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Wii U has sold 3 million in Japan

WiiU ~120k/month
PS4 ~210k/month

Which month was this?

Weeks 49-53 (December):
Wii U ~306k
PS4 ~239k

That's not how this work.

Launch allinied, the PS4 has sold 2.3 million in 98 weeks, Wii U in 126 weeks.

It is doing better, but still disappoint sales ( in Japan, of course).

Do you have one of your nifty graphs for launch aligned? PS4 has to be quite a bit ahead of Wii U by now, I'm assuming.
 

Jito

Banned
Nintendo can't do no right in 3rd parties eyes. They tried their best with Wii U but the support dried up even quicker than usual.

Is trying their best releasing a under powered console with a slapped on tablet gimmick just as developers and publisher are gearing up for the next gen? That's not trying their best, that's Nintendo continuing to live in their bubble.
 

EvB

Member
I think people are missing the fact that PS4 hasn't sold more than 2.3 million-ish in Japan yet.

Consoles in Japan are hurting in general.

Yeah, nobody is really talking about that, they've sold very similar numbers in a similar time period.

Japan has an aging population , the demographic that would buy a console or play one is smallest it has been in 80 years

PLOvwRn.jpg
 

Rurunaki

Member
I don't know how people can defend the 3 million LTD for the Wii U in Japan as not a bomba. I love my Wii U and all, but it's pretty much a dead console now which is why Nintendo seems to be rushing NX out the door.
 

asagami_

Banned
I am interested that the PS3 have less sales than PS4, it still have a better base than the latter. That would explain why many japanese games are getting released in both platforms.

Still, regarding the Wii U the numbers are not so great. I don't know that NX will be, but if it want to play in Japan it will have to appeal the handheld market... some way.
 

Gestault

Member
I really think a lot of people haven't realized how dramatic the console market contraction has been in Japan over the last generation or so.
 
I am interested that the PS3 have less sales than PS4, it still have a better base than the latter. That would explain why many japanese games are getting released in both platforms.

Still, regarding the Wii U the numbers are not so great. I don't know that NX will be, but if it want to play in Japan it will have to appeal the handled market... some way.

Well, it's been on the market since 2006, I would hope it has a larger base than PS4. :p
 

Rodin

Member
They went from 12.75 Wii to 3 million Wii U (which is worse than the Gamecube) so they sure as hell aren't happy about this. Could've been worse all things considered, but should've been way better.
 
Considering how much Japanese home consoles have cratered in their home country, over the past half decade, that isn't so bad, actually.
 

Esque7

Member
I don't know how people can defend the 3 million LTD for the Wii U in Japan as not a bomba. I love my Wii U and all, but it's pretty much a dead console now which is why Nintendo seems to be rushing NX out the door.
The market in JP has reduced drastically from last gen, especially consoles. Given that, Wii U could have done much worse. The fact it could match GC numbers is quite impressive given the market and lack of support.
 
Honestly this is the reason the NX is happening the way it is. Console gaming is dying in Japan. Everyone needs/wants portable devices because of the Japanese lifestyle. NX having a focus of being both handheld and console device is derived from the Japanese market. It's nintendo's response to this generation's Japanese gaming trends. More mobile first/friendly development for the market they care about most.
 
I don't know how people can defend the 3 million LTD for the Wii U in Japan as not a bomba. I love my Wii U and all, but it's pretty much a dead console now which is why Nintendo seems to be rushing NX out the door.

Hmm, well relative to the competition it's not a bomb, it's just that the entire market tanked.

It'll be really interesting to see if their NX strategy will be appealing in Japan. The 3DS did okay but I'm guessing the dedicated portable market in Japan will be going away next. Having a multiple-form factor ecosystem makes a handheld slightly more appealing, but will it be enough?
 

Sterok

Member
The fact that the PS4 is taking forever to beat the Wii U when it has all the third parties lined up behind it vs Nintendo going at it alone shows the state of the console market there.
 

Newline

Member
Except the word "Japan" in the title.

That means it is not selling well WW, which really has very little to do with Japan... which is what this thread is about.
Maybe that would have been important 10 years ago when the Japanese market was way more influential on what games arrived on a console. However it's the worldwide numbers that really matter for consoles now, if western devs can't get on board, a home console cant survive.
 

