For me personally, the total numbers sold are ok, but GBA and Gamecube all had decent launches. It's how the console fares post launch that determines its fate. If you draw a line between Japan launch to now, you will see why some of us are not convinced Wii U can stay around its initial % of Wii sales. Plummer is a good word in the mushroom kingdom, but plummeting...not.
Notice how first year sales of last 3 consoles and Wii Us aren't as drastically different as the eventual lifetime sales. So Launch is not a good indication of long term success.
This chart shows lifetime unit sales of Nintendo’s last three home consoles and illustrates nicely that a new cycle is about to start.
3DS was scary slow for a while until the combination of price cut, XL model, and frankly more games helped relaunch 3DS as the fastest Nintendo console ever. We need some kind of push on the Wii U front. Contrary to some of the folks here, I prefer to see PS4 and Xbox720 kick the shit out of Wii U in terms of raw power. That just means those two hardware will be in another stratosphere price wise. The recent rumors that the HD twins might ease up on horsepower and utilize more off the shelf parts makes me a little nervous about Wii U's ability to price drop and find distinction...instead of price drop then ind extinction.
Nintendo 3DS Becomes Fastest Selling Console Ever in Japan
