Though it may have had a relatively slow start, the Nintendo Wii U isn’t doing half bad worldwide. With 7.29 million units sold and tons of exciting releases like Super Smash Bros., Bayonetta 2 and Hyrule Warriors, the Wii U is on pretty decent footing as of this time despite the lack of third party titles like Call of Duty.
Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aime spoke to Recode about the console’s third party support and though he believes the Wii U could benefit from the same, Fils-Aime also believes it offers something the Xbox One and PS4 don’t.
“I would love to have Call of Duty on our platform. I would love to have any of the big blockbuster, multi-platform titles. But I have to say, more specifically, I want games that provide a differentiated consumer experience. If you look at the other two competitive platforms, fundamentally, what’s the difference? When you look at either one, either by themselves doesn’t have a lot of exclusive content. They have a lot of shared content. Look at it from the standpoint of, what don’t they have? They don’t have our games. They don’t have Mario and Zelda.
“When you look at either one, either by themselves doesn’t have a lot of exclusive content. What don’t they have? They don’t have our games. They don’t have Mario and Zelda. I’d much rather be where Nintendo is, with a differentiated platform, differentiated set-up experiences that we can provide uniquely to the consumer. Let those other guys battle it out over, you know, which visual representation of Call of Duty is most compelling. I like our chances of having a differentiated console and a differentiated series of experiences.”
Those who still want access to third party games needn’t fret though. Given the Wii U’s success, Fils-Aime feels it’s only a matter of time before third party support increases. “This business is built on a year-and-a-half or two-year planning cycles, especially for the home console space.
“Products that they’re thinking about today are not going to come into the market until two years down the road. By doing a great job today in the here and now, that’s what’s going to feed the pipeline of great new third-party content coming onto our platform. For us, that’s the long game that we’re trying to play.”
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