The very first thing that comes to mind when looking at how the Wii U is doing is that Nintendo failed. The entire future of the company is now in doubt. Many say that Nintendo needs to stop publishing video games and move towards something else. However, if this happens, the entire video game industry loses something that it does lack: quality.
We have to acknowledge the fact that the entire industry is affected by releases that are not ready and games filled with bugs. Nintendo stands out as a game developer that launches games that are close to flawless. For instance, in 2017 there was just one major bug that was reported for one of their games. This is definitely huge and quite rare.
The best possible example of how bad a fast, rushed release can be is Battlefield 4. Even the Black Flag title in the Assassin’s Creed series had numerous bugs. With Nintendo games you do not see something like this.
Another thing that should be mentioned is that Nintendo is an innovation leader in gaming. The company does take risks. Even if many of them do not pay off, the company is one of the few that actually focus on innovation. This does lack in video gaming. Just think about the WWE2K series. Nothing is really innovated as new games are released every year.
What has to be taken into account is that the Nintendo Wii was a success because of the innovation it brought in through motion controls. This was the beginning and what we should all remember is that this actually opened the doors to brand new gaming options. In a similar way, the dual-screen gameplay option creates really interesting new gaming experiences. The only problem was that this was not required in the Wii U. The risk that was taken was not translated into enough consumer demand.
Even in the event that the Wii U completely fails, Nintendo gains reputation because of the fact that it tries to do something that is different. It actively looks for ways in which to be different. The company is looking for that unique selling proposition that is needed for modern competition.
Innovation is seen in gaming and software was also affected. The only really big problem is that Nintendo keeps popping out games with the same themes. Mario is already over-saturated. Even if the games that were launched are really good, they still do not have enough appeal. There are new titles that were tried and that were fully innovative like Pikmin 3. Try to explain that game to a person that did not play it. You will quickly figure out how hard that is.
Nintendo is needed in the video game industry as it is one of the few companies that actually try to do something new. Their games do not reach a wide audience but they do cover numerous niches and are interesting. The fact that they keep coming up with something new is great and it is only a matter of time until something catches.
