Nintendo: Consumers tired of the same old games

The Wii U isn't selling as well as hoped because consumers aren't being blown away by games like they used to be, according to Nintendo's Satoru Iwata.

Iwata believes an overly saturated market is having a negative effect on the industry, as it's getting harder to impress new gamers.

"We try to offer various kinds of software for a video game platform, and the games are improving steadily each year, but these improvements are becoming less noticeable," he told investors.

"In short, what one platform can offer will eventually become saturated. Every consumer will inevitably become tired of and get less excitement from the same type of entertainment."

Iwata said it's getting harder to develop games for consoles these days, compared to when he first started.

"The development challenges for home console games selling for around $50-$60 USD have increased significantly," he added.

"Around the time when I first wrote a program for a home console game 30 years ago, two developers, including me, completed it in only three months.

"Things have changed dramatically since then, and we therefore need to expand the range of software developers."