Good news for Nintendo today as it has emerged that the Wii U has outsold both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in Japan with regards to lifetime sales. Obviously the Wii U has been out longer than both systems, but it maintains a relatively decent lead. Wii U sold over 3.0 million units, Sony’s PlayStation 4 has sold 2.26 units and Microsoft’s Xbox One has only sold 64,543 units. Wii U has an impressive 57 percent of the Japanese market share while the Playstation 4 has 42 percent and the Xbox One trails behind with a pitiful 1 percent.
- Wii U Total Sales: 3,020,227
- PS4 Total Sales: 2,261,079
- Xbox One Total Sales: 64,543
Well this is good news. It’s actually selling better in Japan. PS4 is still a lot more worldwide but its nice to see Wii U, a console getting no help from 3rd parties, doing better than PS4, a console getting help from 3rd parties. That’s quite an awesome feat if you ask me.
The fact they managed to sell better than PS4 with only their own games is really surprising to me.
The WiiU sold 1m+ units in Japan in its first year, so it already had a lead by the time the PS4 launched. It might or might not be more surprising that the PS4 managed to keep up with the WiiU even though most of its games target the Western audience and it wasn’t given many games that appeal to the general Japanese market so far – those which did, mostly launched on the PS3 too at the same time.
Extremely true man. I think its also really surprising that the PS4 was able to do that
>>>It’s a female>>>
Oops. I’ll change that to bae Kappa ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
“it”
Good ol’ Commander. :)
A lot of people said that the Wii U “was a failure” but in the end it really wasn’t. It hasn’t won the console wars, but it still achieved it’s objective: make enough money to keep the company going. There really isn’t any point to winning a console wars.
This. People seem to think that winning the console war (a stupid war no less) makes something a failure.
lmao
Just because it has sold more than the competition in a single country, thanks to its 1 year headstart, it’s a success now? You don’t need to “support” the console wars to figure the answer to that question. There’s a difference between being optimistic and being completely blind to facts.
And I doubt it’s the WiiU that kept “the company going”, but rather the 3DS and amiibo.
That being said, I really wouldn’t be surprised if the PS4 takes the lead in Japan too this year, with the wave of JRPGs + other games, especially those like Persona 5, FFXV, Yakuza and all, coming up. The WiiU with its whopping 4 games scheduled for the entire year right now might have a tough time keeping up with those.
Nintendo announced quite a while back (2 years ago?) that the Wii U was making them a profit.
So I’d say it did its job. No, it wasn’t a success like the Wii or 3DS. But who the fuck cares? You’re a gamer, not a shareholder. You should care about the games, and the Wii U has a shit-ton better library than the Wii ever had. Wii U is easily one of my top 3 fav consoles. And its less than stellar sales won’t change that.
The gaming community these days is such garbage. Sales, sales, sales. Shut the fuck up about sales already. Talk about the GAMES and how FUN it is. “Console Wars”?…. Lol what are we in preschool? There is no damn war you delusional twats. Just play what you want, and have fun! Crazy concept, I know.
“You’re a gamer, not a shareholder. You should care about the games”
I’ll put it simply so you can understand it:
Companies makes games. Companies needs money. No money, no games.
“the Wii U has a shit-ton better library than the Wii ever had”
Jesus, the delusion.
Profit doesn’t necessarily equal success. According to you, if the WiiU had made a total profit of $100, it still would have been a success, or what? And just because the console itself makes profit on paper, doesn’t mean it’s actually profitable in the long run. Developing games for a console costs money, maintaining servers costs money, implementing updates costs money – if it’s for a console that’s selling poorly, all of that are investments that won’t pay off well enough, but they’re forced to make them because dropping support for a console and move on to the next one too soon would cause more damage ultimately, as they would lose too many consumers. So it’s a lose-lose situation, with one of the options just being less bad that the other.
The WiiU is underperforming, and Nintendo knows that very well too. So no, the WiiU did NOT do its job, especially when considering Nintendo obviously expected it to be the next Wii in terms of success.
