Nintendo: We expected Wii U to sell 100 Million

"I would first like to clarify my purported comments on Wii U. I do not wish to make excuses, but at the time of the Wii U launch, I was responsible for our sales base in the United States, and I never made any pessimistic comments. In an internal sales representative meeting, someone projected that we would sell close to 100 million Wii U systems worldwide. The thinking was that because Wii sold well, Wii U would follow suit. I said that, since the Wii had already sold so well, we need to clearly explain the attraction of the Wii U if we are to get beyond that and sell the new system, and that this would be no easy task. I was responsible for selling the Wii U, and I knew what was good about it, so I talked with those in charge of sales about the importance of conveying the attractiveness of Wii U to consumers. I am guessing that some of this communication may have come across in a negative tone."

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/sto...0629qa/03.html

Thats funny, I wonder how much they predict the NX will sell

Nintendo had been losing the battle since with the N64, Gamecube and when the Wii launch, it became the most successful Nintendo console since the good old days of SNES. They got overconfident with the Wii name, they thought everyone would assume what Wii U is but Nintendo screw that up when they reveal Wii U back in 2011 E3. Wii U name was a huge mistake, Nintendo thought they would capture that lighting in the bottle again, poor advertising, (but later they did improve more advertising there games) making it weaker thus 3rd party developers couldn't deal with the hardware, and well, hardly 3rd party games to back that up.

Yeah Nintendo, you guys got overconfident because Wii was a huge success and they didn't learn what made the Wii unique.

Sorry Nintendo but I love my New 3DS more then I love there consoles since the Gamecube.

Where's Michael Pachter when you need him?

The title is a lie, but I guess clickbait is what this forum is all about.

He's predicted 10 million sales due to Zelda alone, though he also predicts that it will be bad.

Nintendo was obviously drunk for predicting such a high number when they showed off the Wii U in 2011.

Lol! It only sold a small fraction of that.

I still think they can close in on that before the NX drops.

They really screwed up in three areas.

1st. They weren't paying attention to current sales trends of the Wii when they were preparing to announce the WiiU. The Wii was a fly by night sales success but as soon as smart phones and tablets came out, that userbase was gone as fast as they came. Continuing with the Wii brand was a pretty ugly mistake when the remaining active consumer base (traditional console gamers) considered that name to have a stink to it.

2nd. An oddly tethered tablet-like controller was never going to be the same experience as a 3-600 dollar tablet. As it turns out, throwing to a TV screen was more of a distraction to the gaming experience than an enhancement. It was a lesson that never should have needed to be learned. Either be a full tablet or a full console, half of both just makes both experiences weaker and easily replaced.

3rd. Most importantly, it had a flying chance of being good anyway. However, the 3DS killed whatever shine the WiiU could ever have early on. Whether anyone at Nintendo could or would have the cojones to say this, the real bottom line is that Nintendo made a choice to pour money in terms of discounts on the hardware as well as diverting resources in terms of development to their handheld business at the cost of their console business.

It was a terrible gamble. In a world saturating with handheld devices, console rose to take its rightful place among gamers. Only one manufacturer went raw dog into the gamer world and out came one seriously profitable baby. Meanwhile, if you can recall, Nintendo was publicly talking about branching out into fucking wearables. Yet another saturated market where gamer centric branding holds no sway for consumers.

Whelp, you should've launched a Zelda game with the thing then, and maybe some console Pokemon- like a gen 1 remake or something, and a true 3D Mario game in the launch window.

Maybe if you had done that you'd still be getting some 3rd party support too

I heard one dude projected it would sell $150million. Reminds me of that dude at Nintendo who said Amiibo wouldnt sell in US, boy was he wrong.

And that's what happens when you let an airhead lead the marketing department.

Also, hubris strikes again.

This is sarcasm.

@foxhound_fox: Kimishima did his best. He might not have had faith in Wii U, but he advertised it best he could in America. Although, i hear many blame Wii U's failure in America on its weak advertising, im not so sure. Kimishima would know all about that, he was in charge of marketing for Wii U.

@ProtossRushX: Literally sent the same gif at the same time to my brother when I linked him the headline.

Nintendo parties harder than the rest of us... Which is saying something.

Sat on their butt thinking they could just ride on the success of Wii....Nintendo release 2 games at launch ...NSMBU (a 2D Mario platformer..lol) & Nintendo Land. When they realise its not selling -> scramble to make games....then when they realise its dead -> moved to 3DS...& announce NX. :P

@superbuuman: It was to help third party out. It backfired. Its why you never rely on third party, always be yourself.

@GameboyTroy: The President of Nintendo is a PR for the Board of Nintendo.

Nintendo's biggest mistake was assuming most Wii owners were actually satisfied last gen. Most people who bought it played Wii Sports for a couple days then threw it in the closet.

They never imagined 90% of the consumers were going to give them the finger.

@NathanDrakeSwag: Shoot, i played Wii Sports alone for years partying.

This had nothing at all to do with the weak ass hardware and technology you keep putting in your consoles, nothing.

My god, its like this guy is in a high school, mock business. Because Wii sold well they assumed WiiU would? Talk about being out of touch with your consumer base.

@cainetao11: Hes talking about how one person felt.

OKey doke. I'm wrong and WiiU still moved shit worth

@cainetao11: Wrong about what?

Yeah because if Nintendo made a strong console people would actually buy it.

Nintendo is not/has not been known as the place to be for today's go to franchises (CoD, Madden, 2K, GTA, etc) and online, it's been like this over a decade.

So even with the power, people would still wait to see what Sony/MS would release before just jumping onto a Nintendo platform.

Nothing ever!!! I live by Trump's philosophy. Never apologize.

@cainetao11: One person's opinion doesnt make it the companies opinion. Im sure Nintendo as a whole had much lower expectations.

150 million units or a 150 million worth of units?

Tell the TC. His thread title says NINTENDO, not one guy at Nintendo

@cainetao11: Yeah, i dont know why they titled it misleadingly, they quoted it correctly though.

I predicted the Wii U would fail before it released and I was right with my theories onto why it would fail. I think most gamers saw that, except for the sheeps.

How much do you see it selling with a 6 year life span?

What do you think of this video?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9tOO-eATwQ

Didn't Nintendo say their first year projection for the WiiU was 13 million or somewhere around there? It's made that in its lifetime.

I hope the NX is much more successful.

The Wii U advertising was abysmal, even for Nintendo's standards. There was barely any TV commercials, no internet advertising worth talking about, and it took them over 6 months to fix the "is this an addon to the Wii?" problem consumers were having.

If they had gone at advertising like Sony or MS, they wouldn't be in the position they are in now. In fact, they'd probably be leading and would have substantial third party support.

The Wii U is no technical slouch. It's not because of hardware that third parties wanted nothing to do with it.

Well at least they achieved 1/10th of their goal

The NX is going to flop harder than the force of a thousand wangs

So let me get this straight. They were expecting to sell 100 000 000 systems because their console offered a pad and absolutely nothing else? WHAT?

Cannot wait for the NX lol gonna be an amazingly entertaining clusterfuck.

I agree, ive enjoyed the new marketing strategy of NoA. Theve really come a long way.

All of these posts in and I'm still the only person who actually read the quote. What an amazing forum this is.

Also @GameboyTroy for the love of god stop posting fucking speculation videos from Nintendo fanboy YouTubers in every single fucking one of your posts! Nobody cares about what they have to say. Learn to think and speak for yourself like a functioning human being!

I didn't expect 100 million but I was thinking it would do better than next gen consoles Xbone and PS4 the Best.

Wow were we wrong; terrible hardware, terrible games, terrible advertising... my god.