Pachter on Nintendo’s Delusion

 Michael Pachter, popular video game industry critic, had some harsh words to say about Nintendo and the Wii U. According to Pachter, “I think that they are still in denial about the Wii U failure. You keep seeing this stat so we’re up 82 percent – yeah, 40,000 units went to 70,000 units. Who cares? You’re still trailing the other guys by a mile.”

Apparently, we are still having this discussion. Still talking about how Nintendo has screwed themselves over with the Wii U, how Nintendo cannot survive without third party titles, and how Nintendo should just bow out now and move all resources towards a new, more powerful system.

Doing Things Right

November was mired by broken game after broken game. One company that did not have to share the shame that month was Nintendo. Nintendo has, and probably always will, provide some of the most complete products on the market. The worst excuses I’ve seen from “fan boys” of the other consoles is that they have to make sure their products are perfect, because they need the sales. This might be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Everyone should strive – whether first party or third – to produce excellent, complete games. Nintendo has, and yet still fails to receive recognition.

Suggesting a Console

I get asked a lot via Twitter what console I would recommend. Once I figure out where their gaming priorities are, I realize more often than not, the console they will actually have the most fun with is the Wii U. Pressures from the outside world push most new consumers to PS4 or Xbox One. So I started asking people myself: Which console should I buy?

Not surprisingly, friends who owned PS4s suggested PS4s, friends with Xbox Ones suggested Xbox Ones, and a few lone individuals suggested the Wii U. I was very straight forward with what I liked, without pointing at one console or another. I like adventure games, party games, and arcade racers. I like collecting things in games and I enjoy things that I can play with my kids.

The laundry list for not getting a Wii U is full of misnomers. No third party supported – granted, this one is true – you cannot play the latest and best games, it’s not as powerful and therefore cannot do as much. I wouldn’t want a Wii U. I was told it was a failure.

Back to Pachter: Does it Matter if Wii U is behind the Competition?

It’s hard to say whether or not it matters. Obviously, the sales figures are definitely favoring calling the Wii U a failure, albeit a hardware sales failure. I like to look at it another way: Nintendo is a software juggernaut, the farthest thing from a failure. Ubisoft in latter half of 2014 has been a failure, and much of EA and most of their leading sports titles in 2014 have been failures. Nintendo is far from a failure, and the sooner the general public realizes this the better.

While I understand that Michael Pachter is an industry analyst, shame on him for pushing Nintendo even further under the moving bus without a hint of accolades for producing consistent, top of the line software in this generation, something that no other company has been able to do on a similar scale. What ever personal issues these big names in the industry have with Nintendo and the Wii U has got to stop. After all, a competitive gaming environment is a healthy environment for everyone, and Nintendo deserves better than what they have received.