Wii Fit U does not get its retail release until December.

SEPT. 19, 2013 • Nintendo Co. Ltd. is using two of its most important Wii franchises as platforms to further jump into digital distribution. Wii Fit U will benefit from a one-month free digital trial that becomes available for download on November 1. Wii U owners who already have a Balance Board can download the free version of HD Wii Fit U from the eShop any time between November 1 and January 31. To continue playing the title after 30 days, users will have to pay $19.99 for the new Fit Meter peripheral in North America, with equivalent pricing in Europe. The device is a pocketable pedometer keeps track of steps taken, activity intensity and altitude changes. When the Fit Meter is synced via the Wii U GamePad, the free trial will be unlocked. On December 13 two retail Wii Fit U SKUs will be released: a $50 package that includes the new title and a Fit Meter, and a $90 version that adds a Balance Board. A full price digital version of Wii Fit U will list on the eShop starting February 1. Nintendo has no plans to sell the Balance Board separately.

Nintendo also has substantial digital plans for its HD update to Wii Sports. Coming in November is Wii Sports Club. Unlike the original, Nintendo is breaking each of the five sports – baseball, bowling, boxing, golf and tennis – into individual downloads for $9.99 each. Bowling and Tennis become available on November 7, with the other three components arriving later. Those who buy one of the five individual Wii Sports Club games will have opportunities for free trials of the other titles. Everyone else will have to purchase $1.99 day passes to try out the games. Wii Sports Club comes with improved MotionPlus controls, as well as a new online competition mode that assembles players into local teams within their geographic area.

Impact: The Wii was a huge success largely because it appealed to non-gamers via products like the Wii Fit.  So far with the Wii U Nintendo has ignored this audience.  As digital sales via the eShop have grown significantly in recent months, Nintendo has obviously jumped in feet first as a matter of strategy. For existing owners of Wii Fit or Wii Fit Plus who also have purchased a Wii U, the free trial and $19.99 Fit Meter unlock is a great deal. As recognition of loyal customers we like this promotion quite a lot, but would be more impressed if many more Wii U systems had been sold during the last year. That said, we now have to weigh whether this promotion is strong enough to lure a significant number of consumers into buying a Wii U. A case can be made that there are fence sitters who loved Wii Fit and are waiting to see what the new version offers before putting their money down on Nintendo’s new console. The title does come with 19 new training activities including new salsa and hip-hop dance exercise routines, plus new online community options to create or join a Miiverse Gym Community to share tips and support with other Wii Fit U users with similar goals. The Fit Meter is also a strong selling point. Those are the highlights since we are unclear how Wii Fit U takes advantage of the console’s GamePad other than the syncing of data from the Fit Meter or replacing the television screen. Taken with the enhanced HD graphics, we can see where Nintendo may realize a positive bump in Wii U hardware sales this fall thanks to Wii Fit U. A bump is welcome, but what the gamemaker really needs is a flood, and we conservatively don’t view the latter as a probability.

Nintendo is breaking Wii Sports Club into five separate digital releases.

As for Wii Sports Club, we can see the accounting logic of monetizing each of the five sports separately. But as a practical marketing matter, we wonder how many Wii owners who obtained Wii Sports free as part of a bundle will react to the new pricing format. Many will react negatively, we presume. Nintendo really does not need that PR hurdle when it isn’t moving significant console units. An alternative strategy we like much better would have been to make one of the separate games available as a free download to Wii U owners to get them interested in the rest. We are impressed at how Nintendo has embraced the digital sales model, especially in how the company is promoting Wii Fit U. Yet given how important Wii Sports was in launching the Wii, the monetization of Wii Sports Club is a net negative given Nintendo’s weak Wii U sales history. 

From a practical standpoint, the other issue we have is the eShop has proven frustrating to use.  Nintendo is indeed going hard into digital sales but they may be moving too fast for their customers.  Downloading games is painfully slow and the DRM restrictions result in a lot of hassle logging on and setting passwords and IDs.  Nintendo systems have historically been designed for simplicity so that a five year old could operate them.  This is no longer the case and it could be a big problem given Nintendo’s target demographic.