Nintendo's had a bad run of things lately, copping to having sold only roughly 4 million Wii U consoles around the world in a year's time. Given the numbers for the recently released PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, which stand in the 2 million range respectively, either console from Microsoft and Sony could surpass Nintendo's Wii U. Despite the bad news, word around the campfire is that Nintendo and the Wii U are only "just getting started." But the interesting thing is that it's not just Nintendo trying to spread the word, but Sony as well.
OK, not specifically Sony itself, but a PlayStation executive is saying that there's more coming from Nintendo. Sony Worldwide Studios President, Shuhei Yoshida, recently appeared on the talk show "Kurokawa Juku," where he said that despite the system's slow start, no one should count out the console just yet.
As translated by Kotaku, Yoshida said "the Wii U is just getting started." Yoshida is very obviously a fan of the company and its new console. The proof goes beyond the praise, as he actually owns two of the consoles himself.
"People can get together and enjoy [the Wii U]; it's got plenty of wonderful games." Yoshida added. "Nintendo helps raise and teaches the fun of games to people just starting out. I think that's a very important thing in this industry."
Echoing Yoshida recently was Chief Operating Officer of Nintendo of America, Reggie Fils-Aime, who appeared at Spike's VGX last week to say, "this industry is all about what happens six months down the road, what happens a year down the road."
"For us, what we love to do is to bring great new games, innovative gameplay, that's what Nintendo's known for, and as long as we do that, we're gonna drive our hardware business."
Yoshida and Reggie could be right. Nintendo revealed that it did indeed have some tricks up its sleeve, in the forms of a sequel to Dr. Mario in Dr. Luigi, an interesting new Legend of Zelda game called Hyrule Warriors, and plans to keep gamers interest alive in the Pokémon brand with a bank feature, and possibly more legendaries coming to Pokémon X and Y. There's also the new Super Smash Bros. in the pipeline.
Not everyone shares such a sunny disposition regarding Nintendo. Earlier this month, famed analyst Michael Pachter was sharply critical of both the Wii U and Nintendo's business practices. Pachter called the Wii U's performance "underwhelming," and that Nintendo could take advantage of the mobile market by offering some of its older games for free on tablets and smartphones. Pachter nailed the Wii U's dismal sales record as a serious thorn in Nintendo's side, and went so far as to say that he didn't "know why Iwata is still employed."
Though, it's important to consider that Pachter is no Metatron. There are some things he's predicted which we're still waiting to materialize.