I just started to wonder, what would have happened if last gen, Nintendo had launched the Wii U instead of the Wii? This of course includes the Wii U's game lineup too. Would it sell better than it does now? Worse? Post your thoughts below.

EDIT: Just to clarify, hardware and power, including Gamepad resolution will be scaled down for 2006.

It would selll a lot better but would be the most expensive console like 700$

Hmm... It would've been expensive like PS3 launch.

Well, PS3 cost was 600$ in 2007... Wii U probabily 700$ or more... i think that maybe Wii U was sell a lot better, but less than half of the Wii... 35-45 million imo.

Nintendo would not be so rich like right now.

Worse. The wii came right after the gamecube, a console that sold horribly and most of the wii installbase skiped the gamecube and chosed the cheaper of the 7th gen, inmagine a $750 wii u or even compared to the ps3 at $600. Nintendo would be dead on arrible.

Well, resistive touch-screens and tablets with that kind of resolution would've been crazy expensive at that time, and probably the hardware as well, so like the PS3, it would probably come in with a big price tag, but i think it would sell twice what the Wii U is doing now due it it not fully abandoning the 'hardcore' scene and reeling in some casuals due to the never-seen touchscreen (apart form the DS), but it probably would've lost even more sales than the Wii due to touchscreen phones coming into play, which unlike with the Wii, would've directly competed with the Wii U for casuals. So i would say probably 45-55m sales lifetime would be the ballpark area.

Edit: It would also have decreased sales due to its pricetag as well.

Why do u guys think a $700+ console would be selling better than Wii U currently is?

Estimations like 40-50 million are absolutely crazy

Well, to be fair the revolutionary motion controls would still be there. If the original Wii Sports was a launch title those estimations sound pretty accurate to me.

I'm assuming the hardware would be brought down to 2006 standards? The touch screen would probably be smaller and lower resolution (probably similar to the NDS.) And the hardware would probably be somewhere around Vita level of fidelity (or comparable to a mid-end 2006 PC.) It would be the weakest of the three, but maybe not as weak as the Wii if Nintendo didn't want it to be. The size and energy requirements would be greater with 2006 hardware. This is all assuming they make the same profit margins that they do on Wii U hardware (which is nowhere near the profit they were making per Wii.) The price might be something like $300 - $350 instead of $250 for a Wii. It would probably sell comparable to the PS360, if it got third party support, and comparable to the Wii if it entered new markets like the Wii.