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

Posted by Unknown on from the collect-all-five dept.

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.

7 of 212 comments (clear)

  1. The move to HD hurt them by bonch · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:The move to HD hurt them by squiggleslash · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  2. Just like the PS3 by HappyHead · · Score: 4, Insightful

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

  3. Re: Ironic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

  4. Re:Mario Kart Wii 2 by greghodg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  5. Re:As compared to the XKeystroke article, below by Millennium · · Score: 4, Insightful

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

  6. Re:Ironic by wed128 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    New Zelda FPS style game

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