Dont blame the Japanese, we dont want the bloody console so why would we want its games?

Sales are generally bad because nobody keeps the console here long enough to buy more games, unlike fans over in the us sitting on a game-less console for months on end you go a month here without any games and its the last straw, console is being ditched left and right by adults and kids alike, bad enough so that most of the second hand stores i know of here no longer accept wiiu trade ins for hardware because they cant sell them on with any meaningful profit as nobody bites.

1.5x the budget for Bayonetta and that didn't do very well. Had to hit a very low price point to achieve the majority of its 2 million sales.

Dont blame the Japanese, we dont want the bloody console so why would we want its games?

Sales are generally bad because nobody keeps the console here long enough to buy more games, unlike fans over in the us sitting on a game-less console for months on end you go a month here without any games and its the last straw, console is being ditched left and right by adults and kids alike, bad enough so that most of the second hand stores i know of here no longer accept wiiu trade ins for hardware because they cant sell them on with any meaningful profit as nobody bites.

is it really that bad over there?cause if it is explains a lot

You can buy a premium wiiu here for 9000y less than retail, but they sit on store shelves untouched - my local used game stop last week dropped ALL of their basics to 14,000y ($138) and ALL of their premiums to 19,000y ($189), and not a single freaking one has sold as of today when i checked in to rifle through their snes cart collection.

When people here want nintendo games they buy a 3DS, nobody here needs or wants the WiiU anymore,  PS4 is getting some advertising but not much, Xbox One is virtually unheard of.

But the situation is such that I genuinely believe its too far gone for any collection of games to save it.

It doesnt matter what they release, because the best any game is going to sell is sub 1 million because the userbase is smaller than the total number of consoles sold - if we guestimate that one in twenty (conservative) sold the console rather than keep it, then thats already 150,000 - 300,000 less potential buyers, 300,000 - 600,000 if we go for a high estimate of one in ten.

People arent going to want to hear this of course, they prefer the emu approach of pretending everythings peachy.

considering Madworld sold for under 5 bucks for half its shelf life i dont think it even made a profit, id be surprised if it broke even. it was cheaper to make but to the point where selling for 2 bucks new they made money?doubt it, hell its 50 cents now, shipping cost more.

Really great insights into the Japanese market, thank you for that. Seems like the Wii U situation is really dire there.

Its very telling that in the japanese market, ps3, 3ds and vita games, and the rarer wii games hold their value extremely well - a used vita/3ds game is barely 1000y cheaper than retail shelf price, often sub 500y cheaper.

WiiU titles however can be picked up for up to 60% off retail price - For example i purchased a used copy of Picmin 3, A DAY AFTER IT WAS RELEASED, for 2000y cheaper.

WiiU titles do not hold their price well because nobody is buying them, thus stores wont offer decent amounts because its touch and go if theyll actually be able to sell it again.

Bic camera, yamada, ito yokado, aeon and nojima are all gradually downsizing their wiiu sections too, a few weeks after launch most of these stores had two to three shelves dedicated to the console, now youre lucky to find a single shelf that is wiiu-only from top to bottom.

To put this in to perspective, my local (and very large) Aeon has a paulty 2 rows of one shelf for wiiu, with the rest of the game-boxes on the shelf being for peripherals, cables, protective covers and other cheap nonsense, with the bottom row of said shelf having nothing but boxes of 3ds styluses.

ill 2nd the great insight part. Its good to see some perspective from the other side. We forget how different it is between the US, Europe and Japan. Its a little shocking to me, because i would have thought it anyone had patience and give it a chance, it would be Japan. I think in the US people figured they already invested alot so might as well stick it out.

Crazy thing is the shelf space situation aint that much different here either from what ive seen, some people wont acknowledge it but its the truth. Its not as bad as over there but the WIi has far more shelf space. GameStop, Best Buy have one corner dedicated to Wii U anything.