In the same investors note that predicted the release of the PS4 and Xbox 720 this fall at prices as low as $350, Baird Securities analyst Colin Sebastian also shared some thoughts on Wii U. He essentially says that Nintendo will find itself in a niche market.
"We remain concerned that Nintendo’s innovative Wii-U console will lack broad appeal beyond the core Nintendo fan base," Sebastian wrote. "Following a somewhat lackluster launch and holiday selling season, Nintendo will need to bring to market major first-party releases (e.g., Zelda) and retain the support of key third-party developers to reduce market share losses. In a negative scenario, Nintendo will be forced to prematurely lower the Wii-U price, and over the course of this cycle, we expect consideration will be given to extending first party franchises to other platforms."
This prediction comes following the news last week that the Wii U sold 840,000 units in the United States alone during its first two months. That's better than the Xbox 360 (600K) and PS3 (700K) did in the same timeframe but not as well as the Wii (1.08M). Additionally, most of the Wii U sales came with the more expensive "Deluxe" model priced at $349.99.
However, the problem with the Wii U appears to not be the console but the game sales. Thus far the attach rate for software with the console is barely hovering above one game sold per system according to analysts. This is far less than competitor's and is a troublesome sign given that well over 20 games launched with the Wii U. So far "New Super Mario Bros. U" is the only title seeing significant sales at retail with 580,000 copies sold.
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Via: Baird Securities
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