• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Wii U Shipped 160k Units Worldwide Between April and June 2013

T

Tobor

Member
If we're going with a Sega comparison, then the Wii U is the Saturn.

The Genesis was hugely successful, but Sega abused that success with unneccessary peripherals and add ons that squandered their good will. They then underestimated the new competition and released tge Saturn at a high price with underperforming hardware. An early launch(which was crazy because they had so much time to prepare) meant rushed launch titles and a huge software drought.

Sounds familiar, right? We all know what happened next.
 
J

JohnMadden

Member
I don't see anything they've announced for the end of the year that will turn it around. I don't think enough people will buy this system to play what looks like a Mario 3D Land sequel, Wind Waker, DK and Pikmin. Solid games, but system sellers in this era? I truly don't think so. You could've done better, Nintendo. Poor effort.
 
S

S¡mon

Banned
If they had called it the "Wii 2" it would have been a much bigger hit. I still hear people asking "so this Wii U, is like an addition on the Wii? When does a new Wii come out... it's been years now!"
 
S

shinra-bansho

Member
Monty Mole said:
That would bring it in line with Xbox 360's first 18 months, but they'll need a huge Christmas to get anywhere near meeting that expectation.
Click to expand...
Microsoft stuffed the hell out of the channel in their second Christmas.

That said, it's wholly implausible that the Wii U gets anywhere near the 360's first 18 months. At this stage 5-6M for the fiscal year would be a major turnaround. 9M is so implausible it should basically be considered impossible.
 
D

Delusibeta

Banned
$h@d0w said:
I'll raise you and say the Vita outsell Wii U in Japan this quarter :)
Click to expand...

That can be calculated.

All of the following numbers are from Media Create:

Vita LTD March 31st: 336,059
Vita LTD June 30th: 540,266
Vitas Sold This Quarter: 204,207

WiiU LTD March 31st: 226,960
WiiU LTD June 30th: 333,001
WiiUs Sold This Quarter: 106,041

welp.
 
S

SlowRevolution

Member
S¡mon;73979303 said:
If they had called it the "Wii 2" it would have been a much bigger hit. I still hear people asking "so this Wii U, is like an addition on the Wii? When does a new Wii come out... it's been years now!"
Click to expand...

it would've been less confusing, but I don't know how much it would've actually helped. The Wii audience moved on.
 
M

MercuryLS

Banned
The problem Wii U faces is that there is zero appeal to the console unless you're a massive Nintendo fan. If you're a laggard looking for a deal and a large library you're going to get a PS3/X360. If you're an early adopter that wants the best new tech and a large library of next-gen titles, you'll get PS4/X1. Wii U is squeezed from both sides, it's in its own no man's land. Nintendo's own titles might provide tiny sales bumps, but overall it will be a repeat of Gamecube (if they're really lucky).
 
F

FyreWulff

Member
DragonNC said:
Honestly I think this will be last Nintendo console in living room.Probably they will go full portable from next console.
Click to expand...

The double whammy failure of both the N64 and GameCube wasn't enough to knock them out of the game.

SolarPowered said:
The only thing that can happen when you shun the "core" Nintendo fans AND general gamers generation after generation in favor of a casual audience that doesn't give a crap about videogames.
Click to expand...

All the core gamers that didn't buy the N64 or GameCube either? It's kind of hard to shun people that weren't buying your consoles in the first place.
 
J

jmdajr

Member
MercuryLS said:
The problem Wii U faces is that there is zero appeal to the console unless you're a massive Nintendo fan. If you're a laggard looking for a deal and a large library you're going to get a PS3/X360. If you're an early adopter that wants the best new tech and a large library of next-gen titles, you'll get PS4/X1. Wii U is squeezed from both sides, it's in its own no man's land. Nintendo's own titles might provide tiny sales bumps, but overall it will be a repeat of Gamecube (if they're really lucky).
Click to expand...

I feel like even those people are not buying it.
 
Fox Mulder

Fox Mulder

Member
DragonNC said:
Honestly I think this will be last Nintendo console in living room.Probably they will go full portable from next console.
Click to expand...

I don't.

They have tons of money to try again. They probably can't get away with the cheap underpowered route anymore unless they just want to be further pushed as a niche product for their games.

I'd love to have a powerful Nintendo console that gets and all the best third party support again. They don't want to compete with MS and Sony, and its probably best that they don't.
 
LiquidMetal14

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
Jonboy said:
IGN article: Exactly How Bad is the Nintendo Situation?

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/07/31/exactly-how-bad-is-the-nintendo-situation
Click to expand...

the-simpsons-the-compomuh5.jpg


It's still good, it's still good!
 
J

JohnMadden

Member
Authoritative Shark said:
The double whammy failure of both the N64 and GameCube wasn't enough to knock them out of the game.
Click to expand...

Unify everything onto the next portable and provide an option to stream to TV. Plenty of gadgets are out there now to facilitate this.

