Let’s not mince words here- the Wii U managed to build a hell of a great library for itself, there is no denying that. But the console was a major disappointment in terms of its success, support from third parties, and impact on the industry wide landscape, especially when compared to Nintendo’s world changing Wii, the Wii U’s immediate predecessor.
This led to a kind of widescale disappointment with the Wii U- a disappointment that Nintendo themselves feel, if leading retailer of video game hardware and software GameStop’s CEO Paul Raines is to be believed.
“Wii U was disappointing to everybody, including them [Nintendo],” Raines told [a]listdaily. “They made some bold bets, and maybe some of them didn’t work out. But they have a lot of creativity there. They’re a very innovative group of people, so we never count out Nintendo. Even now it’s incredible how strong some of their IP is—Pokémon, for example. We could have a Pokémon weekend this weekend at GameStop and we would break sales records just because every time they put out a new game they have a very loyal fan base. Super Mario, Zelda, all those IPs have a huge, loyal fan base.
But this kind of dismal performance is not something that can be expected from the NX, according to GameStop’s early indicators, Raines said.
“There is some excitement around NX. Lately here, we’ve been hearing a lot more buzz than we have in the past. Nintendo is interesting in that they really are able to keep things as quiet as they can for a while. And then they just lost their leader, so they’ve gone through a mourning period and so forth.
“NX sounds exciting. We’re looking forward to it. They’re very innovative in everything that they do. I hope that they come out with something exciting and innovative. I think we’ll be dominant distributor of that platform.”
When the leading retailer says that there is early excitement for the NX, that is probably a good thing. With Nintendo taking their time with the console – it does not launch until March next year, and it will not be at E3 this year – it is instrumental that they manage to get this one right. They may not get another crack at the market if they don’t.