Wii Outselling Wii U, Only 160,000 Units Shipped Last Quarter

rescendent writes with news that the Wii U still isn't selling very well. From the article: "Nintendo's Wii U console sold only 160,000 units worldwide during the past three months, with the company blaming a lack of first-party releases for the poor performance. Software sales for the system were just 1.3 million units. During the period Nintendo sold 90,000 Wii U consoles in Japan, 60,000 in the US and only 10,000 in Europe and Australia." El Reg reports that the Wii sold 210,000 units in the same quarter. On the bright side, Nintendo is once again profitable.

Comments

The move to HD hurt them

[bonch]

Nintendo dragged its feet in the move to HD and is paying the price. They underestimated the time and money expense, and now their first-party releases are behind. On top of that, there's barely been any marketing for the Wii U, which has a name that implies it's an accessory for the Wii rather than a new console. The console's tablet controller doesn't offer anything that people's existing smartphones and iPads can't do better. It was likely released in reaction to the iPad (Nintendo stated in 2010 that Apple is their biggest threat). With the lack of hardware power and user base, there's nothing with which to court third-party developers, who are focused instead on the more powerful consoles coming out later this year.

Nintendo's stronghold remains handheld gaming. However, even that is under threat from smartphones. On top of what Android already supports, iOS 7 will ship with native physical controller APIs, and Apple is working with hardware manufacturers to release official attachments and wireless controllers. While the 3DS certainly won't disappear, it will be interesting to watch how well it fares among adult gamers when physical controllers become commonplace in the iPhone accessory aisle.

Re:The move to HD hurt them

[squiggleslash]

I think, if anything, the fact their HD Wii isn't selling as well as their regular Wii shows that Nintendo's original disinterest in HD never hurt them.

Re:The move to HD hurt them

[gameboyhippo]

Nintendo: Doomed since 1991.

Personally, I'm grateful Nintendo is a games first type company. How often do we complain about any industry bending to the shareholders desires for short term profits? Yet you complain about Nintendo not cheapening their IP in order to make tons of money. Nintendo's doing the right thing. It will work for them. If you'll excuse me I've got some Pikmin 3 to anticipate playing this weekend.

Re:The move to HD hurt them

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm only a data point, but my friends parallel my issues. We used to ALL be Nintendo zealots. We loved our Nintendo, SNES, N64, and Gamecubes. So clearly, when the chance to stand inline to midnight for the next great gaming machine with motion controllers came out, we volunteered happily! We bought a Nintendo Wii. ... and then we plugged a game in. $60 game after $60 game, felt like pathetic toy. A tech demo at best, and pandering to an entirely different userbase at worst. They went from serving hardcore gamers, and slapped us in the face with countless games that felt like gimmicks to serve people who don't play games. We poured thousands of dollars into a company, only to have them turn away.

So after countless crap games that are either gimmicks or rehashed versions of better games, we're sick of paying money to a company that doesn't understand what we want.

Now, we're faced with the Wii U which will cost us hundreds more for ANOTHER system still looks behind the times? With another chance for games that are gimmicky? I don't have $350+games/accessories to blow on a subpar console, and not just subpar to other current gen, but to previous generations. I can't risk it.

I've kept my Nintendo NES, my SNES, n64, and Gamecube. But I sold my Wii, I haven't looked back, and I don't feel like I've lost anything significant for it.

Re:The move to HD hurt them

[Jaysyn]

The only thing special about the Wii U is the controller has a screen.

Actually, the 5 player same-console multiplayer is pretty nice too when you have a lot of kids (or kid's friends).

Mario Kart Wii 2

[ScottCooperDotNet]

All I wanted was more Mario Kart Wii, not a giant controller with a screen on it.

Re:Mario Kart Wii 2

[greghodg]

Agreed. And they should have made the Wii U capable of rendering existing games in HD resolutions, then the lack of new HD content wouldn't matter as much. The dolphin emulator can do it, Nintendo could have done it too.

Just like the PS3

[HappyHead]

For the first few years, Sony's PS2 also out-sold the PS3, didn't it?

Re: Ironic

[Anonymous Coward]

But it's honest, which is more than you'd get elsewhere.

Virtual Console

[Guppy06]

I bought a Wii and a 3DS practically on the potential of their respective Virtual Consoles alone.

I've learned my lesson.

Re:As compared to the XKeystroke article, below

[Millennium]

If Slashdot only updated when there was a story more important than the previous one, it wouldn't update very often.

People don't like the U part

[jader3rd]

I really like the Wii. The motion controls system is by far gen 1, and I always figured that the successor to the Wii would have a better motion control system (perhaps something akin to the Kinect, but a little shy). Then the Wii U is announced and it turns out that the motion control system is identical. The Wii U is a Wii + a fat controller with a screen stuck between the controls.
So Nintendo back peddled on the motion control thing they had going for them, and as a result the older hardware is still outselling the new hardware because it's cheaper and does as good as the newer hardware in what people buy a Wii for. If the Wii U had a motion control system consumers considered to be an improvement over the Wii, I suspect that Wii U would be at least outselling the Wii.

Re:Ironic

[wed128]

New Zelda FPS style game

Worst....Idea....Ever. Zelda is perfect.