Arkam

Member
Maybe that would have been important 10 years ago when the Japanese market was way more influential on what games arrived on a console. However it's the worldwide numbers that really matter for consoles now, if western devs can't get on board, a home console cant survive.

Cool! But that's not what we are discussing ;)
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
The fact that the PS4 is taking forever to beat the Wii U when it has all the third parties lined up behind it vs Nintendo going at it alone shows the state of the console market there.

To be fair, the major JRPG and Japanese game rush hasn't actually started yet. This year will be the ultimate test.
 

orochi91

Member
The fact that the PS4 is taking forever to beat the Wii U when it has all the third parties lined up behind it vs Nintendo going at it alone shows the state of the console market there.

Launch aligned, the PS4 has sold 2.3 million in 98 weeks, whereas the Wii U took 126 weeks.

There has hardly been any major JP 3rd party game released over the past 2 years.

2016 3rd party JP line-up looks beastly though: DS3, FF15, P5, DQ11 and etc.

To be fair, the major JRPG and Japanese game rush hasn't actually started yet. This year will be the ultimate test.

+1
 

Oberon

Banned
I don't know how people can defend the 3 million LTD for the Wii U in Japan as not a bomba. I love my Wii U and all, but it's pretty much a dead console now which is why Nintendo seems to be rushing NX out the door.

It sold better than the ps4 and well of course the xbone.
It surprises me to see so many not knowing that consoles are dead in Japan.
 

Esque7

Member
Maybe that would have been important 10 years ago when the Japanese market was way more influential on what games arrived on a console. However it's the worldwide numbers that really matter for consoles now, if western devs can't get on board, a home console cant survive.
This thread is about the JP market, not worldwide. The market has declined there, yes, and that is what we are discussing.
 
Hmm, well relative to the competition it's not a bomb, it's just that the entire market tanked.

It'll be really interesting to see if their NX strategy will be appealing in Japan. The 3DS did okay but I'm guessing the dedicated portable market in Japan will be going away next. Having a multiple-form factor ecosystem makes a handheld slightly more appealing, but will it be enough?

The problem is, if it's a handheld controller with a screen, that you can dock or connect to a wireless hub and use it as a home console, it will be a compromise between power and mobility.
Either it won't have enough battery life or its graphics and power will be compromised significantly?


Nintendo doesn't have the hardware expertise of Sony or the software expertise of Microsoft, it has the Marketing chops of neither or many other organizational horses that it can ride on besides gaming.
This puts Nintendo at a disadvantage.


When I look at Microsoft Surface, on gaming laptops, I think it's a clear that it becomes a very hard balance when you're trying to make something that both wants to be powerful and small. High capacity batteries are expensive and heavy, and many of the best smartphone and tablets makers screw this up yearly.
And then there is the low price that Nintendo products need to be priced at to make them family friendly.
IMO the Wii U controller is amazing. It's the coolest idea ever, channeling the spirit of the dreamcast. But the product could easily have been way more powerful, had a much bigger battery, a much faster Flash storage based interface, a good cloud storage solution, and a totally revamped online model that doesn't kill the potential of online (social, friends, e-sport, spectator, events, creation, sharing, browsing, organizing).


In my opinion Nintendo hasn't really been itself since Nintendo 64. The games they released at that time where both technologically sound and advanced and amazing games in their own right. With Gamecube, Wii and Wii U they threw in the towel and said graphics don't matter.
But there is a lot more to powerful hardware than just graphics. Size, scope, feature sets, presentation.
That is why, in my own selfish interest that I wish Nintendo would go third-party. A Zelda on PS4 and XBox One could do justice to what OOT disrupted in the gaming industry in 1998. Smash Bros on steam could make the franchise reach completely different heights.
I'll miss Nintendo hardware and their ecosystem, but between that and the market dying in Japan, I just think it's crazy. I always cared more for their classic home console games rather than their mobile games.
Nobody makes games like Nintendo, but many can outdo Nintendo in hardware. Not because they don't have good ideas or can't execute on innovation. It's because of volume and moving inventory. They don't have a chance against Sony/Nintendo.
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
It sold better than the ps4 and well of course the xbone.
It surprises me to see so many not knowing that consoles are dead in Japan.

