2K president: I have no doubt ‘that the Wii U will be successful’

The Nintendo Wii U is difficult to find at retail, but that doesn’t mean the console has the potential for long-term success. Publisher 2K Games’ president is speaking out to voice his confidence about Nintendo’s dual-screen home console.

“There’s nothing in my body, not a single piece, doubting that the Wii U will be successful,” 2K Games president Christoph Hartmann told MCV magazine in the U.K. “Nintendo always impresses and surprises me. The team there has so much knowledge built up over many, many years. Nintendo always finds its crowd.”

The Wii found its crowd.

That motion-controlled hardware sold around 100 million units worldwide. And while 2K Games is best known for publishing blockbusters like BioShock and Borderlands, it found major success on the Wii with a line of casual titles.

“There have been people doubting the Wii U because they don’t really understand it,” Hartmann said. “I wasn’t sure about the Wii, and I was proved wrong — [I was] proved wrong by my own people, which I like the most because we sold a lot of Carnival Games. I believe the Wii U offers something special, and we will be surprised how consumers will get attached.”

Carnival Games is 2K Games’ minigame collection brand for the Wii that sold very well. So, 2K is positive on the outlook for the Wii U, but that doesn’t mean it’ll bring its big titles to the system.