Why The Wii U Was Nintendo’s Biggest Mistake

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Few companies have revolutionized video games in more ways than Nintendo. The practice of literally stamping cartridges with the Nintendo Seal of Quality, introduced to circumvent Atari’s failures at quality control, marked the first step towards hardware makers profiting from software developed by third-party studios. And it need not be stated how effectively the Wii appealed to multiple generations, from children enjoying their first video game to nursing home residents in need of a convenient and fun tool for bolstering their motor skills. For decades, Nintendo constituted the entry point for many a gamer and easily vacillated between catering to casual and hardcore audiences. But after the Wii prioritized the casual with motion controls, which came at the cost of third-party support, Nintendo used its successor—the Wii U—to regain a foothold in the market dominated by PlayStation and Xbox.

The Wii U should’ve proven yet another sticking point for the manufacturer, given the inventive second screen application, interoperability between it and the 3DS, and backwards compatibility with the Wii. Unlike previous Nintendo devices, the Wii successor even supported HD graphics. A wide range of factors converged to prevent the home console from gaining much traction, however, chief among them being the sheer confusion that pervaded pre-launch marketing campaigns. Misguided by unclear messaging, trusted media sources most notably wrote previews describing the Wii U as a peripheral for the Wii; the product’s bizarre naming convention only exacerbated this particular issue.

Not even the acclaimed Mario Kart 8 could boost the system’s poor sales. As such, Wii U sold a dismal 13.5 million units in its lifetime, failure Nintendo hadn’t faced since the GameCube era. And it left many wondering if the House of Mario would ever fully recover.

This is the tragedy of Wii U.

0:00 Intro
2:17 Sponsorship
4:04 The Tragedy of Wii U

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