“…A Single Title” Could Save the Wii U, Says Nintendo’s Iwata

While the Wii U has remained in a constant of failure in terms of sales for Nintendo, president Satoru Iwata still believes that the system can turn around with the release of “one single title.”

During a Nintendo investor Q&A, Iwata ended by addressing the recent sales forcast of 3.6 million Wii U units sold this fiscal year with this:

The fate of a video game system is often influenced greatly by the introduction of a single title. As many of you probably remember, before the release of the Pokémon game, Game Boy had been showing slow growth, and many people wondered whether it was the end of Game Boy. But the Pokémon game singlehandedly changed the landscape of the system, which then started to show the strongest sales in the lifecycle of the system.

I suppose yes, he is indeed right. The difference, however, is that the Game Boy was released in 1989 and was initially a popular system. Pokémon brought in a resurgence of sales. Wii U has yet to have a genuinely solid sales quarter since its release in 2012.

But what game does Iwata believe will single-handedly boost sales for the Wii U? He never says, but responds to the opening inquiry regarding the sales profit and loss on the Wii U with this:

We set the sales unit forecast of 3.60 million units of Wii U hardware as the target that we should at least reach by making the releases of two key titles for this fiscal year from the very popular, evergreen franchises that have been under development since before the launch of Wii U hardware, “Mario Kart 8” and “Super Smash Bros. for Wii U,” the pillars of our entire marketing strategy for this year. These two titles can be enjoyed alone or with others, and we believe they will encourage those who do not own Wii U hardware to purchase it. With respect to the impact of Wii U hardware sales on profit and loss, in order to sell 3.60 million units, we have to produce some more hardware units on top of our current hardware inventory.

Are either Mario Kart 8 or Super Smash Bros. for Wii U the system sellers that Nintendo is hoping for? Let us know what you think in the comments.