Nintendo Switch is currently one of the best-selling video game consoles of all time. If the standalone sales of the console were not enough, most of the games that release on this platform break numerous sales records.

This was not the case previously. Before this, Nintendo was struggling to find an audience for one of its consoles. Their previous console, the Nintendo Wii U was not able to attract many buyers. Its low sales were not even an accident, there was a reason why that console failed!

The reason why Nintendo Switch’s predecessor, Wii U, was a flop!

Nintendo launched the Motion console years ago, the console came with controllers called Wii motes. This was not a console with those fancy gamepads and such, it was a console with literal remotes. Players could literally swing their hands while playing a game of golf.

Some fans thought this was a serious console with a unique control scheme. Others thought Nintendo was going soft and targeting the casual gaming crowd. Each of those speculations was true. The Wii became the ultimate party console for most families looking for a gaming console to pass their time.

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All this popularity and this new kind of userbase assured that the Nintendo Wii became the seventh-best-selling console of all time. This encouraged Nintendo, and they revealed the Wii U. The problem was not the fact that they just named it Wii U.

It was confusing to fans, a console named just like its previous generation—what is it exactly? This question arose in the minds of many players. The question was legit, everyone wanted to know a thing or two about this game console. But Nintendo kept failing to make the purpose of this console clear to people.

And this is why the Nintendo Wii U was a massive flop. It flopped so hard that the then-president of Nintendo decided to cut his salary for that year by 50% in order to be able to pay the salaries of his employees. He did take responsibility for his own decisions, but he could not crack the reason for that console’s failure.

To be very precise, a very powerful premium console with exciting features failed due to a lack of clear direction. This is why it becomes very important for a company to relay its message very clearly to its fans. Here’s hoping Nintendo learned from its mistake and has finally learned how to treat its new launches.

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