Industry analyst Michael Pachter has warned that the Wii U’s success may hinge on third-party support – an area in which Nintendo has traditionally failed to triumph.
Speaking to GamesIndustry, the Wedbush Morgan analyst said the Wii U will face serious competition from upcoming consoles from Microsoft and Sony, which are rumoured to be far more powerful than Nintendo’s new offering.
“If that is right, the Wii U will have limited appeal, and ‘Xbots’ and Sony fanboys will just wait for the upgrades to their favorite systems,” he said.
“I really think the key is third party support, and from what I’m hearing, it is very light so far. Nintendo will be all right, they have a ton of cash, but I don’t think they will get to the sales levels they are accustomed to with this device. I’m most interested in third-party support, and we should get an idea of that at E3.”
Nintendo brought a third-party show reel to E3 2011, where it debuted the new console, but has gone very quiet in the interim.
Addressing rumours of the console’s $300+ price tag and modest tech specs, Pachter said they sound quite feasible.
“I think ‘same’ power level [as current gen consoles] is probably right, as it doesn’t make sense to ask third parties to do something significantly differently for the Wii U than for the 360 or PS3,” he explained.
“The price sounds right to me as well.”
Hit the link above for comments from several other analysts, largely concluding that the Wii U won’t explode in flames at launch but faces some stiff competition.
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