Wii U has been out years compared to PS4 in Japan though, and Japan had a staggered launch, launching many months afterward.

Considering how close they are right now, there's quite an accomplishment.

The console market has significantly contracted in Japan, that's a fact. But we'll see how the bigger Japanese oriented games do and then make conclusions about whether or not they sell for that market on the limited userbase
 

EGM1966

Member
So Wii U s getting replacement later this year and has only just passed 3 million in JP. Not great and I have to assume focus will switch to NX so I doubt Wii U will have a tail on sales of any note.

PS4 apparently trending a bit better but hardly anything to write him about either.

Still, they have a popular new IP in as platoon that I presume they'll bring to NX. Very curious to see what the hell NX is and he it supports both mobile and home.

Bit off topic but that LTD chart: man I knew XB1 was doing real bad in Japan but less than probably a months sales in one of the more sizeable Western markets? Yikes!
 

Shaanyboi

Banned
Nintendo can't do no right in 3rd parties eyes. They tried their best with Wii U but the support dried up even quicker than usual.
No they didn't. They tried another archaic approach with outdated hardware yet again. The controller? Whatever, that's not the barrier. Even Nintendo ignores it half the time. But putting out another system that would lie on the outskirts of third party development pipelines within a year was a stupid decision.
 
Nintendo can't do no right in 3rd parties eyes. They tried their best with Wii U but the support dried up even quicker than usual.

Releasing an outdated console and expecting third parties to port their engines and middleware tools at the end of their lifetime was pretty dumb and not "their best".
 

Rurunaki

Member
It sold better than the ps4 and well of course the xbone.
It surprises me to see so many not knowing that consoles are dead in Japan.

I would hope it would sell better than ps4 seeing as it's been out of the market longer than the ps4. This is not about Sony or MS, it's about Nintendo and how they can get the core gamers back into console.
 

lyrick

Member
This pretty much justifies all those Pachinco & Pachislot machines.

Sorry lovers of Japanese origin Console games, the console market is not healthy, time to shift to mobile or Pachi.
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
Nintendo can't do no right in 3rd parties eyes. They tried their best with Wii U but the support dried up even quicker than usual.

No they didn't. But third parties have long memories of how Nintendo has always been, so it makes sense to not support Nintendo or trust them.

Nintendo cares about themselves and their own first parties more than they ever care about third parties, and that goes for every gen. So it gives them good first party support, but then they get no third parties, this is not a new story
 
This pretty much justifies all those Pachinco & Pachislot machines.

Sorry lovers of Japanese origin Console games, the console market is not healthy, time to shift to mobile or Pachi.

Main reason why Sony helps Japanese developers to get into the international market.
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
Has the PS4 been selling well in Japan?

It is consistently above 20k every week, and recently has grown to 30-40k a week, and in the holiday's went up to 70k every week.

If one has been paying attention to the Japanese sales in the past few years, this is actually a pretty significant uptick.
 

Tempy

don't ask me for codes
PS4 will eventually overtake the WiiU in Japan quite easily once more big Japanese-developed games hit.

Highly doubt WiiU 2016 can outdo its 2015 numbers. Zelda's never been a big hitter, and development will shift focus to NX.
 
PS4 will eventually overtake the WiiU in Japan quite easily once more big Japanese-developed games hit.

Highly doubt WiiU 2016 can outdo its 2015 numbers. Zelda's never been a big hitter, and development will shift focus to NX.
why do i feel like i keep hearing this every year for the past 3 years?
 

Acerac

Banned
It is consistently above 20k every week, and recently has grown to 30-40k a week, and in the holiday's went up to 70k every week.

If one has been paying attention to the Japanese sales in the past few years, this is actually a pretty significant uptick.

Didn't realize it had been trending up, I've not been watching Media Create threads recently.

Thanks for the tip. :)
 

Vena

Member
It is consistently above 20k every week, and recently has grown to 30-40k a week, and in the holiday's went up to 70k every week.

If one has been paying attention to the Japanese sales in the past few years, this is actually a pretty significant uptick.

Has the PS4 been selling well in Japan?

He's talking about Splatoon, not the PS4. As for bolded, that was all the holiday.
 
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