Wii U Sales Continue To Disappoint, Is Nintendo in Trouble?

Updated: February 16, 2013

When I was in my teens I was so amazed when the Nintendo Gaming System was first released and for many years I was an avid and loyal Nintendian playing all the OG titles, which included the game that I personally felt was thee Title of all-time: the original Zelda. The thing is, that title was released so long ago that it could be, or may be in the Smithsonian as the originator of a fun console. The Nintendo generation however is getting grey in the whiskers and Nintendo in many ways I feel did not grow with them. Mario and all the surrounding titles have been almost the same since their onset with minor changes in control and graphical appearance, which in my opinion as have many of the other titles, but this to me is both their charm and their curse.

Games have evolved and so has the generation that originally played them, and most gamers these days like high-tech graphics as well as the latest in game ideas something of which Nintendo is really not in the same universe. All other platforms be it PC, Xbox, or PS3 all have very competitive platforms with many of the console games being merely ported to the PC, but all feature adult as well as child related content, not just stuff for the kiddies. This to me is a big failure on the part of Nintendo and where they have lost a major amount of their fan base as many people like myself who grew up on Nintendo also grew out of Nintendo. Now it looks as if Nintendo may have the biggest flop of the year on their hands as sales for the new Wii U as sales are absolutely flat compared to other sales the company had showed previously. Other companies like Microsoft and their Xbox 360 have the best sales numbers and in January they took the top spot for the 25^th consecutive month in console sales.

Selling an estimated 281,000 units puts the Xbox at a huge distance from Nintendo who only showed modest sales of possible under 60K making it the absolutely worst sales month for Nintendo ever. The console itself has not been well received anywhere in the world including Japan, which is home turf for this company. Personally when I was told the specs and games of the new Wii U I was disappointed, as it really offers almost nothing of real substance from the Wii to make it appealing enough to shell out the money for it. Sure if you have kids and do not have much money and you have zero consoles, one may take a look here, but for adults and those who own either the original Wii or other consoles you will most likely pass the Wii U up like it was not even there. Another thing is that right after this lackluster launch both Microsoft and Sony have announced plans to release their new products within a months or so time and these will surpass the Wii U in every way.

At this time Nintendo is in a very bad position to be in as just as they release their latest thing, the competition instantly passes them up with their latest consoles leaving a trail of dust for Nintendo to get lost in. Nintendo has already stated that they are losing money on the device and will not even consider lowering the price, which is just another nail in the coffin at this time point. I feel this is a very sad situation and many people loyal to the brand may find themselves with the last console to ever be made for Nintendo and if that happens it will be an end to another ERA of our gaming lives. With consoles taking years to develop and market Nintendo has backed themselves into a corner and may not have any chance at redemption before losing the battle altogether and ending a company that I feel put the original fun in games for families. The Nintendo 64 was the last system by Nintendo that I actually purchased and used and Wave Racer is still to this day one of my favorites to play. I do not want Nintendo to fail in fact the thought makes me want to cry as I have a deep connection with the company and its games as they were a part of my growing up, but Nintendo needs to wake up and make some drastic changes very fast or I feel this company may be on its last legs. How do you feel about this? Was Nintendo a part of your life and would you want them to go away? Your thoughts are always very important on Tech Of Tomorrow, thanks for reading.