UK retailer ASDA suspends sales of Wii U (update: Morrisons too)

[Icemage]

News: Asda suspends Wii U stock - ComputerAndVideoGames.com

The grocer, Britain's second-largest, has suspended stock on all Wii U games, consoles and accessories across its stores, though eight products (all released during the Wii U's November 2012 launch) remain available on the Asda Direct website.

CVG understands that the company did not stock Nintendo's latest release, Pikmin 3, a widely acclaimed title which entered at number two on the UK all formats chart.

Nintendo's response:

"Nintendo UK does not comment on specific business practices with individual retailers. However, as we have seen with Nintendo 3DS, software sells hardware, and with titles such as Wonderful 101, Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD and Super Mario 3D World already announced for this year as well as the recently released Pikmin 3 and New Super Luigi U having reached number 2 and number 6 in this week's chart respectively, we are looking forward to the year ahead on Wii U."

ASDA's response:

"Asda will stock [Wii U] games on a title by title merit basis as they come along through Asda Direct. We will continue to support Nintendo as a format holder partner."

Seems early to be pulling support for Wii U just as it is (finally) getting some worthwhile releases, but if other UK retailers follow suit, the Wii U is in deep trouble.

It's worth noting that ASDA is owned by Wal-Mart. While Wal-Mart subsidiaries are able to selectively stock items based on regional demand, there is always the danger of a corporate level directive to discontinue sale throughout the chain.

At least this won't affect 3DS sales, so it's not some sort of axe to grind on the company, but Iwata and company had best hurry up and find some killer apps for the Wii U, as they're running out of time faster than expected.


Icemage

[Firewind]

re: UK retailer ASDA suspends sales of Wii U (update: Morrisons too)

This probably won't affect much in the big picture. ASDA deal more in Used Games, and have done for a few years, and they don't sell consoles all too often purely because people don't go to ASDA to buy consoles and video games. Especially when Tesco, their main rivals are far more competitive with the likes of GAME and HMV when it comes to video games and electronics in general, and actually advertise the fact that they sell consoles and video games.

Sure the news is notable but I wouldn't sound the alarm bells just yet. Tesco or Argos (huge catalogue shopping company) discontinuing sales of the Wii U would be something to be worried about since more parents buy consoles from those guys. GAME or HMV discontinuing would justify a panic.

In this case it's more the retailer can't shift them because they can't be bothered to compete more than anything else. While the Wii U's poor sales are no doubt one of the things that affected this choice, it is far from the only factor in the decision.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

re: UK retailer ASDA suspends sales of Wii U (update: Morrisons too)

"The grocer"

That was kind of my hint this wasn't really a big deal.

Here in the US, we have Wal-Marts that take on groceries as a secondary gig, but this ASDA sounded like it was doing things the other way around and that selling other stuff was a lesser interest to selling food. Seems they were not stocking many PS3s and hardly 360s to start with. Plus it sounds like the secondary interests are better served by their website.

We wouldn't walk into a Big Bear, Bi-Lo, Harris-Teeter Lowe's Foods or whatever expecting to find used or new copies of Uncharted and Mario Party, though. I'd be there to buy food. And even if they did have games I would expect them to be competing on prices for food, not software, because they're not going to be able to compete on that.

[Icemage]

re: UK retailer ASDA suspends sales of Wii U (update: Morrisons too)

^ UK retail is very strange, by American standards. A lot of things that we have specialized shops for are much rarer over there, so simply dismissing ASDA as a grocery chain doesn't really paint the whole picture. It's not the sort of place you'd go to buy your tech toys, in the vein of, say, Best Buy, but it's a lot closer to Wal-Mart than you might think. Not to mention they don't have to compete very hard on price; not when the alternative is GAME. There's a reason Amazon.uk sees a lot of video game traffic.

At any rate, ASDA is indeed a small player, but having any retailer drop your product is never a good sign. Losing them as a retail outlet probably doesn't hurt the Wii U much, but it's not really in a position to be losing any retailer support, period.


Icemage

[Firewind]

re: UK retailer ASDA suspends sales of Wii U (update: Morrisons too)

Yeah while it's never good to have such a massive retailer drop any of your products, I was just pointing out that people don't really buy any video games from ASDA, which is one of the reasons why the games they sell are mostly used games now since I don't really see them making massive profits from any consoles.

The main reason why Best Buy didn't catch on here was probably because there's so many dedicated chain stores where you can buy your tech toys, and that doesn't even include the smaller businesses and custom PC places as well as places like HMV or Tesco that do have huge tech sections as well. It was basically a dedicated store in a market where it was already needed because UK consumers are already so used to "shopping around" for tech. So it ended up trying to come into an already competitive market with an idea that is very niche over here and TBH, is already covered by PC World/Curry's, Comet Group (closed), Sony and Apple. Well plus the bias towards UK/EU retailers. It does also help explain a few of the reasons why Gamespot is online only here at well.

