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Wii U's games aren't up to par, Nintendo admits

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata 'fessed up during the company's quarterly earnings call.

Joe Svetlik Reporter
Joe has been writing about consumer tech for nearly seven years now, but his liking for all things shiny goes back to the Gameboy he received aged eight (and that he still plays on at family gatherings, much to the annoyance of his parents). His pride and joy is an Infocus projector, whose 80-inch picture elevates movie nights to a whole new level.
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Joe Svetlik
2 min read

Update: An earlier version of this story ran with the headline: "Wii U isn't a worthy successor to the Wii, Nintendo admits". Nintendo has been in touch to point out it's the games that Iwata deems not worthy, rather than the console itself.

Nintendo has admitted the choice of games on its Wii U console isn't as good as it should be. The company's head honcho deemed that the titles released so far wouldn't convince gamers to upgrade from the original Wii.

Nintendo president and CEO Satoru Iwata made the confession during the company's financial results briefing for the second quarter. While bigging up new and upcoming titles like Super Mario 3D World and Wii Party U, Iwata admitted: "On the other hand, except for its backward compatibility with existing Wii software and accessories, we have so far failed to make propositions worthy of Wii U's position as a successor to the Wii system."

The Wii U hasn't got off to a flying start in its first year. It's sold poorly, leading to repeated price cuts, and supermarket chain Asda even stopped flogging the console. The problem is, it's been too confusing for the type of casual gamer won over by the simplicity of the original Wii, which is something my esteemed colleague Luke Westaway warned of.

Nintendo has admitted as much. Shelly Pearce, Nintendo UK's marketing director, told trade title MCV recently: "There was a big misconception at launch about what Wii U is… There are many people out there who don't know what this is."

Nintendo is targeting Tesco in the run-up to Christmas, sending out leaflets to its shoppers, and setting up in-store demos to spur what it hopes will be a sale push.

It's not all doom and gloom for Ninty, though. Its 2DS handheld was the best-selling console in the UK last week, with sales shooting up 64 per cent, according to MCV. (Nintendo wasn't able to confirm this, but a spokesperson said that figure "sounds right".) No doubt that'll be due to the half-term holidays.

Nintendo released Wii Party U last week. Super Mario 3D World will hit shop shelves on 29 November.

Were you disappointed by the Wii U? Can these games turn around its fortunes? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook page.