Home / Software & Gaming / Console / Satoru Iwata on Wii U sales: my bad

Satoru Iwata on Wii U sales: my bad

Nintendo's CEO, Satoru Iwata, has said that it's Nintendo's fault that the Wii U isn't selling well, mainly because the company didn't market it well enough and that ultimately a lot of the console's audience, is still confused about the relatively new console.

This is something we've talked about here before. With the Wii U's audience being very similar to the Wii, we know that a lot of those that have the older machine aren't hardcore gamers. They don't keep up to date with new releases and simply have it around for family and friends to play on. That means that something that sounds and looks very much like the Wii, will more than likely be thought of as a new version or an upgrade, rather than an entirely new generation of console (for Nintendo at least).

wiiyu
What sort of madness is this?!

Iwata echoed this point, saying that Nintendo's marketing strategy had been far too relaxed and that people still don't understand what's different about the Wii U.”We have been unsuccessful in coming up with one single software with which people can understand, ‘OK, this is really different,” he said (via CNBC).

“As long as people have hands-on [experience], they can appreciate the value of the Wii U, but because there's not software that's simple and obvious for people as ‘Wii Sports' for the Wii, potential consumers do not feel like trying the Wii U.”

However, he did say that the Xbox One and PS4 wouldn't compete directly with the Wii U, simply because they were so much more expensive. Indeed, the Wii U can be had in the UK now for £150 at some retailers. Comparatively, the Xbox One on release will be at least £420, while the PS4 will be £350.

KitGuru Says: While it's taken a while, the Wii U is beginning to look like the more attractive purchase for me. It has Monster Hunter, a new Smash Bros coming out, a new Mario Kart. Kind of like the Wii, I expect the Wii U will be the secondary console that people buy for the 1st party exclusives, while the PS4 (and maybe the Xbox One) is the main deal. 

Become a Patron!

Check Also

Games Emulation

KitGuru Games: The Best Console is the One in Your Pocket

Emulation is the saving grace of the video games industry. Despite its controversial nature, the technology will be the only way in which all games are preserved for the future – free from licensing agreements and other such nonsense. Better still is the fact that in a majority of cases, emulation allows for a more accurate recreation of the game’s original experience than official offerings, due to countless complex shaders, filters and tweakable settings. And the best part? Thanks to the progression of technology, your humble smartphone is able to do all this and more – giving you the power of 10,000 games in the palm of your hand.

We've noticed that you are using an ad blocker.

Thank you for visiting KitGuru. Our news and reviews teams work hard to bring you the latest stories and finest, in-depth analysis.

We want to be as informative as possible – and to help our readers make the best buying decisions. The mechanism we use to run our business and pay some of the best journalists in the world, is advertising.

If you want to support KitGuru, then please add www.kitguru.net to your ad blocking whitelist or disable your adblocking software. It really makes a difference and allows us to continue creating the kind of content you really want to read.

It is important you know that we don’t run pop ups, pop unders, audio ads, code tracking ads or anything else that would interfere with the KitGuru experience. Adblockers can actually block some of our free content, such as galleries!