In less than a year, the Nintendo Switch is set to surpass the Wii U's lifetime sales

[Responsible Allen Iverson]

In less than a year, the Nintendo Switch is set to surpass the Wii U's lifetime sales


In less than a year, the Nintendo Switch is set to surpass the Wii U's lifetime sales

Image: nintendo
By Kellen Beck2017-10-30 15:55:21 UTC

Unsurprisingly, Nintendo Switch sales are expected to pass those of Nintendo's previous console, the Wii U, and it's happening a lot faster than even Nintendo thought it would.

In its most recent earnings report, Nintendo revealed that it has sold 7.6 million Switch units worldwide since its release in March, and set a new sales forecast for the end of the fiscal year (April 217 to March 2018): 14 million.

Combined with the 3 million Switch sales Nintendo made in March of this year, that makes an expected total sales number of 17 million in one year and one month of the Switch's lifespan.

Meanwhile, the Wii U sold a total 13.5 million units between 2012 and the end of its life in early 2017.

The Switch is running circles around the Wii U.

In an earnings report from earlier in the year, Nintendo set its Switch sales forecast for the fiscal year at 10 million, but a combination of a steady stream of great game releases and a superior advertising campaign compared to the Wii U's has pushed the console beyond the company's initial expectations.

The Wii U's sales were marred by Nintendo's failure to properly explain what exactly the Wii U was in advertisements, picking a name that confused people into thinking it was an add-on to the existing Wii console. The Wii U also didn't see the kind of software selections that the Switch has been seeing, which includes over 200 games just seven months after its release.

Nintendo revealed the top two games sold for the Switch: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe at 4.7 million and 4.4 million respectively. With Super Mario Odyssey and more games to come, the Switch's success isn't going to slow down any time soon.

 

[up in here]

And the top two games on switch are wii u games, go figure

 

[Liquid]

And the top two games on switch are wii u games, go figure

The gimmick controllers are what turned real gamers away from the wii name.

It was a ridiculously bad fukk up by Nintendo to try and catch that casual crowd with the wii name again and bombed hard.

In the post iPhone world. The casual crowd moved to mobile.

 

[winb83]

The Wii U sold pathetically. This isn't surprising.

 

[Kingshango]

The shytty name that confused the casuals
The marketing or lack there of.
The gamepad inflating the cost preventing it from significant price drops and being an all around bulky and clunky gimmick that not even Nintendo knew what to really do with it. And the games that Nintendo tried to force it on you suffered for it (Star Fox Zero)
The ancient hardware powering it that dates back as far as 1999 (I shyt you not the Wii U was basically built by Frankenstein) that was barely even a step up from the 360 or PS3, let alone the PS4 and XB1.
The lack of 3rd party support, even moreso than other Nintendo generations. They didn't wanna bother with the Frankenstein nature of the hardware, especially with better machines were on the horizon.
The slow OS.
Region locking.

All contributing factors to the Wii U being a spectacular failure. Which sucks because some of the best Nintendo games were released on there but are stuck on that system.

With MK8D doing well on the Switch I pray that Nintendo give games like Bayonetta 2, The Wonderful 101, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, Mario Maker and Smash 4 a second chance on a system that's actually selling.

 

[twan83]

shytty name really fukked them up
Mommy can I have the new wii u
Kid gets Wii instead of Wii U
Mom like I saw wii and it was cheaper thought u wanted that

 

[R=G]

No shocker

 

[up in here]

The gimmick controllers are what turned real gamers away from the wii name.

It was a ridiculously bad fukk up by Nintendo to try and catch that casual crowd with the wii name again and bombed hard.

In the post iPhone world. The casual crowd moved to mobile.

Gamers are fukking idiots, you know how many times I've heard "gamers" say that wii u has some games they really want but the hardware isn't good enough. It's some of the dumbest logic ever, if the games are good and you want to play them, what difference does hardware really make?

 

[Milk N Cookies]

On Christmas Day my neice will be adding the switch to her collection, she will then have them both.

 

[NZA]

Gamers are fukking idiots, you know how many times I've heard "gamers" say that wii u has some games they really want but the hardware isn't good enough. It's some of the dumbest logic ever, if the games are good and you want to play them, what difference does hardware really make?

they probably meant the hardware wasnt worth the cost...which it was not

 

[Zero]

Gamers are fukking idiots, you know how many times I've heard "gamers" say that wii u has some games they really want but the hardware isn't good enough. It's some of the dumbest logic ever, if the games are good and you want to play them, what difference does hardware really make?

Because they don't actually play games, they just post about them online

 

[Paradise50]

thought about getting the switch for my daughter, but is 6 years old too young?

kinda think this will be a dope first system for her....all she play now is ipad games and stuff

 

[up in here]

they probably meant the hardware wasnt worth the cost...which it was not

But if the hardware is the only way to play the games shouldn't that determine the value of the hardware

But I do see your point if it were only one or two games they wanted to play. But imo wii u had more than enough exclusives to justify the purchase

 

[MewTwo]

Because they don't actually play games, they just post about them online

Or use their PS4/XB1 exclusively for netflix (I legit know some people who do this)

But if the hardware is the only way to play the games shouldn't that determine the value of the hardware

But I do see your point if it were only one or two games they wanted to play. But imo wii u had more than enough exclusives to justify the purchase

Despite the poor hardware sales it still had the best exclusives.

 

[NZA]

But if the hardware is the only way to play the games shouldn't that determine the value of the hardware

But I do see your point if it were only one or two games they wanted to play. But imo wii u had more than enough exclusives to justify the purchase

not if you see it failing and you know companies like to re-release their games on the next hardware. you can wait and get the game cheaper and possibly remastered on hardware that might actually have a better run or get the old hardware at flea market prices once it has been abandoned by nintendo.