[Malacite]

re: UK retailer ASDA suspends sales of Wii U (update: Morrisons too)

A lot of things are also more expensive over there, particularly in London. Hand-me-downs are much more common etc. so having more generalized stores makes sense in a way. The U.K. is also like what, 1/20th the geographic size of the U.S.?

Eitherway it's kind of odd and doesn't look good for the Wii U, but I'd reserve judgment for the time being. Once some of those big 2014 hits start rolling out it may pick up steam - or be crushed under the weight of PS4 and XB1, who knows.

[Firewind]

re: UK retailer ASDA suspends sales of Wii U (update: Morrisons too)

A lot of things are also more expensive over there, particularly in London. Hand-me-downs are much more common etc. so having more generalized stores makes sense in a way. The U.K. is also like what, 1/20th the geographic size of the U.S.?

Eitherway it's kind of odd and doesn't look good for the Wii U, but I'd reserve judgment for the time being. Once some of those big 2014 hits start rolling out it may pick up steam - or be crushed under the weight of PS4 and XB1, who knows.

Part of that relates to what I noted earlier with used games. Used Games are a huge business and there are stores like Cex that are dedicated to them. Pretty much every retailer that sells games also deal in used game now because the price point means that they are far more likely to actually sell the used games.

Plus as you noted, "Speciality Stores" are rare over here. It is hard to find even a "Mom and Pop Store" that specialises purely in one thing and one thing only because speciality stores simply aren't needed. HMV is a great example. It is most well known for being a record store but also deals in DVD/Blu-Ray, Video Games, Mobile Phones, Headsets, and Sound Systems. GAME has even branched out into things like Video Game related toys and merchandise, Movies, Soundtracks and Steam Game/Wallet Codes.

And the size of the UK does mean there is a lot of competition too so the retailers do have a good reason to provide a wide range of services. In the US you can just find an area that is short on whatever service or product you are selling and set up there. In the UK it is a little more difficult because if you open up a store selling something, then someone else is probably already doing that so you need something to help you to compete. Plus like I said in my last post, there is domestic bias which is why Best Buy, which on paper the UK would love, it's a tech store selling to a nation obsessed with getting the latest new gadgets and tech toys. In practise Best Buy flopped here because, well everything they sold could be found elsewhere and for less, and didn't require driving out of town to get to.

Anyway to get back on topic, the above is pretty relevant to explain why people just don't buy consoles from ASDA: at the end of the day they weren't being competitive and they weren't shifting consoles. The Wii U is floundering and if the store can't make a profit on the stock then of course they will stop ordering more. They would have done the same if it was the PS4 or XBox One in the same position. There is still profit to be made on the used games hence why they will still take Nintendo Software.

The major problem with the Wii U is that they gambled on the "Release the console with some games and have a steady stream of releases." The problem is is that well...It doesn't work.

"Release the console with some games and have a steady stream of releases." assumes the following:

• That you can consistently put out a quality release every single month that people will actually buy (Because a single screwed up month will spell disaster as that is a month of poor turnover or even a month of losses).
• That the game released each month will be bought by everyone.
• The console can avoid the "Got no games!" stigma with an anaemic launch library (A valid argument to make with the gradual cull of BC).
• That the console has something to give gamers when the couple of launch titles are actually released (A valid argument to make with the gradual cull of BC by everyone and one of the things that might screw over the PS4 and Xbox One).
• The console has the third party support to pull it off (which is why the 3DS was fine with doing this).
• That Publishers won't just rush through unfinished games to meet the deadline (This is inevitable)
• These games will release worldwide so your console won't flop in territories where the game is slow to release (A valid argument to make with the gradual cull of Region-Free by Nintendo).
• That gamers won't just go to your rivals when waiting for the next quality release or game that they like...

[Icemage]

re: UK retailer ASDA suspends sales of Wii U (update: Morrisons too)

Well, now we see why...

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2013/130731e.pdf

For the sales period from March to June:

With respect to “Wii U,” “New Super Luigi U,” which is add-on content for “New Super Mario Bros. U” released simultaneously with the “Wii U” hardware last year, was released, and “Game & Wario,” released in Japan in March, was released overseas. The worldwide sales of “Wii U” hardware and software were 0.16 million units and 1.03 million units respectively mainly due to the release of few key first-party titles this quarter to strongly drive the hardware sales.

Japan: 90K
North America: 60K
Other: 10K

Those are shipped numbers, not sold through, incidentally.

160K units shipped worldwide in the last three months? Never in my worst nightmares would I have imagined the Wii U to be doing so poorly, even with its anemic software lineup.

