Adelman: The Wii U name is ‘abysmal’, cut hardware sales in half

Nintendo of America’s former indie boss Dan Adelman has said that the Wii U’s branding is a big reason why the machine has proven to thus far be a commercial flop.

Wii U is not selling as well as it deserves to. It has a lot to offer with great games you can’t get anywhere else,” Adelman said on ask.fm. The value of the GamePad hasn’t been justified. But the name Wii U is abysmal. I think that cut sales in half right there.”

There is plenty of evidence to suggest that consumers still don’t understand Wii U, mistaking it for an accessory that compliments the original Wii.

It was revealed earlier this week that Adelman had quit the company after nine years. Prior to his departure Nintendo had enforced a Twitter ban on him following instances where he strayed off message.

Adelman also revealed that despite fronting Nintendo’s indie games thrust for nine years he never once met Nintendo design boss and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto.

[The] biggest disappointment of my tenure at Nintendo is that I’ve never met Miyamoto,” he added. [I] would really like to. I’ve met Mr. Iwata a few times. Early on, I was even able to have a couple hour-long meetings with him and maybe 1-2 other people. I’m in meetings with Reggie maybe once a quarter.”