Makes more sense than going the other way around like the Wii U did, and they won't be fighting themselves to feed unique games to two systems at once. And it's not like they need extremely powerful hardware to run anything they're going to make anyways, as evidenced by the Wii U's graphics capabilities.
 
P

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
drspeedy said:
Yep. Except I'd add that the audience got tired of playing casual games on a console. They still play Candy Crush and Pokemon, just elsewhere.
Click to expand...

Again, just like I questioned him (and he still hasn't responded to): Did the audience "Get tired" of playing games at that exact time, or was it a result of Nintendo basically abandoning the system at that exact same time?

Seems a little coincidental, don't you think? Nintendo's release list was barren right at that time. No new games = no new console sales. I highly, highly doubt it was just a matter of "welp, the casuals just got tired all at the same time!" Nintendo wasn't releasing any games.

As for Iwata: I was hesitant with him sticking around but thought it was ok until next year. However, the fact that they aren't revising sales estimates is absolutely INSANE. Talk about head in the sand.
 
D

DragonSworne

Banned
Beysus said:
This is just so sad.

I wonder how many projects will be cancelled due to Wii U's poor performance.
Click to expand...

Will be cancelled?

They all got canceled earlier this year. During GDC 2013, Mario reported that he heard so many games got canceled for Wii U.

This situations has been predicted by many of the publishers already, even before launch. Wii U was setup to fail since the abysmal showing at E3 2011.
 
J

Jocchan

Ὁ μεμβερος -ου
Oh man.

Pretty much everything that could go wrong, it did, and everything Nintendo could do wrong, they did.

It's sort of hilarious and sad at the same time.
 
L

lvlzero

Banned
list of silly moves:
  • continuing with wii name.
  • failing to provide audience a clear understanding of what the product is.
  • neglecting a newly launched system in favor of its handheld.
  • neglecting the early adopters and hoping they wont lose patience... for 9 months.
  • no multitouch, difference in unit price between single and multitouch would have been below 3usd per unit.
  • failure to properly advertise the product with new and compelling titles
  • failure to advertise the graphical improvements over the previous console
  • bdrom derivative drive with lens unit capable of reading standard bdrom disks but no bdrom movie compatibility, and more puzzling, no dvd movie compatibility either
  • advertising a console to miiverse users, a software only existing users actually see.
  • persisting with region lockout as if its beneficial at all anymore
  • releasing a console with such a similar design to its predecessor, enforcing the misconception that its just another wii but redesigned
  • making promise after promise that subsequently slip and fail
  • pricing the console close to the current consoles, ps3 and 360 when they have a mature and full library and a much better ecosystem.
  • pulling a beiber and borderline spitting on their fans and hoping the beliebers will keep the general concensus positive.
  • delaying your key software titles till AFTER the launch of superior, not much more
  • expensively priced competitior hardware.
I could continue all freaking night.
 
U

USC-fan

Banned
Doesnt matter what they named it. Wii was a fad. I know people who do not game at all and they brought a wii. They brought a couple of party games and nothing else.

The fad is over and they would not buy a wii2 or anything else. It was a wii sport machine really.

Now they release a very, very underpowered hardware that has trouble running ps360 level engines. The hardware is so much weaker than even the most low end estimates. Only the hardcore of nintendo fans will buy the wiiu to play a few nintendo titles. Even if they drop the price it still will not help the main problem that the hardware is just too weak to run next gen games. No reason for developers to waste a ton of time and money trying to make their engines run on wiiu. nintendo even had so much trouble with this weak hardware they delayed a launch game almost a YEAR!

Really no one is going to buy a wiiu for $350 or even $300 when you can buy a next gen console with a ton more storage and games for $399. Its a no-brainer.... They need to get the price under $249. They need to be at the price on current gen systems so $199.
 
J

jmdajr

Member
Looks like Dreamcast sold 10 million in it's short lifespan.

WiiU currently has 3

I feel that Dreamcast actually brought it though. There were always cool games coming out.
 
O

Owzers

Member
If Nintendo doesn't shift projects from the Wii U to the 3ds, it will still be worth buying in 3 years for Nintendo's properties...but it's going to be a long 3 years for them.
 
C

catstronaut

Member
jmdajr said:
I feel like even those people are not buying it.
Click to expand...
There's no reason to right now. If I hadn't gotten one for Christmas, I wouldn't have gotten one yet. Even as a big Nintendo fan, I don't care that much about NintendoLand or NSMBU. They're both very good games, but they're not 3D World, Mario Kart 8, or Smash Bros. Those are the games I really want to play.
 
P

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
USC-fan said:
Doesnt matter what they named it. Wii was a fad. I know people who do not game at all and they brought a wii. They brought a couple of party games and nothing else.

The fad is over and they would not buy a wii2 or anything else. It was a wii sport machine really.

