Nintendo Wii U Console Sales and News: PS4, Xbox One Dominating Nintendo's Next-Gen Console
The Nintendo Wii U has a cute name and design, but even that can't cover up the bloodbath the console is causing. Nintendo has just posted its flagship console's sales data for the past 12 months and it's bad -- really bad.
Originally expecting to sell 9 million consoles, Nintendo had to revise its expectations considerably back in January. That resulted in a sales estimation of 2.8 million consoles. However, when March 31 came around sales stood at a paltry 2.72 million units, according to CNET.
Selling well over 12 million consoles combined, the Xbox One (5 million) and PlayStation 4 (7 million) have been dominating the Wii U. And while the Wii U was released on Nov. 18, 2012, next-gen consoles weren't released for another year. Even the PS3 and Xbox 360 sold more units than Nintendo's machine.
The Wii U has a great starting price ($299), three controller choices (GamePad, WiiMote and Pro Controller), and free online gameplay (unlike Xbox Live and PlayStation Plus), so why is nobody picking up the console?
One of the answers is the selection of games -- or lack thereof -- available on the platform. Mario Party is still MIA and Mario Kart comes out on May 30, a full 18 months after the debut of the console. Zelda didn't even get new IP, rather getting a glorious HD reboot of Wind Waker instead. Rather than relying on its extensive logjam of characters, Nintendo opted to wait. Wii U buyers instead were able to play substandard, overly hyped launch titles like ZombiU.
Some think that by releasing new games featuring these popular classic characters the Wii U will be able to step out of the doghouse. But how much more time can Nintendo bide while its stock prices plummet and investors disappear?
The Wii U is all but dead. Barring a miracle sales turnaround of 7.5 million consoles sold (just to reach that 9 million estimate), it will continue to draw laughs, not players.
That being said, would you still consider buying a Nintendo Wii at this point? Do you think Nintendo is already starting to mainly focus on the Wii U's successor? Let us know in the comments section below.
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