Early Sales for the Wii U are Low, Is It Too Early to Start Panicking?

Gi - Nintendo‘s Wii U was released in Nov. 2012 with plenty of fanfare and optimism. With the huge success of the Wii, which was released six years ago, Nintendo decided to step up its game, so to speak, with an updated version. The Wii U was touted as being new, innovative and the first of the next generation of consoles, and there were high expectations as far as sales were concerned. But with the fourth quarter coming to a close, it looks like those expectations for the Wii U were a little too high.

[sinncross]

It currently lacks software...

I think it lacks enough games that make you feel the WiiU controller is worth it. I mean, I know people love the controller and I am not dismissing that. I just think that most people are still questioning it.

[Bimkoblerutso]

Unfortunately I gotta agree. There's just nothing all that exciting happening with that tech.

Plus, I have loved Nintendo with a passion for many years, but even I've been having trouble getting excited for "another Zelda" or "another Mario" after this many years, solid as they always seem to be when they arrive.

[JsonHenry]

The tech under the hood and the controller do nothing for me. But the real problem and reason I have not yet bought one is that there are not enough games for it that make me want to buy it.

[Trunkz]

Same thing happened with the 3DS and now look at it, it's doing just fine... Once some great titles come out for the Wii U it will do much better in terms of selling Hardware (this applies to the Vita as well, it did horrible at first and now it's doing better).

[Megaplaynate]

The 3DS started to sell well because of the price drop, a lot of gamers thought the 3DS was overpriced and waited for a price drop, maybe the same is happening to the wii u.
I know I'm gonna buy one if it includes a game and costs $250. Aside from that I think the wii u will do just fine, maybe it won't win this generation but they still have a lot of money on the bank.

[VINNIEPAZ]

Long as I get Monster Hunter and Bayonetta 2 I know Im glad to have a Wii U

[3-4-5]

I can't stand the title.

What good does panicking do ?

Do intelligent people panic ?

[MultiConsoleGamer]

Yawn...

More doom and gloom.

And the facts are you don't actually know the real sales. The only legitimate numbers are from media create. And yeah, sales are definitely sluggish in Japan. Anything NPD related you find online has been an "estimate," posted by agenda driven sites like neogaf, and are nothing close to the real numbers. And vgchartz numbers are completely and totally fictional. 100% bullshit.

[jay2]

No. It's going the way of the dreamcast.

[RTheRebel]

I think you mean the vita =)

[TongkatAli]

The Vita is kicking its ass currently. You know its in trouble, lol. I love my Vita, but I can't hide the fact about its sales.

Bascillay if the Vita is F then the Wii U is even more Fed in the A.

[sherimae2413]

really the vita? thats why the PSP is topping the wii u in japan with selling below 10k just like the vita before the price drop and look now the vita sales, ^_^
and please do some research the wii u selling poorly globally
but it will here to stay just waiting for its games ^_^
heck even the multiplat games like fifa and madden are selling more in vita than wii u

[PopRocks359]

Less than half a year into its life cycle? If the 3DS, Vita and PS3 had not already happened, I probably would worry about its performance. Give or take more solid software and perhaps a price drop somewhere later on, and it will pick up fine.

Yeah everyone talks about the Nextbox and PS4, but if that logic didn't apply last generation, I don't see why it would with this one.

[Number-Nine]

Yes it's too early. Look at the ps3 in it's early years.

[NYC_Gamer]

How much did PS3 cost[$500-600]?Wii-U being way cheaper and selling this low amount of units is a problem that Nintendo have to correct.

[Number-Nine]

how about a wait and let's see approach. it's a 4 month old console with e3 around the corner.

no need to panic yet.

i predict a price cut in the near future to boost sales like they did with the 3ds.

[Jadedz]

Sure, there are 3rd party titles on the Wii U, but not to the amount that the PS360 amass. No GTA, Tomb Raider, Metal Gear, Final Fantasy, Red Dead Redemption, Dead Space - those are titles that ''sell consoles.''

