It's been almost two months since the US launch of Wii Fit and although the Nintendo Wii Fit marketing machine grinds on, enough time has passed to be able to make a fair assessment of the game's success or failure. I think it's safe to say that response has been mixed but now that the initial hype has begun to die down we're starting to notice a growing sense of disappointment as we see more and more instances of users telling us why Wii Fit sucks. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big Nintendo fan, but this comes as no surprise and here's why.
From a gaming perspective, Wii Fit was bound to disappoint. The various games, while fun initially, are very limited and have no long term appeal – again, that's no surprise and I'll explain later why I say this. As far as appealing to casual / non-gamers, it was a stroke of marketing genius to position Wii Fit as a 'lifestyle' product and tap into the growing health/fitness market but here's the rub. In my opinion, gaming and exercise, certainly goal-oriented exercise, don't mix. Gaming is about having fun and getting away from reality. It's not about being reminded that in the real world you're overweight and probably going to die from a heart attack before you turn 40. Games are there to be played when you want, for however long you want and you don't want to be reminded that "it's been 7 days since you last exercised".
Wii Fit may have come as a shock to many users who bought it thinking, hey, this is a game so it will be a fun and easy way to lose weight and get fit. But it's a lot like joining the gym after that New Year's resolution – a few days in and you suddenly realise that it's not easy and actually requires more hard work and dedication than you thought. That's not to say that Wii Fit doesn't work. There are lots of examples of people having lost weight and improved their overall fitness using it but the one thing they all have in common is that they embraced the 'lifestyle' aspect of Wii Fit and committed to using it consistently (as you would with any other exercise program). For them, it wasn't a game. Whether it continues to deliver results long term is hard to say but there's a gap waiting to be filled, something that hasn't gone unnoticed by the likes of EA Games.
So does Wii Fit really suck? Well yes, if you were expecting a full-on game. Yes if you thought it would be a fun, easy way to lose weight and get fit without really committing to anything. But in terms of its real purpose (at least in my opinion) it's done its job very well. Think of Wii Fit in these terms – Wii Fit is to the Wii Balance Board what Wii Sports was to the Wii Console. Like Wii Sports, Wii Fit wasn't supposed to have long term appeal. Wii Fit's purpose was to get as many Wii Balance Boards into homes as possible; to prove to third-party developers that the peripheral could have mass-market appeal and to fill the gap between the board's launch and the release of more fully-featured balance board games.
A recent Japanese poll showed that 64% of Wii Fit users had stopped using it. I'm sure that had the poll instead asked how many people had stopped using their balance boards for Wii Fit AND other games (unfortunately limited to Family Ski at this point) that figure would have dropped slightly. Had more balance board compatible games been available, I guarantee you that the number would have been significantly less than 64%.
It really is a shame that third-party developers didn't come to the party sooner but in a way you can kind of understand their reluctance to commit to a new peripheral that could have turned out to be a white elephant. But now that Wii Fit continues to sell out everywhere I think it's clear that the market for balance board games is there and developers have responded accordingly. Of course some credit must go to Namco who included balance board support in We Ski/Family Ski which was available at the launch of Wii Fit, but it's guys like EA Games and Ubisoft who are going to pick up where Wii Fit leaves off, not only in terms of pure games but also the lifestyle/fitness market.
This month's E3 convention will really give us a feel for just how committed they are and let's hope we see some really great games released soon – we don't want lose the momentum that the buzz and excitement of Wii Fit has generated. So those of you who feel the need to knock Wii Fit now, just remember that in months to come, when you are playing games like EA Skate It or Shaun White Snowboarding, it's thanks to Wii Fit that they even exist.