Wii U & the persnickety developers.

It's an obvious thing to say, but I still believe that all of these third party games would have sold better if they were marketed, a tenner cheaper and - wait for this! - actually available in the shops. I read in ONM that Need for Speed Most Wanted U sold a dismal amount...why would the majority pay £40 for a six-month old game that's less than half the price on other consoles and near-impossible to find in the high street or in supermarkets? I bet most folk don't even know the likes of Most Wanted U are out. Do Nintendo even have a marketing department in the UK? Doesn't appear so.

This. The retail environment hasn't been very kind to Nintendo, either, with HMV almost shutting up shop (new shops don't seem to be getting in new Wii U software), but as you mentioned publishers are doing their software no favours.

I heard from staff at GAME that no copies of Most Wanted U were sent out to brick-and-mortar shops at all. I've yet to see it on sale in any store myself.

And I've only seen Lego City on sale at Tesco, if I remember correctly, rather than GAME.

So it seems Pikmin 3 has driven a few sales in Japan: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/419492/pikmin-3-tops-japanese-chart-helps-boost-wii-u-sales/

Balladeer wrote:

In which case, third-party support can :damnyou:off.

I think it is because Splinter Cell is going to be the first proper port - the Wii U version has all of the same content as the other versions, and it's going to be released on exactly the same date.

So, if that game fails to sell as well as the PS360 versions (I mean in terms of % of the userbase that actually buys it), they probably think there's no point including the Wii U in other multiplat releases.

The "insider" warned that several announced Wii U games could be cancelled as a result of how badly Splinter Cell does. (They specifically mentioned "Watch Dogs".)

personally can't see splinter cell selling well, better games out in august (august releases will be going up soon and now improved, thanks to jay and phillps), it would better to see how something like watch dogs does. as that's end year near the holidays and a big title if that didn't sell then you could see 3rd party leaving.

I hope that insider is wrong about splinter cell having to sell for us to get the likes of watch dogs, in quite interested in splinter cell anyway.

I'm sure Splinter Cell will be a good game, but if anybody's counting on me to make a purchase, I'm sorry. Maybe it's set up to fail.

Splinter Cell is a really odd game to pin your hopes on anyway. I don't think the series is big enough and I've not heard much chatter about it. Not to mention the fact that Splinter Cell fans probably don't have a Wii U and will just stick with the PS3/360 versions.
At the end of the day multiplat games have a time limit on Wii U even if they take off as I doubt the devs will be interested in creating a separate game for a less powerful and probably less popular (for multiplats at least) console.

Balladeer wrote:

In which case, third-party support can :damnyou:off.

Agreed.  I have a small number of Tom Clancy games, including the original Splinter Cell and with the only exception being the 3DS TBS game, they have all been both horrible and boring. I have made a solemn vow never to buy another game with the name Tom Clancy in it again. I gave them a try.