Those numbers are from this site, they could always be adjusted. Its best to wait on Nintendos fiscal q numbers. The 360 was not popular at launch and the PS3 was supply constrained. Furthermore there is literally no hype going on at all for the console.

Nintendo posted numbers a few weeks ago and said it shipped/sold (can't remember which) 2 million. Ps3 was too expensive and only ant and dec could afford it. Wii u has somehow managed 2 million even though it 'has no hype'. Not many games are out for it. But to be fair wii u had way better launch titles then the others.

The only place wii u is sluggish is europe. If it was as fast as it was everywhere else its perfectly possible wii u could be outselling wii figures as well.

Of course the sales aren't going to be spectacular at launch. The WiiU still has a small library of games as the library grows so will system sales. Simples!

Sales below expectation, slight glut of inventory and a post launch software lull. Only the last is typical of a launch.

If anything, the Wii U has launched more like the PSV than any other recent console, only I'd argue the PSV had a better launch line up.

The 3DS was a better launch by far, even with the same post launch software lull (which was arguably worse).

The Xbox 360 was pretty severely supply constrained its first year. I don't remember seeing any on shelves until well after the launch (NA market).

The PS3 is pretty well documented as having a sub par launch with easy availability due to the price and lack of software to justify paying that price.

Based upon expectations (Nintendo's projections, not fanboys who will claim if a console not made by their loyally supported company doesn't sell a billion units in one month it sold below expectations), it's a reasonable assessment to say the Wii U has had a sub par launch.

No Doom n' Gloom predictions here; it was just a sub par launch.

What are you basing that number on? I used o think it would hit 10-12m units this year, but I'm not at all sure right now...

Shhhh!!! What are you doing!? You're supposed to say that the Wii U is Doomed! DOOMED you hear me, d00med!

Every system has done worse than the GameCube in the first few weeks.

This means absolutely nothing, both the Dreamcast and the GameCube had stellar launches, but ended up nowhere. Wii also had a stellar launch, but it was still a good bit lower than that of the GameCube. Same for PS1 and PS2 (though I'm only 90% sure about the last one), which also can't touch GameCube's numbers. Look at where all those ended up.

Again, launch numbers mean absolutely nothing. And you have the 3DS in recent memory to prove this even. If it's still like this at holiday 2013, then you can talk.

On topic:

I think either most people have a short memory and can't remember other generation launches over the last few decades, or they aren't around enough to remember them in the first place.
I agree it's all nothing really out of the ordinary, though somewhat disappointing nevertheless. I think as a whole, the 8th gen is going to be negatively affected by the success of the PS360, which were 'overpowered' for their time. The consequence now is that they are probably still in the realm of 'good enough' for most people.

I look at it this way: The 360 was at about 8m globally at the end of 2006 after its second holiday. Vita numbers won't have reached 5m by the end of March, which will mark it's one year anniversary of release globally. That's only one global holiday for Vita but it's two holidays in Japan, which is the strongest market for portables. Therefore, if WiiU is only at around 6m on January 1st, 2014 it will be somewhere between those Vita and 360 numbers. This won't bode well for WiiU at all.

However, unless Nintendo completely screws up this year/holiday and instead delivers, most importantly, some big holiday games combined with a price drop (for the sake of affordability and to counter the new consoles), I believe we'll see a repeat of what happened with the 3DS.

My guess is that we'll see WiiU bounce back very nicely and amass around a 15m install base by this time next year. I just hope they play their cards right.

That's impossible! The Wii U selling even a little less than the Wii at launch makes it automatically a failure. This time I'm siding with the Media, they know what they're talking about!