It seems like things just keep getting worse for Nintendo; their E3 unveiling of the Wii U last year proved underwhelming, with the show being stolen away from them by enticing current-gen properties like Watch Dogs and The Last of Us, and it's been bad news followed by bad news ever since. With so few reasons to own one and so many to wait until Sony and Microsoft unveil their next-gen consoles soon, Nintendo need to act fast or risk being left flailing in the race for gaming supremacy. After so much success with the original Wii, it'd be pretty galling to see their market share fall from 1st place to 3rd, though that seems likely if they don't clean up their act. It might be early days to make this judgement decisively, but it seems like the Wii U has probably failed. Here are 10 reasons why the Wii U is a failure...
8. Poor Marketing
Despite most of my friends and acquaintances being gamers, not a single one of them owns a Wii U or has even bothered talking about it! This can be largely blamed on Nintendo's awful advertising campaign, which above all else just lacks a significant presence; I can't recall seeing a single advert on TV or billboard while taking the Tube, when something as big as this should have been plastered everywhere at every opportunity. As a result, plenty of people were left unsure of even what it was; I know a few people who assumed it was a peripheral for the regular Wii, and so in this sense, Nintendo really dug their own grave. If they can't even be bothered to convey the basic nature of the product to people, then they probably don't deserve to be a success, either. The Wii U is a console without a proper identity; to too many people it is an enigma that they just can't be bothered to look up for themselves.