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

[cidbahamut]

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

Is this really surprising to anyone at all? Isn't the Wii-U doing even worse in Europe than it is in the states? The thing has a terribly small install base last I checked so it makes good business sense to stop wasting shelf space on it.

[Firewind]

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

Nintendo was never that big in Europe, especially in the UK. It stems from the fact that the gaming industry has always been strong across the continent. Well that and Atari only done fucked up in the US.

In the 1980's there was no games Industry Crash in Europe (or Japan actually) like in the US so Nintendo never got the chance to step in since the NES actually HAD competition, especially from the Home Microcomputer market so Commadore, Amiga and Atari were hard for them to overturn, especially since they were marketed VERY well to all ages. Parents loved them because they touted how damn useful computers are for kid's learning, adults loved them because there were lots of great games and many kids in Europe got their first taste of gaming on those machines. Then came Sega, and Nintendo never really pulled ahead of the Master System and Mega Drive. And of course the Playstation rolled around.

Basically in Europe Nintendo are known for making good handhelds, incompetent customer service, backwards marketing and that console everyone bought for Wii Sports and stopped playing once they realised all the good games are on the PS3/360/PC/Tablets. They still never shook off the "kiddy" image either, especially since they STILL market the DS and 3DS largely at kids. Plus they never got a good FIFA or Pro Evolution Soccer (I think it's called Winning Eleven in the US) game on a Nintendo console as well. Something that kills sales even more in soccer crazy Europe.

Nintendo's actions in Europe have been a huge history of nothing but facepalms and incompetence really. They have been full of the typical, and pretty fucking offensive Japanese attitude of Europeans and Americans all being the same and liking the same thing.

[Yellow Mage]

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

Nintendo's actions in Europe have been a huge history of nothing but facepalms and incompetence really. They have been full of the typical, and pretty fucking offensive Japanese attitude of Europeans and Americans all being the same and liking the same thing.

Anecdotal, but didn't you guys get that Tingle game over Americans precisely out of awareness that we don't like the same things?

(Only linking TVTropes to you because that seems to be the language you communicate in . . .)

[Firewind]

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

It depends on what part of Europe you talk to. Some places love him, some hate him as much as the Americans.

[Icemage]

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

Looks like Nintendo's finally noticing that they're losing shelf space in the UK.

Nintendo teams up with Tesco for Wii U fight back | Games industry news | MCV

Nintendo UK has set itself ambitious targets in its bid to rescue the ailing Wii U.

The company admitted to MCV that too many people are unaware that Wii U is a new console, and will embark on a giant campaign to educate parents and kids – particularly Wii owners.

Nintendo has booked in-store space at Tesco, will send a five page leaflet to 300,000 Tesco customers that bought a Wii but have yet to buy another console, and even give away vouchers offering money-off games.

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Nintendo says its combined Wii U and 3DS marketing budget is ‘significantly higher’ than that of last year.

“We haven’t had the sales we wanted on Wii U hardware. We haven’t had the software for most of this year. But we have some quite ambitious numbers, particularly with some of our biggest franchises coming,” said UK marketing director Shelly Pearce.

“Our monthly tracking shows that Wii remains the No.1 console for brand awareness. This offers us a massive opportunity to convert Wii owners to Wii U.

“Interest is starting to grow but we know we have a lot of work to do.”

She added: “There was a big misconception at launch about what Wii U is. And one of the big messages is that this is a new console and a new controller. There are many people out there that don’t know what this is.”

Icemage

[Firewind]

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

There's also the fact that the majority of good Nintendo games come out on the 3DS, there's still no compelling reason to buy the Wii U when all the good exclusives are on a console that everyone already owns.

[Malacite]

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

All the good Wii U games aren't out until next year, and by then PS4 and XB1 will be well established which is only going to put Nintendo further behind.

[Firewind]

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

Problem is if I was a developer developing a game for a Nintendo console, I would want to release my game on the 3DS, a system with a massive attach rate and something that is currently dominating in Japan and very strong in the rest of the world, over a system that is being outsold by even the Vita.

[Icemage]

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

^ I'm not entirely sure the Vita outsells the Wii U (other than in Japan maybe).

It does, however, have a very dedicated hardcore gamer fanbase that buys a ton of games (myself included). Sony's mentioned this on many occasions to defend why they continue to have the Vita on the market, because they're happy with large software sales (many of them digital and thus having higher profit) relative to the install base. It also has one of the highest owner satisfaction rates of any console I've ever seen, with maybe the exception of early era Wii.


Icemage

[Malacite]

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

Now if only they'd cut it out with the goddamn over-priced proprietary memory sticks and perhaps a few more killer apps/lower price drop and I think they'd be fine.

[Icemage]

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

Revisiting this because of recent Nintendo Wii U sales news.

Users on NeoGAF are now reporting that Argos and Amazon UK have dropped their price on the Wii U Premium from £229.99 to £179.99. This doesn't appear to be a sale promotion of sort, so either there's a price drop incoming for Europe or they're clearing out inventory.


Argos UK:
Buy Wii U Premium 32GB Pack - Black with Nintendo Land Game at Argos.co.uk - Your Online Shop for Nintendo Wii U consoles.

Amazon UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008B5YB4W


Icemage