Wii U is still struggling for sales, and the pending price cut may not be enough to help.
Nintendo’s sales of its latest console are not doing well at all. In spite of all of Nintendo’s efforts, Wii U continues to undershoot expected sales. April’s sales report showed no improvement, according to Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter.
In April, Wii U sold 55,000 units, which is 19 percent lower than the sales from March.
Shigeru Miyamoto has told us to just give the Wii U time to gain momentum in sales, but unfortunately you can’t pay the bills and your staff with hopes and dreams. 3DS is still everyone’s game system of choice, and you can’t argue with sales numbers. If the projections are off, it’s time to either lower them or change tactics. A price drop may not be enough if you can’t convince gamers there is anything worth playing on it.
Nintendo has attributed the platform’s slow adoption rate to a lack of major titles and marketing failing to communicate the novelty of the system, indicating that perhaps it’s time to either start releasing more major titles or just cut your losses like Sega did with the Dreamcast. Thus far it looks like most of the better games have been released for the 3DS, and Wii U is getting stuck with the hand-me-downs.
It’s not the system that sells units in the end, it’s the games, and Nintendo would do well to keep that in mind. Sony is doing well with the PlayStation Vita, so obviously they’re doing something Nintendo isn’t.
It does look like Wii U is getting some major games by the end of 2013, indicating that Nintendo is aware of the drought that keeps gamers from moving forward from the Wii and 3DS. Pikmin 3 is being planned alongside a few other big names, and some third party developers are starting to jump on board with big names like Need for Speed , Resident Evil , and Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate .
There may yet be hope for Nintendo’s failing console, but will it be in time?
What do you think about the future of the Wii U? Could the pending price cut be enough, or is it too little, too late?