Topic: Wii U is the new PS3?

[tendoboy1984]

With the Wii U's current poor situation, is anyone getting flashbacks to the PS3's terrible launch? The PS3 was ridiculed for being too expensive, and it sold terribly until Sony finally released the PS3 Slim at a cheaper price. So if Sony could turn the PS3 around, then surely Nintendo can turn the Wii U around (they already saved the 3DS from obscurity).

[Adrock]

If Wii U was the new PS3, it would actually have some quality third party support despite its many initial failings. If anything, it's the new GameCube (I'd say it's the new Dreamcast except Nintendo isn't discontinuing it). I don't think it needs a price drop especially since it just got one. I have no doubt Nintendo will turn it around. Wii U won't "win" this generation, but they don't have to. Once Nintendo starts releasing games in a timely manner, Wii U will start selling better.

[ShyGuy]

Xbox One is the new Xbox (the first one)

PS4 is the new Genesis

Vita is the new N-Gage

3DS is the new Atari 2600

2DS is the new Atari 5200

[tendoboy1984]

I don't care who wins the "console wars", I just want the Wii U to sell BETTER so it gets more 3rd-party support.
 
Indie developers have no problems supporting Nintendo or any other platform. So why can't the big publishers release their games on all platforms? They'd reach a bigger audience that way.

[NWR_insanolord]

I'd certainly take the Wii U being the next PS3. Fairly solid third party support, excellent first party stuff, struggling sales wise out of the gate but basically catching up with the others by the end of the generation. Sadly, only a couple of those are probably applicable.

[ShyGuy]

I wonder who the next third party publisher to go bankrupt will be? Bethesda? Xseed?

[Ian Sane]

The PS3 benefitted greatly from having hardware that was comparable to the Xbox 360 and PC so that it was included in third party multiplatform support.  So even when it wasn't selling well the third party support was strong.  I think that made a big difference.  Once the price was down you had a console with good first party games and practically the same third party selection as the Xbox 360.  It was a good console that was now also affordable.

The Wii U will not be included in multiplatform development because it is technologically unfeasible.  The Wii U is more like the new Atari 7800 - an out-of-date console from a former big player that was released a good two years too late.

[NWR_insanolord]

I just got done saying there wasn't really a good analog in gaming history for the position the Wii U's in, but the 7800 is, sadly, a fairly decent comparison. The one upside is that the Wii U has an infinitely better first party situation, and that should give it at least a somewhat better life than that console had.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I don't care who wins the "console wars", I just want the Wii U to sell BETTER so it gets more 3rd-party support.
 
Indie developers have no problems supporting Nintendo or any other platform. So why can't the big publishers release their games on all platforms? They'd reach a bigger audience that way.

Regardless of how the Wii U sells for the rest of this gen, I doubt the 3rd Parties with course correct their ships into the Wii U harbor. The ship has sailed, and few straggling boats may come dock on our shores, but I wouldn't hold my breath for any major changing of the tides.
At least not without a MAJOR shift in momentum and/or a tragic falling out of the competition.

[Stratos]

I wonder who the next third party publisher to go bankrupt will be? Bethesda? Xseed?

If XSeed keeps supporting the Nintendo systems then I don't see them going anywhere anytime soon.

[Shaymin]

XSEED's parent company is quite healthy, thank you.

It'll have a PS3-like trajectory, but the end total's going to be far lower because Nintendo doesn't have the cash or clout with third parties to ensure they'll keep supporting the platform until that PS3 Slim/PS+ Instant Collection moment happens.

In before broodwars

[BranDonk Kong]

PS3 is the highest selling console of the last generation...Wii U will not achieve that. The PS4 has already outsold the Wii U ltd (at least in the UK...other territories to come soon) and it's only been out for less than a month...

[Sarail]

I can't wait to see Xbox One and PS4 sales drastically drop off into nothingness come January/February. Going to be a grand time. It's then that everyone will see just how big each respective console manufacturer's audiences truly are.

Right now, there's about three-and-a-half to four million dedicated Nintendo fans...still. It'll be interesting to see the size of MS/Sony's crew.

[Phil]

With the Wii U's current poor situation, is anyone getting flashbacks to the PS3's terrible launch? The PS3 was ridiculed for being too expensive, and it sold terribly until Sony finally released the PS3 Slim at a cheaper price. So if Sony could turn the PS3 around, then surely Nintendo can turn the Wii U around (they already saved the 3DS from obscurity).

No. The Wii U is doing much worse at a much lower price tag. It's historic how horribly it is selling. The PS3 actually got third-party support early on, and third-parties stuck with Sony despite the PS3 doing badly at the gate. This is not so with Nintendo.

[azeke]

I can't wait to see Xbox One and PS4 sales drastically drop off into nothingness come January/February. Going to be a grand time.