Oh, and since when do you have to be a shareholder to care about the success of a console? That’s one of the most delusional arguments people tend to make. But I’ll do you a favor and explain to you why the success of a console we own matters to us consumers as well:
A console being successful means that it has a large install base. What does a large install base imply? Correct, a huge group of potential buyers. Potential buyers means potential money. Money is attractive to all kinds of developers, so a console selling well is going to attract developers which, in the end, will cause the consumers (that’s us) to have a wide array of games to choose from, from all kinds of genres, all kinds of developers, all kinds of types. And the purpose of being a “gamer” is to play video games, isn’t it? So, you see, a console you own being successful in terms of sales should matter to you more than you think, and I believe the WiiU is a perfect example proving that. It’s selling poorly, therefore, it’s not an attractive investment for developers to develop games for, or even port multiplats to, because the chances of it paying off in the end aren’t high enough. That’s why the WiiU has missed out on the biggest 3rd-party titles of the last 2-3 years, that’s (among other things) why the WiiU is not getting any support from 3rd-party developers. Because of its poor sales. And a relatively small library of games combined with a poor outlook to future titles is going to cause less people to buy the console, which by the way is going to hurt Nintendo too, obviously.
So, you see, you don’t need to be making money off of a product, such as a video game console, to care about its success.
Also, it’s arguable whether or not the WiiU has a better library than the Wii. Yes, the Wii had an amazing amount of trashy games and shovel ware, but the good games it had were real good. Plus, it had 3rd-party support – I wonder why? (hint: huge install base (money))
Also, another thing the Wii had going for it is that at least Nintendo themselves bothered to make decent games for it even in its later years, lmao. Animal Crossing amiibo Festival, Mario Tennis and Mario Party 10 are three of the WiiU’s latest games, and to me it feels like Nintendo didn’t even fucking try. At this point, the WiiU simply feels like a vehicle to sell more amiibo, nothing else. Let’s hope Nintendo has more than 4 games scheduled for 2016 to change that impression.
And lastly, you suggest people to play the games they want. Well, unfortunately, many WiiU owners can’t play the games they want, because a whole lot of the games they want don’t make their way to the WiiU thanks to its underwhelming performance in terms of sales, which keeps the developers away. :)
Oh shit! Namie used a fucking harsh cuss word! I don’t recall her ever using one of that magnitude! If alexsmith113 was smart, he’d back down & run. Oh wait. He’s as much of an idiot as Bowler AA. I think calling those two fanboys would be an insult to fanboys, to be honest.
Man. You really have low self-esteem, huh? Don’t you have a girl’s pigtails to pull or something?
Low self-esteem? You think a person with low self-esteem would actually do as much arguing as I do with people like you!? lmfao You clearly need to do research on people with low self-esteem if you think I suffer from that. As for the second question, I don’t even know what the hell that means? If it’s a question asking me if I got a girlfriend or wife, yes. I got a significant other, not that that is any of your business.
Yes, people who tend to have nothing to do other than try and insult others do it due to the fact that they have no respect for themselves, and thus do it to make themselves feel better. It’s psychology 101.~
So basically… Seeing how your explanation about people who insult others represents your own behaviour rather accurately, it must mean you have low self-esteem too. Thanks for clarifying.
Avid Debater would be so proud if they read this. Great post!
By how much? Much less than Virtual Boy did I bet.
Compare to GameCube, a much superior console with actual best games, it is.
Was it behind at some point? The last 8 weeks or so have been stronger than previous, and the last half of 2015 really seemed to keep the WiiU ahead in Japan so far as home consoles.
Wii U has never been behind in Japan.
Interesting… there was certainly a time when weekly PS4 was “winning” but with the 1 year jump or whatever it was, that probably kept WiiU in the overall lead
PS4 was winning weeks but only was eating into the deficit. They never had the overall lead. It is expected to past Wii U this year at some point unless the Wii U continue to climb up wars in Japan.
