Reggie Fils-Aime believes the Nintendo Switch won't replicate the Wii U's failure. The latter is Nintendo's home console released more than four years ago, which has been discontinued. Lack of third-party interest dissuaded a huge number of gamers from ever touching the system, which in turn spelled low sales — just around 13 million — which then prompted the Nintendo to yank it off the production line.
Why The Switch Won't Fail
The Switch, Nintendo's new and forthcoming console, will accrue more success than the Wii U, as Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America's CEO, reveals in a new interview. He argues the Switch has a much clearer selling proposition than the company's embattled home console.
"Nintendo Switch is a home console you can play anywhere, with anyone. Clear. Compelling," he tells GameSpot. He adds that since the reveal, the reaction for the console has so far been sterling and positive — so sterling, in fact, that growing acclaim even nudged Fils-Aime's old-time buddies to ring him up and assault him with Switch queries.
"[J]ust the frequency with which I get called by old high school buddies that I haven't heard from in 30 years who are asking me how to get their hands on Nintendo Switch," he says. "We have communicated the proposition clearly and it is compelling."
Why The Wii U Failed
A clear and concise marketing move doesn't solve the whole equation — many Switch units need to be brought before developers can be convinced that there's enough of them in circulation that to make games for it would spell profitability. This is a relationship the Wii U struggled to cultivate.
Fils-Aime argues that during its time, there was no shortage of "fantastic" titles for release for the Wii U. He's not wrong. Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Brothers, and Pikmin 3 all satisfy Fils-Aime description, along with a slew of third-party titles the likes of Bayonetta 2, The Wonderful 101, and so many others.
What hurt its chances of cornering the home console market is the gaps between those titles, according to Fils-Aime.
"[A]s you look at the reality of exactly when the games were launched, there were large gaps in between," he says.
Nintendo Switch Confirmed Games
Nintendo says that as of this time, 80 games are being developed for the Switch. Also announced were launch games for the system — at least five — which includes, much to raucous applause, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, a game whose release date was hotly contested prior.
That game will be the last one Nintendo will ever release for the Wii U, capping the console with a wonderful coda. With its co-launch with the Switch, the release kind of signals a proper if subtle transition from the predecessor to the successor.
Some games have been confirmed to be the Switch's road map, many of them third-party entries such as Skyrim, Minecraft, a new FIFA game, and many others. Fils-Aime says that there's going to be a "steady cadence of content" for the Switch.
The Nintendo Switch launches March 3.
