Despite the strong presentation from Nintendo at this year’s E3, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime admits that the company didn’t do enough to create the momentum needed to push the console properly in 2013. He says it’s something the company is working on, which is obviously true thanks to the presentation we got this year, but that the delay of titles like Pikmin 3 and The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD didn’t create the momentum they hoped.
What I would say is that we have been slower than we wanted to be in bringing the key games into the marketplace that leveraged the full functionality of the system.
Just look at the games that we launched over the last nine months. Everything from Super Mario 3D World to Wii Fit U. Let’s include Pikmin 3 in that group. Let’s include Zelda [Wind Waker] in that group. These are all games that we wanted to launch earlier in the system’s life. And because they have not launched early, we have not been able to create the momentum that we wanted.
Pikmin 3 was supposed to be a launch title for the Wii U, but ended up being delayed several times so that it didn’t come out until mid 2013. Wind Waker HD experienced the same delays, which is what Fils-Aime is referring to. Despite these delays, it looks like Nintendo is on track to having a great 2014 year, with the release of Super Smash Bros. on both the Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS, as well as Hyrule Warriors, Bayonetta 2, and more.