| pezus said: Yes. It's selling, what, 30-40k per week now so if we say three months are 13 weeks or so that would mean sales of ~450k. Let's give it a few boosts because of the games, lower it again because it's still dropping etc. and we arrive at about 500-600k. |
Games sell consoles. The Wii U has one game that you can't get anywhere else that is targetted at the core gamer (the type of gamer that buys consoles early) - ZombiU. Another two are expected within the next couple of months, along with two other games that are almost certain to drive demand. And there's probably more that haven't been announced yet (because Nintendo haven't done their third-party Direct, yet).
Now, let's address your mathematics. The Wii U sold 39k last week, and that's the worst it has gotten to - saying "30-40k" and then using 35k from that range, and then saying "but it's still dropping" AFTER that, is just disingenuous. Immediately, that increases the numbers by 50k, when you correct for that. And then there's the fact that there's 14-15 more weeks to the end of April, not 13 - that gives another 40-80k, bringing the number prior to accounting for effects of games up to 540-580k. But more than that, there hasn't been a single notable Wii U release since launch. That won't be true going forwards, and one of the biggest gripes people have had about the Wii U so far is not knowing what else is coming to the system - that's another thing that is starting to be addressed, with interest in the Wii U noticeably higher now online than it was two weeks ago.
It's just naive to think that it's going to stay this low for another three months, especially considering that sales usually increase between January and March.
But hey, let's ignore that side for a moment, and turn our attention to the other angle. "Wii U is doing badly", right? What are the other systems doing compared with last year? January 21, 2011: PS3 195k, 360 186k, Wii 122k, 3DS 195k, Vita 16k. January 19, 2012: PS3 113k, 360 85k, Wii 32k, 3DS 176k, Vita 28k. The only one with higher numbers is Vita, and it's selling more poorly than the Wii U. The game market is weak at the moment. Is it going to stay that way? Probably not. And why would the Wii U be affected any differently from the rest, in this regard? Especially when it's still lacking in major system-sellers (NSMB U isn't enough on its own, and the only other system-sellers are Nintendo Land and ZombiU - one game appeals to retro fans, the other is a new and untested IP). What happens when Monster Hunter, Dragon Quest, etc, arrive on the system?
