Nintendo has been in the news a lot lately, largely thanks to the lackluster sales of the company’s Wii U console.
Many have urged Nintendo to either abandon their hardware business outright and make their IP cross-platform, or to get into mobile gaming as soon as possible. Mario on mobile would be a sure hit, the argument goes.
I’ve voiced my doubts about both these ideas in the past, noting that Nintendo has no debt and is sitting on around $8.6 billion in cash and equivalents.
Beyond this, it’s odd to me that while many have urged Nintendo to drop out of the hardware race, the company continues to sell more hardware units than rival Microsoft.
The latest global sales chart from VGChartz shows the Wii U just 12,266 units short of the Xbox One for the week ending February 22nd:
But if you tally up sales for the 3DS, Wii U, and Wii you get a total 178,415 units sold globally.
Compare that to the 85,551 units combined in Xbox One and Xbox 360 sales and there’s a difference of 92,864 units in Nintendo’s favor.
Sony still leads the pack, with 449,705 PS4 units and a surprising 59,041 PS3 units sold worldwide. This number is bolstered by the launch of the PS4 in Japan.
Now, as is always the case with VGChartz, the standard disclaimer applies: The website offers estimates only. Harder data comes with NPD numbers. For February 2014, those numbers will be released on March 13th.
It’s also important to point out that the Xbox One is not available in Japan, though Microsoft has never been able to make a splash in that region and I’m doubtful that will change with the Xbox One.
Even though VGChartz only offers estimates, the fact remains that the 3DS has been a huge seller for Nintendo, and was the top-selling video game system of 2013.
Between the 3DS, the Wii U, and the Wii Nintendo is maintaining reasonably decent sales, though without the 3DS we’d have a very different, and far more bleak, story on our hands.
Sony is the clear winner at the moment, with continued breakaway success for the PS4 and strong sales of the PS3 (though the PS Vita continues to struggle.)
Nintendo is in much less trouble than many suggest thanks to the 3DS.
And Microsoft is facing a very real uphill battle, with sales of its Xbox One barely outpacing the Wii U and falling behind the PS3. Maybe Titanfall will help.
(The top-selling games for the same week from VGChartz places Sony’s PS4 exclusive Knack on top, with Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze in second place.)
