Wii U's January performance is historically abysmal

KillaCham

Nintendo has already cut its forecasts for the Wii U after sales failed to meet expectations, and we're now seeing the extent of the console's poor performance in the US. The NPD group has released its report for January video game sales and, while it isn't providing specific hardware numbers, a Gamasutra source says that the Wii U sold "well under" 100,000 units. Nintendo previously announced that it sold 460,000 systems in December, suggesting that demand has dropped off considerably among customers who hadn't already decided to buy the console at launch.



DEMAND HAS DROPPED OFF CONSIDERABLY

According to an NPD representative, the figure represents a 38 percent decrease on sales for the original Wii at the same point in its life, and Gamasutra estimates that the actual number is between 45,000 and 59,000 consoles sold. If accurate, that would mean the Wii U performed worse in January than the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 did in any single month throughout their entire lifespan. Nintendo will be hoping for a sales boost later in the year from recently-announced Super Mario, Zelda, and Mario Kart titles.

Microsoft, meanwhile, announced that the Xbox 360 sold 281,000 units last month. We're yet to see numbers from Sony, but they look to be lower — Microsoft is claiming the crown of best-selling console in the US for its 25th consecutive month. The company reiterated the figure of 76 million consoles sold worldwide; an IDC report from last month cited the same number shipped versus 77 million units for the PlayStation 3. With Sony set to announce its next-generation PlayStation in under a week, it appears that the company is still neck and neck with Microsoft towards the end of the PS3's life.

themadlionsfan

we'll see what happened when this system when Zelda comes out

MrSoutCity

Them niggas but to get the sega treatment...

genocidecutter

Theres nothing bullshit gimmicky games on it.

Wild Self

MrSoutCity wrote: »

Them niggas but to get the sega treatment...

Nintendo is sitting on a lot of money, regardless. Sony better watch out cause the lost billions of the first 5 years of the PS3 and to restore the lost fanbase of the PS2 era stolen by M$.

earth two superman

Sion

I'm not gonna say anything else to add fuel to the fire but I will say this.... it will get worse soon.

But watch close to the end of this year & next year tho, all that cash they're sitting on aint for nothing and you'll see.... It's just going to be very very difficult for them shorter term tho.

If it were up to me I would've just axed the 3DS, and took the original DS, revamped it with HD (instead of 3D) and made everything online (no CDs) but have it where it can do what the Wii U does but without it being the flagship system (this way they wouldn't have had to sell it at a loss). THEN I would have put all that cash to work and poured it into Mii-verse (online component) and a new system more like the SNES meets Wii & dropped it a quarter or 2 before the PS4.

I felt Nintendo wanted to do too much change & too fast. The Wii was a step in the right direction & it was revolutionary but the Wii U was too ambitious. Nintendo knows it's going to have to move it's games completely online & license everything out to 3rd parties eventually (I think MS figured that out back at the last conference where Steve Balmers shitted on cats who sell hardware at a loss to win on software - if I find the video I'll post it).

darkone360

Smh. Nintendo is pretty much shootin themselves in the foot.

earth two superman

ax the 3ds? Hell no. That's their ongoing cash cow. I wouldve found a way to integrate the mii verse in it.

brown321

They shouldn't have called it WiiU & released it with some games. You can tell they rushed it out by not having anything ready to show the system off.

focus

Sion wrote: »

I'm not gonna say anything else to add fuel to the fire but I will say this.... it will get worse soon.

But watch close to the end of this year & next year tho, all that cash they're sitting on aint for nothing and you'll see.... It's just going to be very very difficult for them shorter term tho.

If it were up to me I would've just axed the 3DS, and took the original DS, revamped it with HD (instead of 3D) and made everything online (no CDs) but have it where it can do what the Wii U does but without it being the flagship system (this way they wouldn't have had to sell it at a loss). THEN I would have put all that cash to work and poured it into Mii-verse (online component) and a new system more like the SNES meets Wii & dropped it a quarter or 2 before the PS4.

I felt Nintendo wanted to do too much change & too fast. The Wii was a step in the right direction & it was revolutionary but the Wii U was too ambitious. Nintendo knows it's going to have to move it's games completely online & license everything out to 3rd parties eventually (I think MS figured that out back at the last conference where Steve Balmers shitted on cats who sell hardware at a loss to win on software - if I find the video I'll post it).

I disagree. The 3DS is doing great, they can just keep doing what they are doing there.

As monumentally successful as the Wii was, toward the end of the console's lifestyle was the only time in Nintendo's 100 year history that they ever lost money. I think this just spooked them and they are trying to avoid a similar situation with the Wii U by doing some things differently. They aren't marketing the Wii U on purpose. We don't know exactly what their plan is, which is typical for Nintendo, but they been too strong for too long in this game not to have one. Nintendo has both time and money on their side which is just a recipe for success. But I think all you have to do is look at how they handled the 3DS to know what will happen with the Wii U.

Raging Raven

damage control damage control ...too bad Mario is out saving a hoe when his services are needed to save the WiiU