Retailers Press Nintendo for New Wii U Strategy

The Wii U is not setting the world alight. And Nintendo has little time to turn the ship around before Microsoft and Sony weigh in with their next generation consoles - but a number of UK retailers still believe that the console can be rescued, if the Japanese company acts now.

Speaking with MCV, Tesco's games buying manager Jonathan Hayes expressed that Nintendo needs to do something about its marketing campaign, first and foremost. "Wii U has not caught the public’s imagination yet," he said. "We need a killer app to drive sales, and a big marketing push to clearly communicate what Wii U is all about – it will probably be better to focus on the premium edition to do this."

Sainsbury's Gurdeep Hunjan added that the company needed a strategy to put in place in time for Easter, the school holidays and the summer, while ShopTo's James Rowson noted that consumers need to be made aware of the long-term benefits of owning a Wii U.

But more immediately, a price cut on both hardware and software is crucial. Founder of indie store Xbite, Nick Whitehead, said, "Both the machine and software prices are too high to compete. The price point needs looking at but this alone will not fix the issue."

Nintendo has been on the back foot over the last few weeks, with publishers dropping exclusive title support for the Wii U and the console failing to sell in the West. The platform accounted for only 1.6 per cent of game sales in the UK in January, while in the US it sold 38 per cent less units than the Wii did at the same point in its lifespan.