Schadenfreude is bad for your soul. Don't do this or your will turn into jaded cynic (the most pitiful creature in my opinion).

[Sarail]

I can't wait to see Xbox One and PS4 sales drastically drop off into nothingness come January/February. Going to be a grand time.

Schadenfreude is bad for your soul. Don't do this or your will turn into jaded cynic (the most pitiful creature in my opinion).

I'm sorry if that sounded as if I'll get pleasure from that situation, but I'm more looking forward to the actual numbers than anything. I just don't think this industry is stable any more. As has been mentioned in another thread on this forum - I, too, wonder which third parties will bite the dust this generation. It's getting quite scary.

[Kytim89]

One of the main reasons for why the Wii U sales have been sluggish is because people have wanted to see what the PS4 and Xbone have to offer before making the plunge into the next generation.

[Oblivion]

Nah, it's because it has no games.

[broodwars]

I can't wait to see Xbox One and PS4 sales drastically drop off into nothingness come January/February. Going to be a grand time.

Schadenfreude is bad for your soul. Don't do this or your will turn into jaded cynic (the most pitiful creature in my opinion).

I'm sorry if that sounded as if I'll get pleasure from that situation, but I'm more looking forward to the actual numbers than anything. I just don't think this industry is stable any more. As has been mentioned in another thread on this forum - I, too, wonder which third parties will bite the dust this generation. It's getting quite scary.

Well, so far Sony's off to a good start, as they recently announced they'd sold 2.1 million PS4s worldwide as of Dec. 1st 2013.

For comparison, the Wii U sold 3.06 million units by the end of 2013.  I don't think it's unheard of that the PS4's sales could surpass that mark by the end of the year at this rate.  As for next year's sales, we'll see. I suspect that Infamous will prove to be far more of a system seller at that time of the year than its Wii U 2013 Counterpart: Lego City Undercover.

In before broodwars

I'll put up a likely sizeable post later explaining my reasoning, but suffice it to say I see very few similarities between what Sony did with the PS3 and what Nintendo is currently doing with the Wii U.

[ymeegod]

The only reason sony didn't sell more it due to shortages.  The demand is there.

Once you lose "hype" with the casual market there's very little you can do to get it back especially if there's other products on the table.

One of the main reasons why the 3DS rebounded like it did was because the Vita fell flat on it's face.   I really can't see that happening with the One or PS4. 

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Racht is right about initial sales though because the WII U sold like hotcakes and then it fizzed down to nothing so we'll have to wait and see if sony and MS can do.

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I'm expecting Sony to be the first one to clear the 10M mark.

[BranDonk Kong]

The Wii U sold like hotcakes for maybe two weeks. I was able to get mine so quickly because people were returning them to GameStop and canceling their pre-orders. There is no hype, there is no demand. There are no third party games. It's awesome that we'll get some really good Nintendo games on the system, but that's not enough to sell consoles to people that aren't in love with Nintendo.

[lolmonade]

I hate to say it, but if the Wii U's specs were similar to the PS4/Xbox One, then we'd probably see 3rd party ports even with the lousy install base, if just because of it being easier to include the Wii U on the next-gen ports.

[Adrock]

I disagree. Third parties could have been porting PS3/360 games this whole time and for the most part, they haven't. Poor support has less to do with specs and more to do with Nintendo's lack of communication with third parties. That E3 sizzle reel seemed awesome at the time. In hindsight, those were probably the few third parties who even knew what Nintendo was planning. Don't expect support when you treat your partners like peons.

[ejamer]

One interesting point:
Third parties made a concerted effort to port to PS3 last gen despite poor initial sales and an architecture that wasn't easy to develop for. Claims that it was similar to 360 are only true if you are talking about general power - the differences were pretty significant and you certainly saw that in game performance early on. Obviously this whole idea that an early loss is acceptable isn't happening with Wii U.


Wii U is what it is. At this point, I don't think that Nintendo will have any meaningful turnaround when it comes to sales figures or serious third party support.  As long as the Xenoblade "sequel" still gets released in the West, I'm ok with accepting Wii U as nothing more than a way to play exclusive first-party games.

[lolmonade]

I disagree. Third parties could have been porting PS3/360 games this whole time and for the most part, they haven't. Poor support has less to do with specs and more to do with Nintendo's lack of communication with third parties. That E3 sizzle reel seemed awesome at the time. In hindsight, those were probably the few third parties who even knew what Nintendo was planning. Don't expect support when you treat your partners like peons.

It's probably a mixture of all these factors.  I think most businesses would put up with a partner they don't necessarily enjoy working with if it was equitable for them.  Regardless of the reason why, EA & some other publishers decided it was not worth the opportunity cost to release a port of some of these games on Wii U, and I don't fault them for that.  They're simply doing what a business does, looking at their options and choosing those that they believe will net them the biggest earnings.