I'm not saying that Nintendo deserves support ''just cause,'' but 3rd party publishers overwhelmingly chose Microsoft and Sony over Nintendo. In this scenario; Nintendo's holding a knife while the competition is sporting rocket launchers.

[GamersRulz]

PS3 was selling better than WiiU @$600. Sorry but no comparison here at all.

PS3 in its worst year was able to pull 10+ million unit a year.

[kneon]

The PS3 sales were never close to being as low as Wii U sales at this point after launch, that's why all the doom and gloom.

Nintendo has missed their window of opportunity, many people that may have bought a Wii U will now wait for the PS4 or Xbox.next.

[Bathyj]

I dont get why people say this anyway.

PS3 outsold XB in 2007, its first full year on the market, and it didnt even come out in Europe till march. Thats with a high price and allegedly no games and all the media backlash you could swallow.

How can that be a slow start? Its like everyone who thought it would reach PS2 levels in the first year called it a failure.

[THEMIGHTYDOOVDE]

I can't see Wii U having a terrible first year like this!

http://www.vgchartz.com/too...

[majiebeast]

Nintendo needs games they only sold 66.000 WiiU's in the USA on Febuary thats a very slight increase over January. But when you compare it to ps3,360 and who are at 270k(supposedly) 302K and 100K(supposedly). Its just bad that the new kid is getting its ass kicked by 6-7 year old console's. Nintendo needs to start announcing day,date,year release date's for Pikmin 3,W101,WiifitU and Bayonetta 2. Vague release dates of Q2 arent doing it for them obviously, get people excited for the games coming to your system with solid release dates. I think Reggie's and Iwata's heads are on the chopping block also they really screwed the Fire Emblem launch.

Also i think Nintendo shouldve gone for power instead of the tablet controller. It would have certainly gotten them more third party support and ports.

[TheUndertaker85]

I think the whole problem is the fact they have the tablet taking resources from the system rather than having the resources built into the tablet. Sure the cost price wise this way is cheaper but the resource cost on the already not-so-powerful system creates problems for game Devs. I think when PS4 & 720 come out it'll be more apparent.

Someone's gonna take this as a dig but it's not. The 720 is rumored to run 4 or 8 gigs of ram. The PS4 is confirmed at 8. The WiiU has 2 but half of that is used for the tablet & OS, leaving 1 available. Vita & Kinect both have on board processors, meaning they won't be as taxing to the system. Things like Move already use minimal resources, weighing in between 2 & 3MB. The differences between WiiU and the other two systems is going to be pretty sizeable.

What Nintendo could do is release a WiiU Tablet 2 with the processors and such installed. The tablet could then run itself, taking some of that resource taxation away. The cost probably wouldn't be too cheap & fans probably not too pleased but Nintendo has used similar measures in the past. Motion+ benefited the Wii controllers when later added though controllers with Motion+ built in seemed to function better than Wiimotes with the Motion+ addition added.

[josephayal]

A $150 price cut couldn't hurt

[LOL_WUT]

Thats what i've been saying ;)

[truechainz]

$150 price cut? You guys may not ever want to get into business because you would be pretty terrible at it.

[HarryMasonHerpderp]

For me personally I'll be seeing what they bring to E3.
Right now though there is nothing that makes me want to buy a Wii-U.

[MysticStrummer]

I'm not a Nintendo guy but yeah, it's too early to panic. Relax and wait for more games to drop.

[DigitalRaptor]

Personally, I think Nintendo are out of sync with the rest of the industry at this stage. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as Nintendo have never been followers, and do their own thing.

BUT, they've released their new console at a time when the casual market have moved on to the next big technological fad. The demand for Wii U from that market is vastly different to what it was in 2006. Vastly. The casual market is so fickle. The games that are coming out for it have not proven next generation prowess, and third party ports have been inferior to current gen (apparently weaker, but not by much) hardware, which is not a great sign.

