“The launch of other video game systems is also good for us because they energize the video game industry as a whole,” Nintendo president Satoru Iwata told analysts. “This year, what Nintendo is promoting is, conversely, to stand out in the game industry for individuality.”
But a plethora of analysts disagree with Iwata’s assessment, claiming that instead of becoming a “family” console like the original Wii, the Wii U has turned into a niche platform.
“Wii U has become a game console only for Nintendo fans,” SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. analyst Eiji Maeda said in the aforementioned report. “Wii U needs groundbreaking software to draw casual and hardcore gamers.”
Nintendo and Iwata’s financial forecast ends at April 2014, and they aim to sell 9 million Wii U consoles over the several months between now and April. This is an extremely optimistic forecast because the console has only managed to sell 460,000 during the entire first half of the fiscal year.
“They steadfastly refuse to consider that the product is not interesting to consumers,” Los Angeles-based analyst Michael Pachter said. “They will fail to hit 9 million, and they will likely miss their profit goals.”