Over the course of the year since the Nintendo Wii U’s release, sales of the new system have been lackluster. At E3 this year, Nintendo attempted to fix the problem by announcing a variety of new titles for the system. Satoru Iwata recently spoke to CNBC about the problems the Wii U’s launch faced, saying that “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.”
When the Wii was initially released in 2006, it was accompanied by numerous advertisements and a stellar, easily picked up title in the form of Wii Sports.
Iwata said, “Because there’s not software that’s simple and obvious for people as Wii Sports for the Wii, potential customers do not feel like trying the Wii U.”
From a marketing standpoint, Nintendo and Iwata understand that there wasn’t enough done. When the system was released, there were few Nintendo exclusive games to push the console forward. There was also almost no advertising to show consumers that the Wii U was a step forward from the Wii that was worth taking. Nintendo has recognized the software problem now, and the announcement of games such as Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. Wii U is a step towards solving it. Nintendo needs to start advertising to the same massive number of consumers who purchased the original Wii. When they can produce a steady stream of must-have titles and market them effectively, they may finally see their new console sell in respectable numbers.
There is one key marketing tool that’s still not planned is a price cut for the Wii U.
“From the very beginning we came up with a very aggressive price point,” Iwata said. “We do not think [a price cut] is a very easy option to take.”
That position may change at some point. The question is whether that will be before the holidays this year.
Source: GI.biz
