Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter calls Nintendo’s upcoming Wii U console ambitious, but he doesn’t feel that it’s a true “next generation” offering.
“The Wii U is a pretty ambitious undertaking,” Pachter told Industry Gamers in an interview. “It’s a new console, with new controls and architecture, but it’s not quite ‘next’ generation. Developers have to contend with differences between the Wii U and current generation consoles, then have to figure out what to do with the controls.”
Pachter says that the Wii U is already looking like a port box, saying that devs will likely bring over titles from the PS3 and Xbox 360 instead of making exclusives. He says the Wii U is unlikely to see significant sales if developers are going to ship titles that are also available on the PS3 and Xbox 360.
Finally, Pachter doesn’t sound like he’s expecting much for the Wii U launch: “In order for the launch to be hugely successful, the console will need three things: a competitive price, compelling first party launch titles, and compelling third party launch titles. We don’t know if the Wii U will have any of these, so it’s quite difficult to predict a hugely successful launch.”