Now they release a very, very underpowered hardware that has trouble running ps360 level engines. The hardware is so much weaker than even the most low end estimates. Only the hardcore of nintendo fans will buy the wiiu to play a few nintendo titles. Even if they drop the price it still will not help the main problem that the hardware is just too weak to run next gen games. No reason for developers to waste a ton of time and money trying to make their engines run on wiiu. nintendo even had so much trouble with this weak hardware they delayed a launch game almost a YEAR!

Really no one is going to buy a wiiu for $350 or even $300 when you can buy a next gen console with a ton more storage and games for $399. Its a no-brainer.... They need to get the price under $249. They need to be at the price on current gen systems so $199.
Click to expand...

Again with this?
 
I

imBask

Banned
lvlzero said:
list of silly moves:

  • continuing with wii name.
    failing to provide audience a clear understanding of what the product is.
    neglecting a newly launched system in favor of its handheld.
    neglecting the early adopters and hoping they wont lose patience... for 9 months.
    no multitouch, difference in unit price between single and multitouch would have been below 3usd per unit.
    failure to properly advertise the product with new and compelling titles
    failure to advertise the graphical improvements over the previous console
    bdrom derivative drive with lens unit capable of reading standard bdrom disks but no bdrom movie compatibility, and more puzzling, no dvd movie compatibility either
    advertising a console to miiverse users, a software only existing users actually see.
    persisting with region lockout as if its beneficial at all anymore
    releasing a console with such a similar design to its predecessor, enforcing the misconception that its just another wii but redesigned
    making promise after promise that subsequently slip and fail
    pricing the console close to the current consoles, ps3 and 360 when they have a mature and full library and a much better ecosystem
    pulling a beiber and borderline spitting on their fans and hoping the beliebers will keep the general concensus positive.
    delaying your key software titles till AFTER the launch of superior, not much more expensively priced competitior hardware.
I could continue all freaking night.
Click to expand...

highlighted what I feel like is the most important thing. Every person I know who's not into hardcore gaming has no clue what the fuck is a Wii U, they all think it's the newest Wii add-on
 
P

Patryn

Member
Midou said:
Think it's still too soon to say it'll be like the dreamcast. I suspect price cuts + Smash, next mainline mario, zelda, etc come out, it will still do decent sales.

Would buy a bundle with an elite Wii U and game for $199. :p
Click to expand...

Except the problem is that Nintendo doesn't just have to worry about consumers not buying it. At these levels, they have to worry about retailers getting fed up and ceasing to carry it. If it doesn't start showing signs of life, it may be a bit much to asking them to continue stocking a product that only gathers dust on the shelf until all these games are out a year (or later) from now.

Seriously, this Christmas season is crucial for Nintendo. If it doesn't see a boost in sales, I think come January we'll start hearing about the first US retailers dropping it.
 
N

Neifirst

Member
JasonMCG said:
I'm assuming this is the worst selling Nintendo console at this stage in its life. Did the GCN or N64 even come close to bombing this hard in the first year?
Click to expand...

If I remember correctly, N64 actually did really well in its first couple of years, sales-wise.
 
S

spekkeh

Banned
jmdajr said:
I feel like even those people are not buying it.
Click to expand...

Raises hand

Massive Nintendo fanboy since the NES, this is the first console I not only do not own since launch, I'm not even sure I want one. The Platinum Games have me more interested than Nintendo in regurgitation mode.
 
M

Miles X

Member
Plinko said:
Again with this?
Click to expand...

It's not necessarily a bad thing, it wasn't a fad for many but I mean when you look at it overall.

fad
/fad/
Noun
An intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something, esp. one that is short-lived; a craze.

It depicts Wii perfectly doesn't it?

Nintendo clearly havn't retained (nearly) any of the userbase that bought the Wii.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Nintendo Q3 FY 23/24 Earinings Report: Hardware 6.90m, LTD 139.36M. SMB Wonder 11.96M
Sales-Age 2
86
6K
Oberstein replied
Circana January 2024: #1 MWIII #2 Tekken 8 #3 Suicide Squad ; PS5 #1 Units + Rev, Switch #2 Units Xbox #2 Rev
Sales-Age 2 3
105
7K
mckmas8808 replied
1 new Wii U was sold in the US in September. First time a new Wii U sold since May 2022.
Community Event Hype 2
60
5K
Dr. Wilkinson replied
Circana March 2024: #1 Dragon's Dogma #3 MLB: The Show #5 Rise of Ronin #6 Peach; PS5 #1 Units + Rev, Switch #2 Units Xbox #2 Rev
Sales-Age 2 3
102
6K
adamsapple replied
Circana (NPD) February 2024: #1 Helldivers 2 #2 FF7 Rebirth #4 Skull and Bones #8 FF7 Twin Pack; PS5 #1 Units+Rev, Switch #2 Units Xbox #2 Rev
Sales-Age 2 3 4 5
232
15K
Radical_3d replied
Top Bottom