At E3 2015 there was much focus as usual on the battle between Sony and Microsoft in their ongoing console battle. What you did not really see and hear much of was news from Nintendo. Despite a sizeable booth not far from Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo came to the show with Yoshi’s Wooly World, Star Fox Zero, and Super Mario Maker, as well as some titles for the 3DS.
What should have been a respectable showing instead was considered by many to be the company’s weakest showing in a long time, and pretty much underscored that the Wii U has failed to capture the interest of fans and generate any sustained excitement.
Nintendo had a bit of a bump with new Mario Kart, Smash Bros, and Donkey Kong Games and had Hyrule Warriors and Bayonetta 2 as well but sadly this has not done as much as the company had hoped.
Nintendo is in last place in the console war and knows that there is nothing they can do to change this and in doing so, presents the company with a big dilemma. There is the fact that they have admitted that sales of the Wii U have disappointed and that several key figures at Nintendo have lost face over the failure of the system. Does the company simply slowly continue to walk away from the system until Nintendo NX is ready, or do they fight on against impossible odds?
The last scenario is likely but in a limited way in that they will not throw good money after bad and we will likely only see first party games from Nintendo that have broad appeal such as new Mario, Zelda, and other franchise games.
Star Fox Zero has to be a big deal at the show, but sadly the control system for the game left many users frustrated with it as did the graphics that have not lived up to expectations.
Nintendo seems very much like they are publically trying to show they still have faith in the console, but their efforts and output seem to indicate that they have already moved on and are looking ahead, and simply providing content without their usual amount of love and magic.
