On Friday, November 29, Nintendo released Super Mario 3D World for the Wii U. It was the same day Sony's PlayStation 4 console launched in the UK. It was also a move that Kenny Linder — a former Sony developer at the now defunct BigBig Studios — belives "wasn't wise."
Despite overwhelmingly positive reviews, Super Mario 3D World, one of the more anticipated Wii U titles, was beaten in the UK sales charts by a number of other games, including Sony's own Knack, also a platformer, but one that received much more pedestrian scores.
With sales numbers revealed, and the Wii U clearly struggling, Linder shared his take on the situation with the folks at NeoGAF.
"Releasing [SM3DW] the same day as PS4 in UK/EU wasn’t wise," Linder said. "The frustrating thing was this game was probably ready to go in October."
Linder went on to explain that "retail and the market will push Nintendo in a direction whether they like it not." He pointed out that the Wii U could even be "in danger of losing shelf space," especially if sales continue to lag. And if that happens, he predicts the end of the Wii U.
"Retail will have four major consoles (PS3/4, 360/One) plus 3DS/2DS to push which will all move units, and it looks like Mario can’t help even poor Wii U out. If it goes from shelves, it will be finished."
"Releasing Mario on Friday was a really stupid thing to do, it could of come out weeks before that," he continued. "I wonder if the same gamers who buy Nintendo home systems (150k of them in UK) are the same gamers that buy PS4/Xbox? That might explain lack of sales this week. Otherwise, nobody gives a s***.
"Also, I haven’t seen a single Mario 3D World advert on UK TV, whereas the other two (PS4 more so, especially last night, holy s***) are on all the time," he noted. "They have failed to see what the market wants."
I'm not so sure about that last statement regarding the TV ads, but just about everything else Linder says could ring true. Nintendo needs to find a way to attract consumers or it can be another brutal year for the Wii U.