The games will definitely come and fans will increasingly adopt the console, but I don't suspect it will be anywhere near as successful as the PS4 or next Xbox will be. What games and list of publisher support Sony showed in February with PS4 is more than the Wii U has provided in the past 2 E3 conferences running. And that is just the start of the potential of a machine with 4 times the power behind it. The causal market carried Nintendo a long way this gen, but like I mentioned they've moved on and it's not going to be the same outcome in the upcoming generation.

So it's not doomed at all, but it's not going to sell Wii numbers, that's for sure. I'm not sure if Nintendo were expecting to replicate the Wii's success, but I think by adding a 'U' to the end of it was to at least make the effort to.

[MysticStrummer]

I agree with all that. Once PS4 and 720 show up, Nintendo better hope they have a good selection of games out for the WiiU, and they'd better drop it's price pretty damn fast. Otherwise they might as well concede defeat and go back to the drawing board.

[gazgriff2k12]

MARIOKART WIIU says hello.

[MysticStrummer]

If Mario says hello and no one hears him, did he make a sound?

[gazgriff2k12]

its a system seller always has been and nintendo have more up there sleeve the wii u is a baby let it grow

[SkullBlade169]

It is doing pretty crap right now, but Nintendo isn't stupid. They'll have games in development that they will probably announce when the time is right to gather more interest in the console.

I'm not really interested in it though, latest Nintendo I own is a GameCube. I got rid of the Wii because the games were so bad, plus my GC was more reliable for playing actual GC games anyway.

[Half-Mafia]

Its still early days for anyone to make a judgment.

The PS4 & 720 could be in the same position this time next year. Not because lack of software, but the higher price. The WiiU could be on a roll when people see the games its got in a year and also being the much cheaper option for people. You never know.

I will be getting a WiiU sometime this year. Just needs more games for me to make the purchase.

[Jek_Porkins]

You are exactly right, anyone going around saying the Nintendo Wii U is about to be the next Dreamcast really needs to hold their tongue, I suspect the PS4 and Xbox 720 to sell decently at the start, but it'd be foolish to think the current PS3 and 360 wouldn't outsell those at least for a little while.

The PS3 and 360 will both probably get a price cut, and even if the PS4 and 720 launch at $400, a $149 Xbox or $199 PS3 will be attractive to a lot of people.

[Jek_Porkins]

Panic? Heck no! The Dreamcast managed to last 3+ years and that didn't have consumer confidence or the first party games that Nintendo sports.

I think the Wii U needs games in a big, big way. I own one and I'll be the first to admit that I haven't played it in over a month, Lego City Undercover is about to change that however. The terrible part is that Wii U owners aren't getting third party games like Tomb Raider and Bioshock, it seems to me that those games might sell to Nintendo only console owners.

Once we get a look at a new 3D Mario, HD Zelda, Metroid and Starfox, all this doom and gloom stuff will go out the window.

[jakmckratos]

Im giving it another year before we have to worry. There's nothing worthwhile NOW but we know there's a few good signs..Pikmin 3 could signify there's more games from series that haven't seen a release in a while..HD Wind Waker shows how powerful a remake can look on the Wii U. Im hopeful other games will have a strong showing on the device..Star Fox, Metroid, Donkey Kong, Kirby,Pokemon...maybe Kid Icarus and Earthbound could even show up.

And you know there's Wii U Mario Kart, Mario 3D, Smash Bros and Zelda set to come out at some point. I'm not worried about the Wii U's potential but on the other hand it's gonna take a lot more convincing before I pick one up.

[BitbyDeath]

What do you mean 'start' panicking? O_o

[Mecca4]

I don't own one and I'm panicking lol

[JeepGamer]

No, it's only when Sony systems don't sell as well as anticipated that it's doom and gloom time.

[truechainz]

Is there any other form of journalism that can get away with reporting the same thing over and over again? Or is this just N4G approvals?