Shigeru Miyamoto Attributes Lackluster Launch of Wii U to Tablets and Launch Pricing

Just a couple days ago, Reggie Fils-Aime admitted that the Wii U's state has been quite strong, but the platform took a long time to be considered a commercial success. Even more so, the Wii U is still not as strong in sales as its predecessors, and where Fils-Aime attributes that to the lack of strong software, Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of many Nintendo franchises, states a different reason.

He blames the lack of commercial success on the extreme progression of tablets.

In an interview with NPR, Miyamoto that, during early development of the Wii U GamePad, the controller was to be groundbreaking and game-changing, but when it was released in late 2012, the tablets had become popular and evolved rapidly, making the pad look no longer unique.

Two other factors, he explained, were the high price of the console and the fact that people weren't exactly understanding of the console's features.

To quote his reasoning:
 

"Unfortunately with our latest system, the Wii U, the price point was one that ended up getting a little higher than we wanted. I don't think it's just price, because if the system is appealing enough, people will buy it even if the price is a little bit high. I think with Wii U, our challenge was that perhaps people didn't understand the system."

"I think unfortunately what ended up happening was that tablets themselves appeared in the marketplace and evolved very, very rapidly, and unfortunately the Wii [u] system launched at a time where the uniqueness of those features were perhaps not as strong as they were when we had first begun developing them."

"So what I think is unique about Nintendo is we're constantly trying to do unique and different things. Sometimes they work, and sometimes they're not as big of a hit as we would like to hope."

Here are my two cents--and take my opinion with a grain of salt--but I have to side with Fils-Aime with the reasoning behind the growing strength of the Wii U, which can possibly be correlated to the launch of the Wii U: game library. As a gamer, I did not believe that the Wii U system, despite the appeal of the design, was the selling point, but the catalog of games were.

And honestly, the launch titles of the Wii U weren't exactly a system seller. To refresh memories, here are the 23 titles:

• Call of Duty: Black Ops II
• Skylanders Giants
• Transformers Prime
• Wipeout 3
• Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two
• FIFA Soccer 13
• Tekken Tag Tournament 2
• New Super Mario Bros. U
• Ninja Gaiden: Razor's Edge
• Nintendo Land
• Sing Party
• Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
• Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper
• Darksiders II
• Assassin's Creed III
• ESPN Sports Connection
• Just Dance 4
• Rabbids Land
• Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2013
• ZombiU
• Scribblenauts Unlimited
• Game Party Champions
• Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition

Now, judging by this list, most of these games were available on other platforms that people had. New Super Mario Bros., Nintendo Land, and Skylanders Giants were great, but not a system seller for many gamers.

Understanding this, and not seeing a strikingly appealing title that screamed "BUY ME" at the time (i.e. Zelda Wii U or Super Smash Bros. proved that it wouldn't sell exactly well) probably contributed to the lack of sales. Post-launch, the game releases were sparse, and AAA releases were even more sparse.

If anything, iconic, first-party games and strong, exclusive third-party games, like Xenoblade Chronicles X, are what sells the Wii U. 

Back to the main point, you can read the entire interview between Miyamoto and NPR here.