“We are to blame” for lagging Wii U sales – Iwata

It’s no secret that sales of Nintendo’s flagship Wii U console have not been stellar. The Wii U is being outsold by it’s far older contemporaries, almost every week.

In response to these poor sales, we’re seeing many publishers skipping the Wii U in their release plans as well. In an interview, Satoru Iwata has admitted that much of the blame for this lies with himself, and Nintendo.

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We are to blame. We relaxed our [marketing] efforts, so the consumers today still cannot understand what’s so good and unique about the Wii U. Because we’re always trying to be unique, it takes some energies on our side to [make] people understand the real attractions about whatever we are doing.

We have been unsuccessful in coming up with one single software with which people can understand, ‘OK, this is really different.’ As long as people have hands-on [experience], they can appreciate the value of the Wii U, but because there’s not software that’s simple and obvious for people as ‘Wii Sports’ for the Wii, potential consumers do not feel like trying the Wii U. Our challenge today is with the software lineup we are introducing now, we have to encourage [people] to experience the Wii U in the first place.

I do not think we should become too pessimistic about the current situation with the Wii U. I think we should pour that time and energy into our [development] efforts, so eventually we can encourage third-party [publishers] to want to support Nintendo.

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It is quite interesting to see Iwata being so frank about this, and admitting to making mistakes in marketing the Wii U. It remains to be seen whether the big games announced and demoed at E3 will have a positive effect on the Wii U’s floundering sales.

Many have been calling for a price cut as well, in the light of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One price tags being revealed. In the same interview, Iwata has implied that this is very unlikely.

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Because from the very beginning we came up with a very aggressive price point. We do not think [a price cut] is a very easy option to take.

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With the PS4 and Xbox One being far more powerful systems hardware wise, it will be interesting to see how the Wii U fares in the future. While it is priced cheaper than either of the two competitors, a lack of third-party support and a less powerful system may spell further concerns for the console. With any luck, this admittance of fault means that Nintendo will be doing everything that it can to turn the Wii U’s sales around.

What do you think Nintendo needs to do to keep the Wii U alive, and help it prosper into the future? Let us know in the comments.