By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Wii U is the new kid on the block and since I like analysing sales I like looking at its ups and downs. I just started a thread about Wii U possibly needing more adult-focused software to sustain sales through winter, and while looking up past sales it struck me what a different game environment Wii U is launching into than Wii. When Wii launched it was when the previous gen (6) was already dead. XBox 360 had been out for a year and PS2 was now replaced with PS3. GameCube was... GameCube. Big games were no longer coming out for the previous gen. If you wanted something fun, new and cool your options were the $400 XBox 360 or the $600 PS3. Looking at the top games from 2006 (NDP) we have:

1. Madden NFL 07 (PlayStation 2; 1.8 million+ sold)
2. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo DS; 1.5 million+ sold)
3. Kingdom Hearts II (PS2; 1.5 million+ sold)
4. Gears of War (Xbox 360; 1 million+ sold)
5. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (Xbox 360; 913,000+ sold)
6. Final Fantasy XII (PS2; 895,000+ sold)
7. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (PS2; 860,000+ sold)
8. NCAA Football 07 (PS2; 849,000+ sold)
9. Madden NFL 07 (Xbox 360; 826,000+ sold)
10. Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!/ April (Nintendo DS; 792,000+ sold)

That list is a joke. Now compare that list to the world the WiiU has entered. PS3 and Xbox360 are still getting amazing support with all kinds of outstanding games. COD is at the height of its glory. Those systems are the prime competition of Wiiu and can be had for $300 or less with two pack-in games. The top selling games of 2012 (from VGChartz - USA) are:

1
Call of Duty: Black Ops II (X360)
Activision, Shooter
7 6,105,481 6,105,481
2
Halo 4 (X360)
Microsoft Game Studios, Shooter
8 4,671,546 4,671,546
3
Call of Duty: Black Ops II (PS3)
Activision, Shooter
7 3,505,858 3,505,858
4
Kinect Adventures! (X360)
Microsoft Game Studios, Misc
113 2,963,647 12,263,821
5
Just Dance 4 (Wii)
Ubisoft, Misc
12 2,488,897 2,488,897
6
Assassin's Creed III (X360)
Ubisoft, Action
9 2,123,374 2,123,374
7
Madden NFL 13 (X360)
Electronic Arts, Sports
18 1,904,842 1,904,842
8
Assassin's Creed III (PS3)
Ubisoft, Action
9 1,876,144 1,876,144
9
Pokemon Black / White Version 2 (DS)
Nintendo, Role-Playing
12 1,677,317 1,677,317
10
New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS)
Nintendo, Platform
19 1,629,155 1,629,155

 

 

 

The list is not even close. The top game from 2006 would barely be #8 in 2012, and there is nothing even remotely close to COD or Halo. We've talked about WiiU needing a lower price, more games, better games, different games. Better marketing. The more I think about it, I think it just needs a different market. In the coming year PS3 and 360 will die and their successors will launch at price points higher than WiiU. WiiiU will go from being the least supported system with the highest price to (probably) the most-supported console with the lowest price. It would seem like the best thing Nintendo could do with WiiU is wait, and bring out lots of software in the coming fall. There is nothing WiiU could do to be a better option than PS360 right now, but also little it needs to do to be the more attractive option to many consumers when it is compared to new rivals later on. Launching first is very different than launching last, especially in a game generation with unprecidented late-gen support.