''Nintendo Switch 2 has now outsold Wii U, Sega Dreamcast and PlayStation Vita in the UK (NielsenIQ data)''

https://xcancel.com/Chris_Dring/status/2006017882128285792?s=20

This would put Switch 2 sales in the UK this year above PS Vita lifetime sales of ~740k in the UK (According to CESA hardware figures from 2020).

Wii U and Vita really were massive failures huh.

What a shame too, I liked both for the most part.

Wii U deserved it but Vita was amazing hardware. Just lacked the strategic support from Sony. Ultimately though it reflected the reality of software development and the direction of the industry. Dedicated handheld software makes sense when its extremely cheap. Once you surpass PS2 level quality it begins to become unsustainable next to home console development.

That would appear to be in line with VGChartz estimates. Looks like it would have been around first week of December.

The Wii U was a good console

I said this about the PS5, as well but... it's kind of pointless comparing sales across generations. Maybe if it was the one immediately preceding the current one, you might be able to glean something from it, but any further back from that and it becomes rather pointless due to the industry's growth.

The only way to do a fair comparison would be to somehow figure out a formula to convert the numbers like how the movie industry adjusted for inflation (for instance, Gone With the Wind still hasn't been outsold). We would need a similar one to make these console comparisons worth more than a sheer novelty, which is what they currently are.

So, if you want to compare Switch 2 to Wii U, the answer is about 6 months.

Dring has now written:

''How does it compare to Switch's 2017? Similarly ballpark or notably above?

It’s a reasonable chunk above.''

That points to Switch 2 maybe selling 800k+ in the UK, given that Switch 1 did around 700k+ back in 2017.

Me too, I think the worst part about both was the price. Wii U was overpriced because of the big controller, Vita had overpriced proprietary cards.

Vita was abandoned by Sony quite early because they were a bad shape as a whole and after the PS4 doing so well from the get go they went fully on it, so it barely even had exclusives but the hardware was truly amazing for its time, OLED screen, touch on both front and back, 2 sticks like home consoles, it could have been a much better platform than the PSP.

Wii U had somw really great games, Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, Bayonetta 2, Xenoblade X, Mario Maker, Splatoon and Zelda Breath of the Wild. IMO the Wii U was better than the Switch exclusives wise, the Switch made it redundant with all the ports and sequels to those games, but the Wii U output was really great.