Nintendo Needs to Fix Their Marketing

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Many writers have spilled gallons of ink underestimating Nintendo, but as the company struggles to give the Wii U a strong identity it becomes clear that the system is already troubled. New systems work when they launch with a strong vision and a clear idea of their identity, and right now the Wii U has neither. If Nintendo can’t fix that problem, and create an attractive elevator pitch for the market, the holidays are going to be a bloodbath.

I just have to laugh when it comes to the misconceptions concerning the GamePad and the Wii U as it's own console; it's the 3DS all over again. Anyway, fairly long article to read concerning how Nintendo is going about their promotion of the Wii U and what's right/wrong.

I completely agree. Somehow a few people are a majority, and the real majority doesn't factor in. A couple of people show confusion and suddenly it gets blown way out of proportion. Non-gamers won't be learning anything about the Wii U until around release, so it's amusing to see all these articles making it look like a big deal.

quote bbb7002004

I don't really get it. People not into the gaming scene don't care about a console 6 months from release, and won't care until marketing really kicks into overdrive, like a month before the thing hits shelves. They don't know what Wii U is now, but they won't care for another five months anyway. People into the gaming scene should know what it is, if they don't then they are just plain dumb.

The real problem is the "journalists" that seem determined to spread misinformation about Wii U. I don't know if they really are that dumb, they just hate Nintendo, or they like the page count boost of people like me telling them how dumb they are.

It's not just that, but it's more people who are already NIntendo fans that are aware of what exactly the WiiU is. I remember last year at E3, nearly everyone into the gaming scene, but not necessarily Nintendo, thought the WiiU was just an additional controller. This year, the press conference showed a few new games that appealed to the hardcore audience, instead focusing on games already released, some casual games, and NintendoLand. I can tell you that most people weren't too astounded by that, despite the fact that some actual really good looking games were shown outside of the conference.

I do agree that Nintendo needs to get a new marketing strategy, because they said they wanted a bigger hardcore audience, but they're confusing people that are on the fence about spending more than $200 on a new console.