Nintendo’s promotional materials say, “It’s time for the Wii U.” Everyone disagrees.
Now, I’m tempted to pat myself on the back so hard right now that I might knock myself down. Just yesterday, I wrote an article on exactly why the Wii U will never recreate the Wii’s success . It would appear that Nintendo President Satoru Iwata feels that Nintendo has so far failed to do justice to its newest system. In a financial briefing, he said, “…except for its backward compatibility with existing Wii software and accessories, we have so far failed to make propositions worthy of Wii U’s position as a successor to the Wii system.”
The Wii U has struggled since launch as it has only sold just fewer than 4 million units since 2012. This pales in comparison to the recently retired Wii, as it sold over 100 million consoles globally as of September 2013.
In the report, Iwata also touches on Nintendo’s shift to embrace the digital distribution movement of delivering games to the market, which continues to gain momentum in the next-gen. “This time, we have decided to offer the game digitally as opposed to providing a packaged game. While Wii Sports was available as a standalone game in the Japanese market, it was bundled with the Wii system for an extended period of time in the overseas markets…” he said.