By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Nintendo Discussion - U.S. Sales of Nintendo Wii U Drop to Catastrophic Levels in January 2013

BlueFalcon on 17 February 2013

 

U.S. Sales of Nintendo Wii U Drop to Catastrophic Levels in January.

Microsoft Xbox 360 Remains Best-Selling Console in the U.S.

[02/16/2013 11:45 PM]
by Anton Shilov

The launch sales of Nintendo Wii U in November and December were nothing but disappointing, however, sales of the console in January, seem to be just catastrophic. As Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 remained the top selling video game platform for the sixteenth consecutive month, shipments of Nintendo Wii U in January fell below sales of GameCube in its worst month ever.

According to data released by NPD and published by various web-sites citing official data and sources with knowledge of the matter, Microsoft sold 281 thousand Xbox 360 game consoles in January in the U.S., whereas Nintendo supplied only 57 thousand Wii Us in the same period. Official sales figures have not been released for the remaining platforms yet by Nintendo of America and Sony Computer Entertainment America.

In fact, 57 thousand of Wii U consoles sold last month is lower than sales of Nintendo GameCube back in January, 2012. In its first January, GameCube was shipped in 59 thousand quantity in the U.S., according to NPD. That was the worst month for Nintendo GameCube throughout its lifetime in the United States.

Nintendo acknowledged last month that the launch of the Wii U were disappointing and confessed that it had failed to communicate its value to the end-users worldwide. At the same time, Nintendo said that it would not reduce the price of the console to boost sales but will attempt to ensure that there are more games for the platform on the market.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/multimedia/display/20130216234536_U_S_Sales_of_Nintendo_Wii_U_Drop_to_Catastrophic_Levels_in_January.html



Around the Network
Turkish on 17 February 2013

Those xbox numbers are real?



NintendoPie on 17 February 2013

I like how it was doing better than both the DS and Wii but then dropped to Vita levels.
That's what a SW Drought will do for 'ya!

Edit: Those XB360 numbers are a little crazy...



BaldrSkies on 17 February 2013

Give that console 50cc's of games, STAT.



Conegamer on 17 February 2013

I'm uncertain why this is being reported, really. Haven't we known about this for a while, had several threads on it and had the NPD thread for this sort of discussion?

They are terrible, though.



 

Here lies the dearly departed Nintendomination Thread.

Around the Network
BlueFalcon on 17 February 2013

Oh sorry I didn't see those threads. Sorry if it's a repost! I just cannot believe Wii U sold less units than Gamecube despite it being the first "next-gen console" out of the gate. If things are this bad now, can you only imagine what will happen once PS4/720 launch at $399-449 and Sony/MS drop prices of PS360 consoles to lower levels to attract budget gamers? The Wii U will not be able to compete with the cheaper PS360 consoles and their vast library or the slightly more expensive but way more advanced/powerful PS4/720. It seems Nintendo will need some serious hits on the 1st party side and hardware price drops too. I cannot believe how badly they messed up their strategy and launch timing with the Wii U. 

Why didn't they just wait 1 more year to launch the Wii U with either more powerful hardware or a much lower price and a full stash of 1st and 3rd party games for 6-7 months ahead? I just don't understand their logic.



NintendoPie on 17 February 2013
BlueFalcon said:
Oh sorry I didn't see those threads. Sorry if it's a repost!

I don't think it's a repost, ConeyG is just a grumpy old man!



Ledreppe on 17 February 2013

BlueFalcon said:
Oh sorry I didn't see those threads. Sorry if it's a repost! I just cannot believe Wii U sold less units than Gamecube despite it being the first "next-gen console" out of the gate. If things are this bad now, can you only imagine what will happen once PS4/720 launch at $399-449 and Sony/MS drop prices of PS360 consoles to lower levels to attract budget gamers? The Wii U will not be able to compete with the cheaper PS360 consoles and their vast library or the slightly more expensive but way more advanced/powerful PS4/720. It seems Nintendo will need some serious hits on the 1st party side and hardware price drops too. I cannot believe how badly they messed up their strategy and launch timing with the Wii U. 
Why didn't they just wait 1 more year to launch the Wii U with either more powerful hardware or a much lower price and a full stash of 1st and 3rd party games for 6-7 months ahead? I just don't understand their logic.

Calm down! You can't compare the Wii U to legacy systems and I wish people would stop doing that. I think the Wii U will be ok once the other new systems launch and the PS360 focus shifts away. I also think the low sales figures are actually an indication of something deeper that will affect ALL 'next gen' systems, that being that consoles (especially home consoles) are becoming less popular because of tablet computers and so on.



UltimateUnknown on 17 February 2013

The only console that's doing worse is the Vita. I guess people have stopped dooming the Vita since you can only beat a dead horse for so long. I think the Wii U should be hitting that point soon.



 

WindyCityHeat on 17 February 2013

I was just looking at the current wiiu sales numbers a posted on this site. They are selling UNDER 10k in both North America and Europe. That's just sad lol. It's been only 2 months since launch and the console is literally dead in the water.

Ahhhhh Hahahahahahah! Ahhhhh Hahahahah!