I'm just going to wade into this debate a little bit and point out a little mistake some of you are making. PSN is region-free, right? Like, Japanese PS4/Vita/PS3 owners can play Shovel Knight, I think?
Because the game has only been released on the NA and PAL eShop for Nintendo systems. Now maybe you're already thinking Japanese sales probably aren't a huge factor for a Western-made indie game, and I'd be inclined to agree. However, on the first page there are users claiming that the game is available to the 3DS's full install base of over 50 million... which is incorrect. Back when Shovel Knight was actually released in each region, the 3DS had a combined install base between NA and Europe of -- let's be optimistic and phrase this as "under 30 million." Wii U sales in the same regions at the same times combined for... yeesh... under 5 million. VGChartz numbers, of course.
So no, the Nintendo platforms didn't have some kind of massive install base advantage over Sony platforms (which include PS3) and XBO, or even over PS4 + XBO. But they certainly did have a healthy head-start.
If you really want to see something interesting, just compare Wii U and 3DS sales. 3DS has only 50% more sales on an install base 6x as large as Wii U's. Pretty sure this is more of a good thing for Wii U than a bad thing for 3DS, considering how close the 3DS is to overtaking Steam sales despite Steam having over 100 million active users and having exclusivity for Shovel Knight in Europe for 5 months.
Seriously, from my perspective the story here is Wii U vs 3DS, because it's the only like-for-like comparison possible given the staggered releases.
