The Nintendo Wii U could face a bleak future if the second half of this year fails to provide sales increases, predicts one analyst.
Michael Pachter, research analyst at Wedbush Securities believes the latter half of 2013 will decide the Wii U’s fate, especially before the Xbox One and PS4 release dates at the end of the year.
“We believe the Wii U release date slate on display will be a key determinant of the console’s long-term staying power,” said Pachter. “With the more powerful PS4 and Xbox One launching later this year, Nintendo risks losing additional share to its console competitors if the quality and volume of content available for Wii U does not pick up markedly in the near-term.”
The Wii U has suffered from stagnant sales since launch, as the console has failed to attract significant consumer attention.
“If the Wii U’s popularity does not improve by the end of the year, many third-party publishers may pass on producing games for the console.”
Major game publisher, EA Games, has already admitted that it has no games in development for the Wii U at the moment. This means the console will miss out on huge titles like FIFA 14, Battlefield 4 or any other of the publisher’s mammoth franchises.
“EA recently announced that it had no Wii U games in development, and it remains a possibility that the publisher will abandon the platform entirely. Should other third parties follow EA’s lead, the Wii U could be relegated to a first party only platform.”
Despite Satoru Iwata stating Nintendo wouldn’t cut the Wii U price, the majority of retailers have been exercising their own unofficial price drop. A new round of Nintendo Wii U price cuts started at the beginning of last month, dropping the console’s cost to just £149 – a full £100 cheaper than its original RRP.
“Nintendo may look to spur Wii U sales through either a hardware price drop of $50 or a bundle that includes some of its more popular software,” added Pachter.
Nintendo announced that it had missed annual profit targets by 50 per cent last month, blaming the miscommunication between the console manufacturer and the public for slow Wii U sales. Nintendo boss Iwata said Nintendo had had difficulties portraying the console’s features to the public.
Next, read why the Wii U is Nintendo’s Dreamcast.
Via: MCV
