The sales of the Nintendo Wii U have been a topic of interest for many gamers as it’s obvious the company is having some trouble getting people to pick up its “next-gen” console. With only 64,000 units sold last month, it’ll only be just a few short weeks until we hear how terribly it did in March, but GameStop’s President Tony Bartel gave us a glimpse into how exactly the console is doing in its stores.
During GameStop’s earnings call yesterday, Bartel said the Wii U had a stronger-than-expected launch as the console initially sold out across its stores. Its after-holiday sales seem to be the problem as Bartel says they’ve been “disappointing” over the last few months, but GameStop still won’t give up on the console as Bartel believes he has the reason why the Wii U has been having issues with its sales:
“I still think that there is tremendous opportunity from a consumer standpoint, that they do not understand the tethered tablet, the way that the gameplay worked. I think that the marketing has not broken through the level that it needs to, and in spite of efforts of our team to really talk about that, and educate consumers about that, I think that we still have an education process we need to go through. More importantly, I think where you’re really going to see Wii U take off is when there is a strong first-party title, that’s what we’ve always seen. And the fact that we really did launch without a strong first-party title, I think we’re seeing the ramifications of that today.”
Bartel’s comments seem to be exactly on point as to why Nintendo is having trouble getting the Wii U into the homes of gamers. Lack of must-have first-party titles have made many Nintendo fans, who were jaded by the promises of the Wii, sit back and wait until they absolutely have to pick up a Wii U, which we’re sure will be when a new Zelda, Mario or Super Smash Bros. game is released.
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