Second-screen is the future!

The Wii U isn't selling anywhere near as well as Nintendo hoped, and key titles are either slipping, going multiplatform or being cancelled entirely. Is it time to start pressing the panic button? Not quite, according to EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich.

Speaking to EDGE magazine, Divnich admits that Nintendo's new machine has had a rough start and is struggling to attract both developers and gamers, but there's still a chance that the company can turn things around — just like it did with the 3DS:

Nintendo always went against the grain. It's risky for publishers to jump on revolutionary technology from day one and this puts tremendous pressure on the firstparty studios to lead the charge. With Wii U, a few key firstparty titles were delayed, and without them consumers are still on the fence about the console.

Nintendo has yet to release its major firstparty titles on the platform. Consumers are waiting for that killer Wii U game before making their decision on whether or not to enter the ecosystem. Right now, the battle in the living room is for the second-screen experience and Nintendo is positioned perfectly to capitalise on this trend. I think it may be fair to give Nintendo through the holiday to see if the current lineup can raise awareness and sales.

It's pretty obvious that once Nintendo rolls out the big guns — such as Zelda, Mario and Metroid - then we'll see a significant rise in hardware sales, which should then encourage third parties to support the console. However, the real puzzle is how soon can Nintendo make this happen; the Wii U needs these key firstparty games as soon as possible. Perhaps E3 will reveal some Wii U exclusives for 2013?