Both companies pitched the peripherals as essential components of their visions, but when Xbox One sales lagged, Microsoft found the demands of potential customers more convincing than their original plans. One avenue that Nintendo won't be pursuing to spike Wii U sales is an unbundling of the GamePad, Xbox One Kinect-style. So that's the narrative we hope that plays out and that I think we are starting to see play out."
#NINTENDO WII POINTS GENERATOR 2014 DRIVER#
I think that's going to be a major hardware driver for us. "From the comments I'm reading online, and following gamers' comments, I think there are a lot of people that are going to have a hard time resisting buying a Wii U once Smash Bros comes out.
#NINTENDO WII POINTS GENERATOR 2014 PLUS#
"As I look at what we have coming this holiday, now with Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros, plus the innovation of Amiibo, I think we are right at that tipping point where we have a lot of great content that is about to be released for that platform that's going to tempt gamers into buying the system," Moffitt said. The situation with the Wii U is similar, Moffitt said, adding that the console is about to reach a very similar tipping point. Everything we launched seems to do above forecast and surprises us on the positive side." "So we've had momentum ever since that first holiday and we've got now 260 some games in the library and some of the best, most highest rated, most highest quality content we've ever had on that platform.
"We had the price cut in August, and then we had Mario Kart 7, Super Mario 3D Land, which really drove sales that first holiday, and on 3DS we haven't looked back," Moffitt said. "There are a lot of people that are going to have a hard time resisting buying a Wii U once Smash Bros comes out."
While Moffitt noted the impact of the price cut, he said a pair of first-party releases was another key driver in reversing the handheld's fortunes. The 3DS stumbled at launch, enduring sluggish sales until Nintendo instituted a drastic price cut on the hardware. The Wii U has struggled since its launch nearly two years ago, but the console is ready to pull a 3DS-like resurrection, Nintendo of America executive VP of sales and marketing Scott Moffitt told GamesIndustry International at E3 last week.