Firebrand Games creative director points out biggest challenges that stand between Wii U and success

By: Muhammad Qasim Hassan

  |   September 18th, 2012   |  

Uncategorized

The industry analysts are already convinced that Nintendo’s latest hardware Wii U is destined to fail because of the numerous challenges awaiting it upon its launch in North America on November 18.

This view is not shared by the Scottish developer Firebrand Games, who is of the opinion that the upcoming next-generation console is very much capable of holding its own in a tough ecosystem.

It did, however, agree that there are a number of challenges waiting for the Japan-based company, which could create a bit of a hurdle in Wii U’s success.

Talking to guardian.co.uk in a recent interview, Firebrand Games creative director Peter Shea stated that in order to make Wii U perform well in the market, Nintendo would need to address to really important issues.

The first thing that Nintendo will need to do is break the common misconception that Wii U is nothing more than a Wii console with better graphics and a HD output.

The success of Wii came against all odds, with some of the industry analysts strong convinced that it would fail to entice consumers with the likes of much-powerful Sony and Microsoft consoles in the market.

However, presenting the same console with a different name and enhanced graphics is not something that would go down well with the consumers. However, the recent reviews of the upcoming hardware are implying that this is exactly what the case is.

Nintendo will surely need to come up with a good strategy to remove the misconception from the minds of the gamers and convince them that the new technology being offered to them is quite different and much more powerful than its predecessor.

“I think there is a danger here of the message getting confused, especially to the casual market. Nintendo needs to charm the mass market in the same way it charmed people so successfully with the Wii. You could almost argue that the unprecedented success of the Wii makes it almost impossible for Nintendo to compete with its successor. I do believe that with the right titles, the right price and Nintendo’s excellent marketing they can do this but I expect it to be the focus of next year – Christmas 2013 – rather than at launch or in the coming months,” suggested Shea.

The next challenge waiting for Nintendo, according to Shea of course is to sell the hardware to gamers who are already in possession of HD consoles, handheld gaming devices, smartphones or tablets.

While the Firebrand Games creative director refused to see smartphones and other alternative platforms as a serious threat to the success of consoles in the market, he did concede Nintendo can find itself struggling to convince casual gamers and even hardcore gamers with another HD console to try out their next-generation console.

Nintendo is more than capable of tackling these issues successfully and enjoying yet another few years of success with its latest offering irrespective of what the industry analysts think or believe.