Topic: The Wii U has failed to recapture audiences the Wii was successful with. How can NIntendo fix it?

No matter what people say, I genuinely believe that the idea that the Wii's market moved to smartphones is mostly BS. If you look at the sales of simple, smartphone style games on the Wii, they are abysmal to say the least. Where the Wii did particularly well was with party style games like Wii Party, NSMB, or Just Dance, or kid friendly games like Skylanders and the Lego games. Smartphones and tablets continue to fail in offering these types of experiences that made the Wii successful, so I don't think they have really taken most of the Wii's market.

That begs the question though, how can Nintendo recapture these audiences? The Wii U is a system that has sold mostly to male Nintendo fans and some kids (but not explosively like with the Wii) (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/224449/Wii_U_eShop_audience_is_93_percent_male_18plus.php Some of that is a bit of speculation around the data, for the record).

If you ask me, there are a few critical things Nintendo needs to do.

• Get Minecraft on the Wii U, and ADVERTISE IT- Nintendo systems missing out on such a hit is a severe blow to their appeal with kids. It makes the PS360 and XB1 and PS4 far more appealing.
• Start bundling a Wii Remote+ and Nunchuck with the system- Look, the Gamepad isn't the super intuitive device that screams "fun" from the second you see it like the Wii Remote was. That doesn't mean the Gamepad has to go, but it does mean Nintendo needs to be able to stress the use of the Wii Remote to consumers. Casuals and kids liked the Wii because it was easy to pick up and play, with a very small learning curve and a huge initial payoff. The Gamepad is just as complicated, if not more complicated than a regular controller.
• Advertise better and more realistically- Stop stressing family gaming so hard. It embarrasses kids and turns away older audiences. Instead work on promoting the system on group fun, that is, groups of friends, clubs, communities, etc.

Now the name is still a problem, but Nintendo really can't just up and change the name of the system midlaunch. But in doing the above 3 things, I genuinely believe that they would fair far better with the casual and kid crowd that the Wii roped in.

They're never getting those people back. Nintendo managed something incredible with the Wii and who bought one, but it never converted those people to gamers. For most it was a fad, and got traded in quickly. Even a year before the Wii U came out, you could pick up pre-owned Wii consoles with the remote, sensor bar and a game for £25. That's crazy but it shows how many got traded back in. It's still almost £100 to get a pre-owned 360 or PS3 without a game and it's 16 months since they were replaced with new consoles.

Nintendo didn't mess up by failing to attract those people, it was impossible. What they failed to do was to attract enough of the crowd that has been buying consoles since the 6th gen and prior. That was very much possible.

@iKhan I agree with the 1st and 3rd points. Really the huge issue with the 2nd point is that you pretty much can't use the console without the Gamepad. For example:

• Get a error code when playing a game online, you have to switch the power off to use the console if you don't have a Gamepad switched on.
• System settings can only be accessed using the Gamepad so most things are not useable without a Gamepad switched on.
• A fair number of games don't even support the Wii Remote, the Pro controller or Gamepad would in general be a better option.

Of course Minecraft could infact be the game Tantalus is porting to Wii U but we'll have to of course wait until whenever the announcement is made.

I feel like this sort of discussion has been exhausted at this point 2 1/2 years in really not much can be done this gen best they focus on next.

My sister has two daughters, 12 and 9. They used to play Wii, now thery are stuck with those F2P crappy games for tablets. They even forgot they have a 3DS. And my sister stopped using WiiFit, so there's no chance she's gonna update their Wii.
For the same reason, other casuals don't upgrade their PS3 and 360 just to play games that look a bit better.

I think a part of this issue might be tied to the easy access to homebrew mods for the Wii and DS. I personally know quite a few people who obtained a Wii solely for its emulation capabilities. It may not be the leading cause, but I'm sure it accounts for some percentage of the Wii user base.
However, even if this is true, Virtual Console titles have been selling fairly well. I'm sure whatever profits they could have made through hardware sales can easily be recovered through making classic titles available.

Pretty much this. Enjoy the Wii U for what it is; a great system. We'll see what happens 2 or 3 years down the road..

The Market isn't coming back for two major reasons.

1. The Wii was a product of its time and while apart of it was Iwata's blue Ocean startgey it was also successful because Nintendo made scrafices that would bite them in the long term and had a bit of stroke of luck.

2. The second reason and this applies to both Nintendo's handheld and console, but the market for entertainment and life style prodcuts have exploded since then. A good example was the fitness hook of the wii has been subplanted by lower cost subscription services and devices like the Fitbit and the current wearable boom. Take me for example I still game pretty hard but when i'm throwing items in my bags as I go to work/School I typically only carry my Phone and either my Kindle or Tablet depending on what day it is.

Continue to make great games and show that Nintendo will support their hardware throughout its lifespan, like Sony did with the PS3 even when that wasn't doing well. It built up consumer confidence enough that PS4 was being sold mainly on that confidence. Wii U might not be as successful as the other two but the Wii U2 could be.

The market is gone. The only thing Nintendo could do would be to make a tablet or smartphone themselves, even though it's a long shot.

They don't have to convert people into gamers. They just have to iterate and maintain interest among non-gamers. the Wii U failed to do that. Nintendo systems tend to drop in price very quickly after new systems come out. I remember the Gamecube being available for 20-30 dollars within a year of the Wii's launch.

That's not to say the Wii was perfect until it's dying day. Nintendo really screwed up in the system's final two years, with huge software droughts and abysmal advertising more reminiscent of today's Wii U advertising.

To put things in perspective, Just Dance is STILL selling the most units on Wii, despite being the technically inferior version. That's millions of people who haven't seen the Wii U as a worthy upgrade.

