Hey! It’s been a while since I’ve put my opinion on my blog. To be honest I’ve just been looking for the right topic. And this week it finally came to me. As you probably heard Nintendo had another “Nintendo Direct” earlier this week.
Mario and Luigi: Dream Team, a new 3DS based Yoshi’s Island and of course the new Zelda title where all shown to us which had most of us screaming like little girls. As usual Nintendo’s unique magic sparkled. But I felt it only sparkled for the 3DS, the WiiU news was largely thin on the ground. With only a few people really getting excited about more Pikmin 3 details and the the fact that Earthbound was FINALLY coming to virtual console. Oh yea and the new WiiU system update.
I was watching all of this and thinking, I really can’t wait to get back into playing my 3DS. As I’ve neglected it lately in favour of my Vita. My WiiU has been gathering a thick layer of dust, not even Monster Hunter kept me playing for longer than a few days, before getting really bored and underwhelmed, a feeling the console has given most users.
Hype for the little black (or white box) has significantly dropped this year. Third party support has pretty much stopped for the moment and you rarely read good news about the console.
However what Nintendo is winning, is the handheld market and has been for quite some time. Just check out the staggering sales below:
- Nintendo 3DS worldwide sales: 29.84 million (as of December 31, 2012)
- Nintendo DS worldwide sales: 153.67 million (as of December 31, 2012)
- GameBoy Advance worldwide sales: 81.51 million (as of December 31, 2012)
- GameBoy Sales worldwide sales: 118.69 million (as of December 31, 2012)
But in my opinion when it comes to consoles, ever since the NES/SNES Nintendo really have not been the powerhouse of home consoles they were back in the 16-bit era. The N64 and the Gamecube where always behind competitors in the market. Of course the bastard thing which disproves my opinion is the Wii, which has gone on to sell nearly 100 Million units worldwide.
Sadly though it seems that for now, that same amount of success won’t be gracing the WiiU. But yesterdays Nintendo Direct further highlighted Nintendos strength in handhelds, with an abundance of creativity and excitement which had people hugging their 3DS’s. And it just made we wonder, will Nintendo even bother making a home console after the WiiU?
The sales just aren’t there and it just seems that they are falling behind Sony and Microsoft in the home console market in a number of ways. From online services, third party support and of course in longterm sales. Will anyone apart from the hardcore market even look at a WiiU once the PS4 and new Xbox drop? A huge part of me thinks not.
I feel that Nintendo needs to cut it’s losses and invest in what it seems to know and succeed in best, handhelds. Instead of seemingly using the money gained from that successful business to prop up it’s home console division.
Of course a decision such as the one I’m proposing would hurt. But I would rather this, than see more years of Nintendos home console efforts not hitting the mark and becoming a laughing stock, which is currently the situation with the WiiU.
But who knows maybe they’re waiting to blow us all way at E3 and have us (finally) dry humping our WiiU’s. For their sake and mine I hope that’s the case.
