Nintendo Looking to Mobile Apps to Boost Wii U Sales!

You don’t need to be an expert to know that the Wii U isn’t doing so hot right now. It’s far behind its original sales goals, and third-party developers seem to be abandoning the console en masse. Many expected the system to get a much-needed push when Nintendo begins to release some first party games later this year, but it seems Nintendo might have another idea in mind.

Nintendo has recently released professional conversion software to many mobile developers in the hopes that they will design software that can be played on the Wii U as well as cell phones and tablets. This marks another shift in Nintendo’s previous business model; the company has never been well-known for being friendly to outside developers, but many independent designers have found Nintendo more amicable with their new system, which has led to some excellent releases on the Wii U like Trine 2, Bit.Trip Runner 2, and Zen Pinball. Time will tell how the mobile strategy will work for Nintendo, but the Wii U Gamepad is practically a tablet anyway so it shouldn’t be too much of a stretch for mobile developers to work with it.