Xbox Series X|S Outsells the Wii U in Under 18 Months

Microsoft's latest video game console generation, the Xbox Series X|S, has outsold the lifetime sales of the Nintendo Wii U after less than a year and a half on the market, according to VGChartz estimates.

The Xbox Series X|S has sold 13.66 million units worldwide through March 26, 2022, while the Wii U sold 13.56 million units lifetime.

[darthv72]

WiiU was a great system that just didnt get the respect it deserved. XBO passed it around the 2 year mark and we know Series is about 6mo ahead of the XBO so this is not surprising. I think PS5 passed it right around a year, or just ahead of 52 weeks.

[rippermcrip]

What was great about it?

[darthv72]

if you have to ask... chances are you didnt have one.

But for me it was the on screen and off screen play without need for additional hardware (which remote play requires) and the games were fun (a key reason to even play them in the first place).

[rippermcrip]

Well your theory is wrong. I did have one. It had shit for games from third party. The GamePad was a stupid gimmick.

[darthv72]

No worries, I know lots who never gave it a chance because, like you say, the 3rd party was weak. I dont have many retail 3rd party titles but the 1st party is what i played mostly on it. Or 3rd party games made specifically for it like fast racing league.

[FanboysKiller]

No frame drops , or negligible to be honest.

[FanboysKiller]

@rippermcrip
What games did you ownd for the wii u?
My case is different, I mainly play 3rd party games so I bought a bunch of wii games plus the main exclusives for the wii and wii u . If Captain todd is the main choice for your console then I could relate to your limited experience.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

I still own a Wii U. It didn’t get much playtime from me, it was really only a good system if you were hardcore into Nintendo games. the screened controller gimmick, dated hardware, high game prices and limited library put me off the console within a year.

[RedDevils]

Why would you buy a Nintendo console for a third party games? Playstation, Xbox and PC are where it at. People buy a Nintendo console are usually buy it for their first/2nd party games.

[rippermcrip]

Why would I get a Nintendo console for third party games? It is sad that it came to that. That didn't use to be how it was for Nintendo. It started with the Wii. It peaked with the WiiU.

Most of the first party titles for WiiU could have just existed on the Wii (and in fact some were). Their own titles never require horsepower to operate them.

It was a completely unnecessary system. The only purpose it served was it basically being a stepping stone to the hybrid Switch.

[NotoriousWhiz]

What I liked about the Wii U:

Nintendo land (amazing asymmetrical multi-player experience that I'm still hoping gets ported to the Switch)
Super smash Bros
Mario Kart 8
Super Mario 3d World
Virtual Console (which is still greatly superior to NSO)
Wii Fit (can't remember if there was a version unique to Wii U, but whichever version i had was mostly played on Wii U)
Splatoon
Super Mario Maker

In terms of volume of games, it was definitely no PS4 or even Xbox one, but the few good games it had were very good with lots of replay ability. And Ryu/Cloud in smash for the first time was HUGE.

[porkChop]

It had great games, but it was not a great system. Terribly designed, bottlenecked hardware that severely limited game design.

[Tacoboto]

Wii U was exactly that - a not-great system that had great games and access to almost all of Nintendo's great games. But third parties were nonexistent and the screen didn't make anything actually better. Cool, you can play with the TV off... as long as you're within 10' of it... and the game actually supports it

[FanboysKiller]

Nintendo started failing the console before the consumers , it's not always the consumers fault.

[jznrpg]

It was a good system . It just didn’t get software support . Switch isn’t getting much more support from first party but it gets some third party and a lot of ports so it looks better than WiiU buts it’s not a lot better . But the Seitch itself is selling a lot better obviously , especially the Lite version .

[RedDevils]

Most of switch Top games are Wii U games lol

[DEEBO]

Still got my Wii U.

[franwex]

Same here. Play it to this day.

[potedude]

I bought my kids a Wii U second hand. Bargain and the games were a steal too. There's some excellent stuff on there, some of the Mario games are top-notch. Well worth a look if you like Nintendo.

[FanboysKiller]

We .... You ....

[ApocalypseShadow]

No real numbers. And, I wouldn't call this an accomplishment saying it outside a failed system like Wii U, Sega Saturn or Dreamcast or something.

It's not even article worthy.

[Aloymetal]

The fanatic running vgchartz is running rampant & having a field day now that his preferred system that is available everywhere online is outselling the nowhere to be found PS5, let him be happy for a couple of weeks til the emotional streak is over and everything goes back to the usual, predictable and expected.

[Lightning77]

There's a article announcing PS5 outselling N64 The UK.....

Yeah it's not that serious... I like at all.

[septemberindecember]

https://www.vgchartz.com/ar...

They literally announced the same thing when the PS5 did it. There is no "fanatic" running VGChartz.

[darthv72]

No offense but where were you when this story came out 4.5 mo ago? Would you have said the same then as well?
https://n4g.com/news/245517...

[kickerz]

Yet dreamcast was my favourite console of all time. The cd drive failed so I installed a gdemu board. Best thing ever. Now I play games off sdcard. Love it

[darthv72]

Did the same but my disc drive was fine. Still cool to play atomiswave games on the dc. Dolphin blue ftw.

[GoodGuy09]

Still wows me nintendo turned it around with the switch. A hybrid home/portable console is just genius. The wii u was indeed a disappointment and I disliked the gamepad.

I really hope the successor is a stronger switch around the steam deck's power while being completely backwards compatible with the switch's library.

[Vengeance1138]

Not exactly an accomplishment or anything to be proud about. Like Wow you quickly outsold a console that was a disaster on all levels! Slow clap...

[jznrpg]

There’s a ton of them (series x) used on eBay right now . I wonder why so many people are selling them so quickly .

[John_McClane]

There's a ton of ps5's on ebay too, also on walmart.

[RosweeSon]

Next stop a console that actually sold 🤣

[northpaws]

Wii U > Switch

Had way more fun with my Wii U than Switch.

[LoveSpuds]

Blimey, slow news day I guess and as others have noted, it really doesn't sound that impressive a feat anyway.

Personally, I liked my WiiU, like many Nintendo console owners I only used it for the Ninty exclusives, but these games were absolutely brilliant.

[onisama]

Happy to see xbox doing great this gen... Its great fo xbox fans and gaming community to keep the challenge up

[frostypants]

VGchartz keeps doing this. The S and the X are TWO DIFFERENT CONSOLES. That's like lumping the PS4 and PS4 Pro together...also dumb.

[Cackocacho]

Um, doesn't basically everything outsell the WiiU in under 18 months?