Wii U Marketing Mayhem

by Piyoz on Apr 9th, 2014

In a previous article, I talked about some of the causes of the Wii U’s recent poor sales. I talked mainly about the industry around Nintendo consoles changing under their feet. I claimed that the Wii was a fad that can’t be replicated to the degree that Nintendo hoped. I made a point briefly on the Wii U having poor marketing. I’d like to talk a little more about that. Let me just elaborate a little.

Think of all the commercials you’ve seen for the Xbox One. I’ve seen a whole lot since the holiday season, all of them with their smooth, green color schemes and images of game play and the home menu panels. They don’t really impress me, but I guess enough people out there found them compelling. They must not mind being spied on.

Think of all the PlayStation 4 commercials you’ve seen since its release. I’ve seen more than I can count. Those live action actors playing through racing games, battling pirates, and engaging in futuristic military shooting. Those scenes show the viewer exactly what kind of experience they’ll receive with a PS4. Pretty straight-forward advertising, right?

Think of all the Wii U commercials you’ve seen. Personally, I’ve seen maybe two or three since Christmas. Most of the ads focus on families sitting around a TV and playing party games or Super Mario 3D World with bright, jovial faces. These commercials talk about “upgrading to Wii U.” It’s usually kids. Their high-pitched, innocent voices convincing us that the new NintendoBox is the next rung on some ladder leading to centralized familial nirvana. What may be a siren’s call to the more paternally/maternally inclined sounds more like bagpipes to my nihilistic, millenial ears.

These TV spots confound me. What are they selling? They’re not really selling games. They’re trying to sell “togetherness.” To be fair, “togetherness” is a common side affect of multiplayer gaming. But what does the Wii U actually do, and why should I have one in my home? Maybe if these commercials showed more of the variety of uses of the Wii U, the viewer might have a better impression of what the machine can handle. Anyone who sees this TV spot might not imagine that it could play Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed III, or Watch_Dogs. According to these ads, it’s a family machine that plays games for casuals and kids. Methinks this might be Nintendo’s problem.

The crucial element that Nintendo isn’t advertising is that EVERY kind of gamer can find something to play on a Wii U. From Nintendo Land to Mass Effect 3, this piece of tech has the recognizable controls of a tablet AND the processing power that can keep up with its competitors. These commercials aren’t plugging the wide demographic aim of the Wii U.

I talk to my gaming friends in real life and most of them don’t know that Nintendo released another console. I have to tell them that the Wii U exists and is actually on shelves. They will then inevitably ask a question along the lines of “Nintendo’s still making kids games?” Nintendo has done little change their image in the eyes of most consumers in this new generation. And I think a lot of that lies in the name.

When you give a machine a name like the Wii U, people are going to think it’s like the Wii. Simple enough logic. Now forgive me if I’m reaching here. Isn’t the general view of the Wii (and Nintendo in general) these days that of motion controls, inferior graphics, and kids’ games? Am I wrong on that? Or do I just hang out with idiots?

The big problem there is in that (on one side) core gamers already have found brands that carry the experiences they want (namely Microsoft, Sony, and Valve), and those casual players (parents, grandparents, tech-savvy children) already own devices that can play the simple and quick virtual experiences that they prefer (tablets, smartphones, etc). What could the Wii U offer either of these consumer bases? According to these commericals, it’s “togetherness”.

Regretfully, this “togetherness” is not a complete marketing strategy. No one pays three hundred dollars to be together with people they probably hate. People who want a fun, simple video game experience already own a Wii and/or get complete satisfaction out of Flappy Bird and Burn the Rope on their phone thingies. Inversely, young adults with money (core gamers who can support an industry on their own) see the Wii U name and think that it’s a product for kids (even though it’s trying to appeal to everyone?). They want graphics power and detailed, cinematic games which Sony and Microsoft have already convinced them can be found on a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. And then there are the smarmy jackasses who laugh upon the inutility of game consoles and then turn around to complain that a CD key didn’t register. What a bunch of assholes.

And that brings us full circle, doesn’t it? The Wii U is a victim of 1) poor marketing by appealing to an unclear audience, 2) poor nomenclature that implies that the machine is something it’s not meant to be and 3) a market whose casual audience has jumped ship for tablets and smartphones and a core audience that much prefers other machines. Nintendo hasn’t convinced anyone that the Wii U is a machine worth your money except hardcore Nintendo fans. They number in the millions. Just not enough millions, apparently.

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