Developers talk about Wii U’s struggles and the way forward
In the latest issue of GamesTM, the magazine caught up with four developers such as Image & Form and Dakko Dakko to discuss the Wii U’s initial struggles and how the console has moved forward. Look for their comments below.
Dan Pearce on Wii U’s struggles
I think a large part of it is down to the Wii being a plug for a huge gap in the market for casual players and the Wii U being kind of a transitional console. Between the Wii launch and the Wii U launch, the App Store blew up, and it made the Wii U’s position as both a core gaming machine and a casual gaming machine kind of redundant. Obviously there are many, many more factors at play here, but that’s the one that sticks out the most to me.
Image & Form’s Brjann Sigurgeirsson on launch issues and branding problems
There were no real system-sellers at launch, strange hardware specs which ruled out the [Basic SKU] as a viable purchase, and stronger next-gen competitor consoles looming on the horizon. But mainly I think Nintendo has failed to tell the public what the Wii U is, who should buy it and why. I’ve never seen the unit itself properly branded. Is it a family console? In that case, how and why should people let it replace their Wii units. Or is it a gamer console? In that case, where are the really strong titles?
…Maybe Nintendo doesn’t feel the need to brand or even push the Wii U. But if not worrying in the past becomes the strongest argument for not worrying about the future, then we have a meta-discussion instead of a clear vision forward. It’s not like Nintendo can simply whip out a new console and apologise for the Wii U. That would drive the community mad, and could put them where Apple was in the Nineties, with short hardware cycles and confused customers in droves.
Dakko Dakko’s Rhodri Broadbent on struggles and how Nintendo may not be as vocal as its rivals in courting download developers
…the system now plays hosts to a bunch of great, very unique games.
They’re definitely applying the same strategy, but the scale of the work required to bring games out on HD home console hardware is daunting. Delays are commonplace if not standard nowawdays, right? Having to schedule a constant stream of big hitters is a big task, but hopefully the eShop provides a good way to keep games coming at a steady rate.
They are at all the right shows, and the Unity deal is a great way to bring in more games — and they did that early, too. Could they shout about it more loudly? I think it’s a cultural thing, and I guess that might prevent some developers from feeling that they are being suitably courted by Nintendo, which would be a shame. But from our experience, we saw the system, approached them with an idea, and got on with it. It strikes me this is all that’s really needed.
Lorne Lanning on how you shouldn’t count Nintendo out
Everyone was starting to write [Nintendo] off, and then the Wii hit. And not long after that, it was the most successful entertainment company in history. I don’t know what its next steps are, but — I’ve said this before — I wouldn’t be against Nintendo.
