The Nintendo Wii U, an interesting piece of hardware that would of helped Nintendo gain more sales and gain more of a wider audience. But the problem is, it doesn't seem to be doing very well with poor sales, lack of third party support and most of all starting shun their hardcore with crappy Mario mini-game titles and shovelware. Even though I never found the time to write blogs like this. I will list down the reasons why the Wii U did terribly in the gaming market.
1. THE LAUNCH LINE-UP
Even some of the games were decent at the time such as New Super Mario Bros. U, Tekken Tag Tournament and Batman Arkham City, unfortunately those games don't have all the DLC that it's competitor's Sony and Microsoft got. While the rest of the launch line-up is nothing but shovelware. Rabbids Land? Tank, Tank Tank? Party games? Is this what Ubisoft and Warner Bros. can do to treat the Wii U? However, Scribblenauts Unlimited, Pikmin 3 and Rayman Legends were supposed to be released as launch titles until their developers decided to delay them until fall of next year. The PlayStation 3 also had a rough start but managed to recover from that so why not Nintendo? The question is, poor sales.
2. HALF-ASSED ONLINE
All games on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network support online multiplayer. But for Nintendo, only some. What annoys me is this. No option to leave the game or quit to the Wii U menu meaning you are forced to stay in the action or completely turn off the Wii U just to go back to the menu. I can quit to the PS4 UI even during online sessions. Why can't I do this. A another annoyance I had in Splatoon is once you join the lobby before the game starts. YOU CAN'T LEAVE. A another kick in the teeth is that their titles DO NOT HAVE VOICE CHAT. Every single Microsoft and PlayStation console has voice chat, even the PlayStation 2 has this so why not the Wii U? Is it because Nintendo wants to be family friendly again? I think that's the reason why. Having no voice chat is a big mistake. Step up your game Nintendo.
3. POOR THIRD PARTY SUPPORT
This is what the Wii U lacks. Major AAA games. True that the Wii U has Mass Effect 3, Batman Arkham City, Assassin's Creed 3, Watch_Dogs, Need for Speed Most Wanted and even Bayonetta for that matter. Few of these games are missing DLC and has glitches which are causing poor sales for the Wii U versions of those games. Slightly Mad Studios was going to release Project CARS for the Wii U but had to canned due to the Wii U's underpowered hardware which is a real shame.
4. UNDERPOWERED HARDWARE
That!! That is the reason why you do not see any more third-party titles being released for Wii U anymore. The only titles that the Wii U is getting is Toy-to-Life adventure games and dancing/singing games. That's it. Most third-party titles used advanced game engines that were designed for PlayStation 4, PC and Xbox One. The Wii U however wouldn't be powerful enough to run Epic's Unreal Engine 4 and other later game engines. Look how terribly Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric ran by using the forth CryEngine. It lagged like hell in the running sections. Not only that, it is hard for other developers to port their games onto the Wii U, look how Slightly Mad Studios tried their best to get it on the Wii U but couldn't due to the Wii U's poor hardware. Let's hope the NX has superior hardware.
5. AMIIBOS
So let me tell you this. Why does Nintendo want to waste all this money on just plastic figures to use in their games? What's the point? What's even worse is there's games that require them especially Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival. Nintendo must know that Amiibo figures isn't really going to save their dying console. Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival was one of the worst games ever made back in 2015 and it received a metacritic score of 46%. I missed the old days where Nintendo is all about games. Not just using toys.
6. CENSORSHIP
This is what driving mature gamers away. I seen quite a few titles being censored in the west. One of them being #FE Tokyo Mirage Sessions. Nintendo thinks that swimsuits is not OK to be in their localized titles. But on the other hand, Marvelous and PQube doesn't censor their games and Marvelous actually has a Senran Kagura game released for Nintendo's 3DS system. People do not want their games gimped over stupid reasons. And on top of that, a couple of Virtual Console games were also censored. If you don't believe me, watch Censored Gaming's YouTube videos regarding this.
7. NINTENDO'S FIRST PARTY TITLES ARE STILL EXPENSIVE
If Sony and Microsoft's first party titles are having their prices decreasing. Why is Nintendo's first party titles still dang expensive!? What's worse, games from 2013 onwards still carry a full price tag. I really want to get Starfox Zero and Pokken Tournament so bad none of these titles drop down on price yet. My local retailer GAME only discounts PlayStation and Xbox games. It is Nintendo that's preventing retailers from dropping price? Well lemme tell you, you can pick up Sony's Uncharted 4 which is a first-party title btw for only £30.79. Some of Nintendo's first party titles however is still at full price. Thankfully Nintendo is currently re-releasing their older games for a cheap price as Nintendo Selects. But some of them are just generic sports/party titles. Let's hope Amiibo Festival isn't part of this soon.
8. RELEASED AT THE WRONG TIME
Yup. It was released just before Microsoft and Sony announce their next-gen hardware. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One has much powerful hardware than the Wii U. It encouraged developers to develop titles for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, even Sold Out Games was willing to publish titles for Sony. If only there were better sales. It would stand a chance. Also at launch, Sony barely had any first party titles for PS4 at launch and it sold just fine even with major third party support.
9. TOO GIMMICKY
The Wii U has a tablet controller as a main controller. Not to mention it's
too bulky to use and what's worse, few games required it. Doesn't developers understand that gimmicks in video games do not work?
10. THE NAME
And the logo, just why?
11. CONSTANT DELAYS
Sony isn't the only one with constant delays with their first-party line-up. The Wii U has yet gotten a true Legend of Zelda game so far. And to keep fans occupied, Nintendo gave Zelda fans two HD remasters of Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. A new Zelda is being in develop since the day Wii U was announced and here we are still waiting for a new Zelda title which could the last hurrah for the Wii U. Pikmin 3 and Rayman Legends were going to be launch titles until they got shafted until next year.
12. NOT ENOUGH GAMES FOR HARDCORE GAMERS
Here's a fun fact. Watch_Dogs was the last Mature rated game to be released for the Wii U. After that, the Wii U is getting nothing but family friendly shovelware and minigame titles. True the Wii U does have quite a few good indie games for the hardcore fanbase such as Super Meat Boy, Oddworld New & Tasty and Axiom Verge. But what matters is the retail market. There's barely any new titles for the hardcore fanbase anymore. Could Paper Mario: Color Splash and Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild be the last hurrah for Wii U? Could be with the NX coming soon in the near future.
And I guess that's all.