And seriously 10K units between all of Europe + Australia/NZ?


Icemage

[Aeni]

re: UK retailer ASDA suspends sales of Wii U (update: Morrisons too)

And seriously 10K units between all of Europe + Australia/NZ?

Icemage

Them Europeans are broke.

[Firewind]

re: UK retailer ASDA suspends sales of Wii U (update: Morrisons too)

That actually hasn't been affecting video game sales as much as you might think. Germany's situation is also very complicated. Nintendo has also historically been pretty incompetant when it comes to Europe. The NES/SNES were always pretty minor here and the Wii was basically the first Nintendo console that sold. Basically they have always been associated with handhelds and that is it. Sega, Sony and Microsoft are the main figures that come to mind when you mention consoles in Europe, not Nintendo.

One fun fact: more copies on Dynasty Warriors 8 have sold in Europe/Australia than Wii U systems total. I wish I was making this shit up but go and look up the sales figues. Basically people here want Dynasty Warriors 8 (an awesome game that you should pick up) over Luigi Bros: a DLC pack with the serial numbers filed off that we have to pay full fucking price for, or Pikmin 3 (something that was never big here in the first place), or a Mario Bros/Kart game that has seen zero changes since the SNES era.

[Malacite]

re: UK retailer ASDA suspends sales of Wii U (update: Morrisons too)

Nor has it affected things here all that much - it's even been reported in the mainsteam media that video games sales have held relatively steady in spite of everything else. Yes there's been a bit of a decline naturally like almost every other industry, but it's been fairly minimal. So the "poor Europeans" argument doesn't really hold water.

The Wii U just sucks,apparently.

[Firewind]

re: UK retailer ASDA suspends sales of Wii U (update: Morrisons too)

It's not that the Wii U sucks, it is more Nintendo is poorly managed and is always too slow to innovate and keep up as technology and gamers tastes and purchasing habits march on. They are only just starting to start putting out games on the eShop for example and it took 11% of Fire Emblem Awakening's sales being eShop purchases to do that. However Nintendo's digital distribution platform is laughably poor.

There's very little security and card details are stored on the console itself. basically if your 3DS gets pickpocketed you're fucked. Plus due to there being no account system, purchased can only be used on one 3DS. If, for example I buy Fire Emblem Awakening on my 3DS, I can't just pick up my friend's, sign in to my Online account and play, and with zero cloud saving capability I will be forced to play from the start. The fact that Nintendo thinks that this is fine is just showing backwards thinking.

Contrast with Steam and PSN, where I can log in at a friend's house and have all of my games and saves there to use. Steam has a bonus in that if my friend has the files then I don't even need to download a game I purchased. I can just grab the files off his machine and transfer them to my own so if I buy the game then I don't even need to wait for it to download. The fact that everything can be backed up on Steam makes it futureproof since when the servers do go down, you can still play since you have the game files backed up.

Then you have to consider Nintendo's constant insistence on trying to go for non standard gimmicks like waggle controls and the touchscreen thing for the Wii U. The main issue being is that developers are forced to take all of this into account for their games. They are forced to take into account the wiimoate and nunchuck controls and making a control setup that works for that. It's similar with the DS/3DS too since game developers are always forced to have to deal with that other screen, and also making the game in 3D for the 3DS. While there are plenty of fun games on the Wii and DS/3DS, the main issue if that the majority of games are shovelware and incredibly shallow with unintuitive controls because most of the devlopment time and resources likely goes into getting the games to actually work on a Nintendo console.

Add all of this together with games that are just the same fucking thing with a new lick of paint. Now it's not gameplay that Nintendo has trouble with innovating Sunshine and Galaxy prove this, it's the setting, story, characters themselves, and design philosophy as a whole that never change. The main first party Nintendo games never change in terms of game mechanics, play modes and various other improvements that make a new game in the series worth buying. Add in that the characters never go through development or even change, and as I mentioned before, the core story and setting in the games don't change at all (Zelda is as guilty of this as Mario). All of this makes it seem that the main marketing strategy of Nintendo is appealing to nostalgia without even realising that even Mario has a shelf life.

Plus I need to point back to the "Got No Games!" stigma stuck with the Wii U which has also damaged it, again this is purely on Nintendo. They offered no reason as to why the launch library was no small, instead they started flailing thier arms and using the massively fuckwitarded logical fallacy of "cultural Differences" to blame the system flopping, without asking themselves why their console was flopping in the first place. The sheer arrogance and stupidity that Nintendo has been displaying over the last few years reflects Sony in 2004-6, and the only reasons people aren't noticing it are:

1. Microsoft, Ubi-Soft, EA, Activision/Blizzard et el have been WORSE
2. Nintendo are magically critic proof due to idiotic gamers refusing to take off their Nostalgia Goggles and just accept that thier beloved company is doing retarded things.

