When the Wii U was first announced at E3 2011, an overwhelming amount of industry analysts and game journalists dismissed the new console as another example of Nintendo focusing on casual consumers over the hardcore fans that, arguably, kept the company afloat through the Game Cube era. Nintendo made sure to fire-off slide after slide of mature third party titles that would be coming to the Wii U (Assassin’s Creed 3, Batman: Arkham City, etc) as well as promised that the new console would feature an HD experience on-par with current competitor consoles.
However, despite all the grand-standing, many gamers and industry professionals remain skeptical about the system – as well as Nintendo’s interest in (sometimes gimmicky) innovation over polished modern gameplay experiences.
Speaking to Industry Gamers, Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter is, as usual, offering up his Wii U predictions – this time commenting on whether or not gamers should believe Nintendo’s claims that the console will enjoy significant third-party support.
“Nintendo has to simply stop living in the past in 2012. They had a great deal of success since 1985 by making proprietary hardware and supporting it with proprietary software. They attracted third party support based upon the large installed base they generated for their hardware. They appear to me to be confident that ‘if they build it, third parties will support it’, but I don’t think that is the case for Wii U.”
“By trying to be ‘different’ with the tablet controller, they have complicated game design for developers, who can’t figure out if the Wii U will ultimately support only one or multiple controllers. Nintendo made the device sufficiently different that they are all but assured of limited third party launch support, which ultimately will lead to modest hardware sales.”
It’s easy to poke fun at Pachter, since he’s made a big name for himself in the industry by offering-up predictions that come across as common sense to gamers in the know. However, his comments on Wii U third-party support offer some solid insight into what made Nintendo a major player in the first place – as well as how the company’s shift in focus could be their undoing.
There’s no doubt that many gamers can recall visiting friends and seeing a Wii hooked into the TV – with only a few pieces of software available on the entertainment rack (probably Mario Kart Wii and Wii Sports). Will these same people pick-up a Wii U? Maybe, maybe not, but even if they do – unless Nintendo can truly get third party developers on board, it’s unlikely that casual consumers are going to support the system longterm. Not to mention, with the Xbox 720 and PS4 set to arrive in the next few years, it’s even less likely that hardcore gamers are going to purchase software on a less-powerful Nintendo system.
That said, the final Wii U tech specs are still somewhat in flux – so time will tell how much juice clever developer can pull out of the system over time as well as whether or not game designers choose to bother with the new tech when they can just as easily stick with traditional controller gameplay on the Sony and Microsoft systems.
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Follow me on Twitter @benkendrick.
Source: Industry Gamers
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With all the information I know about the Wii-U so far, I am completely unmoved by the announcement of the Wii-U as it sounds like just a gimmick, like the Wii. We’ll see in the following months
Congratulations! You’ve made yourself look like an idiot by trying to make a gimmick look like a bad thing!
Graphics are a gimmick.
Dual Analog Sticks are a gimmick.
Definition of Gimmick – A trick or device intended to attract attention, publicity, or business.
So the PS3/360 are also gimmicks. Learn your words please.
You know, with most ‘analysts’ today, it seems anything Nintendo is their undoing. They go casual? They’re gonna die. They decide to release a new system? They’re gonna die. – Video Game Analyst Logic
It’s very easy to be skeptical about third party support when we know little to nothing about the system. Just give it time, E3 will be here before we know it.
That’s certainly the case with Pachter, at least. I don’t think I could name another such analyst to save my life. I wanna know what’s the big deal about this guy; why does he seem to be quoted at least once a month on videogame news sites.
Nintendo have been exceedingly clever in designing the Wii U, firstly the Wii U will not only play all the popular Wii games, but will also use the existing Wii controllers. Locking in those who like the Wii; family gamers. Plus they have built a controller that has all the buttons and joysticks the other machines have and more, this along with the increased power, removes the objections made by so-called “hardcore” gamers about the Wii. This, along with an apps store and the ability to play while the T.V. is being used or surf using the tablet, will make the Wii U a big draw as a family machine for the living room.
The second screen will not cause devs much trouble at all, Pachter has not been paying attention. Even in the case of straight ports, the screen can be used very easily, with the addition of simple code tools already supplied. THQ stated that once they had Darksiders 2 running on their Wii U dev kit, it took an additional single line of code, literally five minutes work, to get the game displayed on the controller screen too. Similar tools will exist for using the second screen for additional information, such as inventory and maps. So that “problem” is likely a product of Pachter’s desperate imagination. He knows that by knocking Nintendo he will get attention, which is why he keeps saying these dumb things.
Hasn’t Pachter also consistently proclaimed doom for Nintendo, as with the Wii, and been wrong?
A single quoted analyst doesn’t equal the “analysts” implied in the article title.