http://www.4gamer.net/games/117/G011794/20131127061/

Looks like a 277k opening for Final Fantasy XIII Lightning Returns and just shy of 100k for Mario 3D World. 

Ouch. I think both companies' are guilty over oversaturating these brands with too many games in a short period of time. 

Too bad for Mario 3D World though, that's genuinely a great game. Also people holding out hope for a big hardware bump for the Wii U -- nope.

21k this week only. Vita dropped like a freaking rock too, lol, dat Vita TV bomba, 7k this week. 

So stop making FF XIII games Square Enix!

Should probably still sell a few million copies despite coming out after next-gen launch. They seem to be trying to do the right things in many way, but are so obsessed about Lightning they need to move on and then make XVI a turn based RPG

This should be the end of the Wii U and Iwata. The former I'll be sad to see go, the latter not so much.

Edit: That was a hasty off the cuff comment. I'm sure Nintendo will persist with both actually.

Famitsu has Lightning Returns at 306K. Besides, LR sold 75% of its stock while Mario sold only 50%. Squareenix obviously didn't expect LR to sell as much as FFXIII-2.

These are historic lows for both franchises in either case. 

Yeah, but one is a spin-off and the other is a main line game that has a stellar metacritic score.

The best selling PS3 game in 2013 in Japan is GTA V. And it keeps selling. Impressive!

About FFXIII, just glad it's finally over and we can move on.

I don't think there's anything that can "save" the WiiU in Japan. But Mario itself should have good legs and end up selling quite well.

SquEnix should think about things, imagine if instead of another FFXIII game, they released another FF game (instead of FFXIII-2 and LR in 7th gen). Main series title, new characters, story and traditional gameplay. Boom, 1 million sold first week. I know they are trying to squeeze as much as they can from the engine and character models to make money but still. With FF, it's not what people want.

Though one has a much larger userbase to sell to, Mario 3D World is likely a victim of the Wii U mismanagement from day 1 pretty much. It's a shame when great games suffer on the back of bad corporate planning/decision making. 

I think the FF series in general is in decline too though. 

s

Just a little perspective. So what now? It seems like shit just got real. WiiU is going nowhere in Japan this year and it seems like its a reality we will just have to accept.