still that will appeal to non-Wii U owners.
2014 is going to be an 'okay' year for Nintendo, but the lack of blockbuster software coming out for the Wii U will hold it back from being an exceptional one. Unfortunately, it almost seems inevitable that the momentum gained from Mario Kart 8's release will fizzle out once the holiday period is behind us.
