How the Wii U Didn’t Steal Christmas

GenGAME writes: The Wii U is not getting off to the same kind of fast start that the Wii did, and its software sales are only half that of the Wii and the GameCube. Nintendo’s President says there’s no point in comparing Wii and Wii U sales, and certainly the two systems are a different beast, but that doesn’t mean the Wii U has to be less successful.

If Nintendo found a way to make the Wii the hot item on the market that everyone needed, why haven’t they been able to do the same for the Wii U yet?

[1upgamer99]

The Wii U's sales are not bad, and Honestly I think that some of the Wii U would be market, picked up Ipad's this holiday. There are way more electronics out now that are "must have's" compared to 2006. Back then it was more than likely the IPod. Allot of my friends are going to pick a Wii U up this Spring, and they all really like coming here to play it. Money was a factor for some of them, as they had to have the Ipad Mini and The Iphone 5, lol.. I could care less about the Iphone. I have Galaxy3, and like it better, plus I have the Wii U :)

[Erimgard]

Exactly. It's not that the Wii U is selling poorly, just that it hasn't proven that it's a must have item yet. Price is a big factor in that, as are exclusive games.

It's a tougher sell than the Wii, but once people play it, they can see why it's worth the buy.

[gillri]

You guys in america are iphone/apple mad

I have just got the Google Nexus 4 and its as good as an iphone 5 but its £200 $300) cheaper! its a no brainer tbh

I was very close to getting the samgun galaxy s3

[NYC_Gamer]

It's because Wii-U didn't have

1) enough must have exclusives

[Summons75]

Yeah it totally doesn't have 6 or 7 years ahead of it to build up a collection. Nor does it har EVERY wii game playable on it.

Sorry but that's a poor excuse.

[TheFirstClassic]

Sorry but it isn't a poor excuse. ZombieU and Nintendoland scored in the 70s, nothing that special, so new super mario bros U is really the only exclusive worth buying the system for, but it isn't even much of an improvement over the one on the wii.

If NintendoLand and ZombieU were better recieved, I would be agreeing with you. The only must have exclusive is a game we've seen most of before.

[nintendoland]

@cpayne

"scored in the 70's" facepalms*

[PopRocks359]

"The Wii U is not getting off to the same kind of fast start that the Wii did."

No crap pal. It's about $100 more expensive and not everyone understands that it's a new console. And yet the NPD gave us numbers showing its launch was more successful than the competition.

Honest question. Exactly when did this become bad thing?

[PopRocks359]

Two facts and a question warrants 8+ disagrees. Can't say I'm surprised. Great going N4G community.

[thezeldadoth]

i wouldn't call this place a gaming community anymore. more like a worship center for corporations. Its like religious warfare in here.

I really enjoy my Wii-U and can't wait for more games to be announced.

[deafdani]

Yeah, I feel your pain. This agree/disagree system is absolute crap in the cesspool of fanboys that sadly conforms the majority of N4G's community. I gave you an agree to both of your posts to try to balance things out a bit for you, as futile as that attempt may be.

[Jadedz]

Sales are mediocre, at best. Hopefully Nintendo's prepared for the next generation of competitors.

[Erimgard]

That'll be interesting to watch. Once the PS4 and Nextbox launch, Nintendo will have a price advantage again (presumably) but they'll have to do some impressive things to stay ahead of the game content wise.

[kirbyu]

I still don't get why anyone (other than people in the industry) cares how good it's selling.

[Kos-Mos]

I can explain that to you. First of all we have fanboys who loves companies like Nintendo (like me) who`s not filled with crap; arrogance, guns, arrogance and guns.
Second if you decide to buy a Wii U you`ll want it to sell massive so there will be more games produced for the console, thus more for you to choose from.
Third, the truth is always stronger than opinions.

[kirbyu]

Oh, I see now. But I don't understand that last thing you said.

[PopRocks359]

In some cases people want to validate why their preferred platform is good or why a disliked platform is bad, so they cite sales.

I normally don't care, but when someone brings it into an argument I tend to contest it. Like for example, someone might say "The Wii U isn't selling well because it sucks." Or vice versa.

I could say in response, "The numbers are actually considered 'okay' and have even sold faster than the competition in the same span of time. Besides, the Vita isn't selling well at all; is that a bad platform? I certainly don't think so."

The thing that sucks most is usually I have to expect some lame-brain attack as oppose to an actual argument because someone will more than likely take offense to the Vita's sales being brought up in comparison.

[thezeldadoth]

Starting maybe around 2009 this place became mainly a sony fanboy haven. It used to be a 360 fanboy place until 360 became more popular. All of a sudden the hipsters didn't get to feel 'different' for liking 360. Now its unanimous love for sony, hate for nintendo, COD, and WoW, and a weird grudge against PC gaming.

[deafdani]

Again, I agree with you. In the end, sales numbers shouldn't mean jackshit to us as consumers, that's a matter for the investors to worry about, not us. For us, it should come to the games and other experiences we're enjoying on our consoles. Simple as that.

[ozzywazzy]

How about "the wii u isn't selling because it lacks wanted exclusives?" then your going to say NSMBu, Pikmin, zombie u, thinking you've proven a point and I'll say, those games are mediocre at best but nice try. Then Rayman legends gets mentioned and that's just grasping at straws.

[deafdani]

- Fact: Wii U didn't sell as good as the Wii at launch.
- Fact: Wii U sold better than PS3 / Xbox 360 at launch.
- Fact: launch numbers don't mean much in the long run for a console. Wii U actually had decent launch sales, and so will Sony and Microsoft's next consoles. What matters in the end is the developer support the consoles get on their lifecycles, and that remains to be seen for all three.
- Fact: we shouldn't care so much about sales numbers of a console, unless we're investors. No amount of consoles sold is reflective of the actual quality of the console itself.

[ahronith]

What i have noticed is there still is a lot of people out there that still dont realize the Wii U is a whole new system, and most of them think its the Gamepad that is just an add on...Nintendo still needs better advertising.

[wiiulee]

the wiiu didnt need to steal christmas they just need to have a fantastic launch and to be heading towards their goal of 5 million by end of march and thats exacly where they are heading....with sony and microsoft dropping their system prices to bargain deals it was going to be hard to do