While Nintendo’s Wii and Wii U consoles have pretty fun party games, it is safe to say that the more “hardcore” gamer tends to prefer consoles like the PlayStation or Xbox, and this is evidenced by the Wii U’s lack of sales, with the company only managing to move 160,000 units in the past three months. So what is the problem here? Why isn’t the Wii U doing as well as Nintendo intended? Nintendo had previously suggested that the 2011 Tohoku earthquake was one of the reasons why sales of the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U were sluggish, but some are thinking perhaps price could have been an issue.
However Nintendo’s president, Satoru Iwata, dismissed those claims and stated that price was not an issue for the Wii U. According to Iwata (via CVG), “If the price is actually an issue [with Wii U], then there is some contradiction between the current sales balance between the Basic and Premium versions of the Wii U […] The basic version should have sold a lot, but the fact of the matter is that people are buying more of the premium version. So the issue is not there.” What do you guys think? Why isn’t the Wii U catching on? Will titles such as the upcoming Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. help turn things around?