No. Correlation=/=Causation. The Wii U is the opposite of the Wii in terms of it's appeal. It doesn't come off as intuitive or simple, it comes of as another complex game system. So no, the casual market isn't going to play that. There isn't really any successor to the Wii's vision, so that market could more or less be considered "dormant" due to there being a lack of a suitable product.

Handhelds are a very different story, and I'm not going to pretend that there hasn't been a ton of market share taken by smartphones and tablets there. But consoles occupy a different realm from smart devices. That's why consoles are still selling great.

Its easy. They need to marry motion technology with motion gloves and shoes, standing on a balance board and wearing their new virtual reality head set. They need to make experiences (not games as such) such as swimming with dolphins that will let people explore or deviate slightly for extra immersion. Sports like Tennis and Rock climbing. Casuals will think its amazing. And (I am basing this on the Wii) it needs to be approximately 2 times the power of Wii U so as to alienate the hardcore turd party supporters, but enough for people who think candy crush saga looks amazing.

There. /thread

As others have said, the current technological and social environment is one that would make it very, very unlikely for the Wii's casual gamer audience to return. It very much existed in a "right place, right time" point in history. Banking on the casual buck with a stupid control scheme gimmick might have made Nintendo a lot of money in the short run, but the Wii pretty much destroyed Nintendo's credibility with gamers and most Western third-parties just as HD gaming was taking off. Now the Wii U is reaping what was sown last gen.

I'm yet to see any solid evidence of the "alienated gamers" claim. It's usually just said by people who disliked the Wii themselves. Show me some credible analysis that it actually did this, because I don't see any reason why it would.

The Wii saw almost equivalent 3rd Party to the GC. The large install base made it very appealing to put games on it. Even CoD sold surprisingly well. The biggest fallout Nintendo had with 3rd Parties was the N64.

The Wii is an example of being the right product at the right time. At that particular time, it was perfect. Cellphones weren't what they are today. Not every single person had a cellphone and any games you had on your phone were very basic (they still are, but you know what I'm saying).
If the Wii was launched in 2012, there's no way it would do 100 million lifetime sales. That audience is gone. The "casual" crowd is very fickle, and Nintendo had to learn this the hard way. A lot of my friends are "casual", and they're a prime example of people who bought the Wii, played it for a year or so and then moved on to the next thing.

Aside from choosing a rather ridiculous and confusing name, I think the association to the Wii the may have even hurt the Wii U as well. When a lot of people thought of the Wii, they thought "casual, party box", not a game system. With the Wii U, I feel like Nintendo was chasing after an audience that was no longer there. All they can do now is keep marching forward and keep releasing stellar titles, much like Sony had to do with the PS3.

For your first point, read the first post. The Wii's biggest casual titles were very different from what's offered on phones. The stuff that is similar to phones is you crummy shovelware.

But the Wii U is pretty different from the Wii in its fundamental design. The Wii was designed to be as accessible and intuitive as possible. Not only does the Wii U use a more traditional, complex controller, it has a confusing name and a ton of varying options. That turns away a casual, non gaming audience. The Wii U was basically a wolf in sheep's clothing. I think the system failed with non-casuals in part because the Gamepad really never came off as revolutionary, so it seemed more like "Nintendo's 360". In other words it didn't feel new.

To be honest, I suspect the Wii U as it is cannot be fixed.

The concept just doesn't appeal to people as much as the Wii's motion control concept did, and that's just that. More people cared about motion controls than gamepads and 'asymmetry'. The whole Wii U idea was basically a gimmick for the sake of a gimmick without any consideration to who would actually buy it.

How could they fix things? Scrap the Wii U's gimmicks, since practically speaking, no one gives a damn about them and they haven't got mass market appeal. Scrap the name altogether, since it's confusing as heck and just doesn't work for marketing the system (and scrap the names '2DS' and 'New Nintendo 3DS' while they're at it). Release a bunch of games with more mainstream appeal, so look at what made earlier Mario, Zelda and Metroid games actually sell and do that instead of being all gimmicky. Release new games in general more than twice a year. Work with third parties to get their better known brands on the system, money be damned. Advertise the heck out of things on TV, in magazines and papers, online, on bilboards... basically anyone a normal person will see it.

Do that, and they've got a hope in hell of maybe turning things around. Sort of, assuming the Wii audience isn't lost to smartphones forever.

Well capturing the Wii's sales is not possible there are some things that can be done.

#1 before everything else is DROP THE PRICE ALREADY!!!

The Console has not had a true price drop since launch, it has always been $299.99 MSRP. The Wii did well partly because it was the budget gaming option and that works well with a family friendly image. Wii was $250 at launch while PS3 was $600 compared to Wii U currently at $300 and Xbone at $350, not much difference. I still see families where the Wii is the only gaming console for their kids. Emphasizing the Wii compatability and lower prices I think could potentially give Wii U a nice boost....more kid friendly games helps too. It was a missed oppurtunity to not have the console upscale Wii games....that would have been a nice selling point to reel in the Wii crowd....update your Wii for your HD TV and play all your Wii favorites only better along with great new Wii U games.

That stuff was a fad happens once and never again.

People have moved on and don't want that any more and there is nothing that can be done about it.

Play ZombiU or co-op Rayman Legends and then tell me that the GamePad is a pointless gimmick.

The GamePad has AMAZING potential. That Ubisoft has come the closest to actually realizing its potential thus far is a shame.

The Wii U has a lot of problems: comparative lack of power, horrible marketing, horrible name, lack of third party software, etc. Many people don't even realize it's not just an add-on to the Wii.