I don’t see it with the WiiU having taken over the weekly lead for a while now… but if the WiiU finally “dies” as the announcement of and the transition to the NX starts, it probably will
It’s behind in the rest of the world.
Fuck Xbox , there i said it! Now what?
You think you’re going to get a reaction for that from a Nintendo site?
*points at Quadraxis’s comment below yours* You were saying? lol
Dammit NC, I’m sure he did it out of spite XD
>>>You are hereby awarded the Medal of Quadraxis for your wonderful speech>>>
Now you go stand in the corner and think about what you’ve done. Microsoft doesn’t care if you hate the Xbox. And Sony doesn’t care if you hate the PS4 either.
The Xbox One is a great console! You should give it a try, maybe you could end up liking it. This is coming from a longtime Nintendo fan.
No you’re right. Fuck Xbox.
Cue twisting.
Japan knows where it’s at! Now if the rest of the world could get it together.
I think you have it backwards. Nintendo’s games this generation have been mostly catering to Japanese audiences, that’s why it’s doing so well.
Buying into Mobile BS much like US buying into EA’s BS and UK with Ubishit and Microsoft. Gaming is fucked no matter where it is.
Too bad it’s the lowest selling region for consoles.
*home consoles.
Before someone comes in through that loophole.
Good for Wii U… IN JAPAN! But let’s face it. That’s the only country Nintendo ever really cares about. The rest of the world, even the US which is their biggest consumer base, can go fuck itself. When (that’s not even an if if Nintendo keeps going down the same path they are going right now) the day comes Japan is their biggest supporter & even in that country they are getting their asses curbstomped by Sony’s PlayStation brand & barely making ends meat, we’ll see just how fast Nintendo wakes the fuck up & realize the rest of the world, even most of Japan itself, has left them behind to rot because they were too fucking stupid or out of touch to change with the rest of the world.
But Nintendo is delving into mobile so they’ll be fine even when their console & handheld gaming goes into the gutter. They’ll become a cell phone provider & all the little slaves that dare call themselves Nintendo fans will shuffle on over to there because they’d rather have Nintendo producing shit than wake the fuck up themselves & realize Nintendo has become Konami 2.0. Meanwhile, they’ll be joined by casuals that game solely for the purpose to kill time so could care less about a fully fledged game. But hey! Least Nintendo will be around for another 100 years for future dipshits to be suckered out of their money! :D
Hey look! I called it! :D
I saw you coming a mile away. Now just waiting for that idiot alexsmith113 to come along. Probably won’t now that I’m expecting him. Then again, idiots can’t help but try to “win” an opinion battle.
Stating things as fact is not an “opinion.” If you don’t like their games, that’s your opinion. But you act like that because you don’t like them, then no one should. It’s not an “opinion battle,” it’s just you throwing a tantrum…..yet again. XD
I always wondered how people from other countries and continents could be SO different from, let’s say…North America? I mean, we’re all human beings. If games are super fun to North Americans, then you’d think those same games would be fun to anyone (aside from the different languages of course). Fun is fun. It’s a little like animals, in the ways that we can be so different. Yet unlike animals and all the different species, we’re all the same species. So how can different cultures of human beings be so dramatically different? And even do such different things? That always confused me. I’m thinking too hard.
What a shock and by “shock” I mean “obvious” because it’s Japan. But everywhere else…
and ps4 still has 3x more sales than wiiu, despite starting late. get rekt
besides, they’re moving towards cellphone games cuz they know their useless handheld is foking garbage in technology and performance compared to a cellphone. a useless 3d gimmick, which probably is why it costs over $100 was a complete waste and can cause vision impairing, i know i wouldn’t let my kids play that trash. what’s wrong with what we’re seeing on consoles and other handhelds like pspvita, and even mobile games? nothing. have you watched a 3d movie for more than 3 hours? i bet you can’t, but if you can, i seriously DARE you to, no? exactly my point and thus 3d was a gimmick, a useless feature that nintendo is most often known for: introducing useless features that don’t get used. I could name several useless gimmicks from nintendo but this is not the post to do it.