The Wii U itself is not a bad console and in spite of my comments, I really like the idea of it. What the problem is, is Nintendo.

[Icemage]

re: UK retailer ASDA suspends sales of Wii U (update: Morrisons too)

It's not that the Wii U sucks, it is more Nintendo is poorly managed and is always too slow to innovate and keep up as technology and gamers tastes and purchasing habits march on. They are only just starting to start putting out games on the eShop for example and it took 11% of Fire Emblem Awakening's sales being eShop purchases to do that. However Nintendo's digital distribution platform is laughably poor.

There's very little security and card details are stored on the console itself. basically if your 3DS gets pickpocketed you're fucked. Plus due to there being no account system, purchased can only be used on one 3DS. If, for example I buy Fire Emblem Awakening on my 3DS, I can't just pick up my friend's, sign in to my Online account and play, and with zero cloud saving capability I will be forced to play from the start. The fact that Nintendo thinks that this is fine is just showing backwards thinking.

Contrast with Steam and PSN, where I can log in at a friend's house and have all of my games and saves there to use. Steam has a bonus in that if my friend has the files then I don't even need to download a game I purchased. I can just grab the files off his machine and transfer them to my own so if I buy the game then I don't even need to wait for it to download. The fact that everything can be backed up on Steam makes it futureproof since when the servers do go down, you can still play since you have the game files backed up.

Then you have to consider Nintendo's constant insistence on trying to go for non standard gimmicks like waggle controls and the touchscreen thing for the Wii U. The main issue being is that developers are forced to take all of this into account for their games. They are forced to take into account the wiimoate and nunchuck controls and making a control setup that works for that. It's similar with the DS/3DS too since game developers are always forced to have to deal with that other screen, and also making the game in 3D for the 3DS. While there are plenty of fun games on the Wii and DS/3DS, the main issue if that the majority of games are shovelware and incredibly shallow with unintuitive controls because most of the devlopment time and resources likely goes into getting the games to actually work on a Nintendo console.

Add all of this together with games that are just the same fucking thing with a new lick of paint. Now it's not gameplay that Nintendo has trouble with innovating Sunshine and Galaxy prove this, it's the setting, story, characters themselves, and design philosophy as a whole that never change. The main first party Nintendo games never change in terms of game mechanics, play modes and various other improvements that make a new game in the series worth buying. Add in that the characters never go through development or even change, and as I mentioned before, the core story and setting in the games don't change at all (Zelda is as guilty of this as Mario). All of this makes it seem that the main marketing strategy of Nintendo is appealing to nostalgia without even realising that even Mario has a shelf life.

Plus I need to point back to the "Got No Games!" stigma stuck with the Wii U which has also damaged it, again this is purely on Nintendo. They offered no reason as to why the launch library was no small, instead they started flailing thier arms and using the massively fuckwitarded logical fallacy of "cultural Differences" to blame the system flopping, without asking themselves why their console was flopping in the first place. The sheer arrogance and stupidity that Nintendo has been displaying over the last few years reflects Sony in 2004-6, and the only reasons people aren't noticing it are:

1. Microsoft, Ubi-Soft, EA, Activision/Blizzard et el have been WORSE
2. Nintendo are magically critic proof due to idiotic gamers refusing to take off their Nostalgia Goggles and just accept that thier beloved company is doing retarded things.

The Wii U itself is not a bad console and in spite of my comments, I really like the idea of it. What the problem is, is Nintendo.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Agreed on all points.

I love Nintendo, but I hate what they've become.


Icemage

[Malacite]

re: UK retailer ASDA suspends sales of Wii U (update: Morrisons too)

Yeah I'm more or less in the same boat.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like things will change for the next 10~15 years unless both those old Dinosaurs die off and someone competent (who actually understands how online works...) gets in charge.

[Icemage]

re: UK retailer ASDA suspends sales of Wii U (update: Morrisons too)

Updated thread title.

Analysis: Can Nintendo turn Wii U sales around this Christmas | Games industry news | MCV

Buried in this article:

Meanwhile, when Asda cut the price of Wii U by £100 three weeks ago, this resulted in just 250 extra console sales compared with the week previously. Amazon followed suit the following week, which caused a further 667 console sales. This shows that the price cut did have an impact, but we’re hardly talking big increases here.

The news that Asda and Morrisons have dropped Wii U support is also worrying. There are a lot of products for games retailers to stock this Christmas – from Skylanders toys to Xbox One consoles. This may mean more retailers will drop Wii U in favour of better performing products.

Frame of reference: Morrisons is the 4th largest supermarket chain in the UK, if Wikipedia is to be believed.


Icemage