Wii U sales reach 7.3 million, 3DS hit 45m

Global Wii U sales have reached 7.29 million units ahead of the console's two-year anniversary, Nintendo has revealed.

That means it's fairly likely the Wii U is still outselling the Xbox One, but perhaps understandably so considering its twelve-month head start.

Sales momentum is on an upward trajectory too, with Nintendo shipping 1.1 million units during the six months to September, compared to the 460k it shipped during the same period last year.

However, the number offers more insight into the scale of the challenge Nintendo faces replicating past success. By this stage in its life cycle, the Wii had sold 34 million units.

In terms of software, 41 million Wii U games shipped worldwide, with the latest success being Mario Kart 8, which sold nearly 3 million copies in its first month.

Meanwhile, Nintendo 3DS sales have slowed significantly in the past year as the device reaches maturation. Overall global hardware sales are now at 45.4 million, with 186 million games shipped.

The 3DS is now in its fifteenth financial quarter since release. By this stage in its cycle, the original Nintendo DS sold 77 million units.

Nintendo will be looking to continue the 3DS's sales momentum in 2015 with the release of the New 3DS console.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/wii-u-sales-reach-7-3m-3ds-sales-hit-45m/1100-6423241/

Both really pale in comparison to their predecessors.

Everything pales to their predecessors. PS3 isn't a flop for selling half of the ps2. Wii and DS are historical best selling systems. Very few things will match those levels. Ever.

The market went through changes. Tablets ate up some, brought in some new, and spat them out. Fact of the matter is that some people grow out of the hobby and there was a new gen raised on different devices with less sustainability. Nintendo is in an alright spot. It doesn't appear so to most, but they retain quality and people see that. I think the industry will begin to revert back to what it used to be--at least a bit--as tablet markets are not what they were.

The Wii U is doing slightly better. Not great but Nintendo is taking baby steps at crawling out of the hole they dug for themselves. Each new game and critical and commercial success makes the system more viable on the larger market. I hope they can maintain momentum in 2015, when I expect the Xbox One and PS4 to really take off.

Actually PS3 was a flop , it saved itself because of strong exclusives. But even with those it did flop.

The DS and Wii are just absurd lol. 34 million in 2 years haha. And 77 million in 3 1/2? Hopefully things are on the upswing for Nintendo with Wii-U at least.

I don't really know what the New 3ds can do in the states. Seems like people are hesitant to upgrade handhelds here.

Not nearly as shabby as I thought. Tell ya what Nintendo... drop the price to $200 or less, keep the pro pad as the main control source, and take the motion controls out of the next Zelda, and I'll probably add one more to your sales list.

Good numbers, hopefully they can keep the steam next year, WiiU is a good console that deserves more attention and people is realizing that is a nice option, some of my friends are getting one this holidays as well as some of muy cousins for their kids.

Surprising and Unsurprising. The WiiU is just getting harder and harder to overlook.

Now if only 3rd Parties would start bring games to the system again. :(

I'm sure sales will go up this holiday with Smash Brothers plus with the recent release of Bayonetta. Nintendo going to make a surge this holiday for sure.

@BigShotSmoov007: Don't forget those Mom's and Dad's buying WiiUs for their Kids for Disney Infinity 2.0 and Skylanders. (Disney didn't make a Wii version of 2.0 pretty much forcing Wii owners to update and Skylanders Wii came with a WiiU download code so there's incentive of getting a WiiU cause you already have the game)

So yeah I'd be surprised if WiiU doesn't surge big on the Holidays.

Plus, with Zelda on the way next year, there's things to look forward too beyond this holiday.

@AzatiS: And yet people are still playing on theirs PS3s. Can you say the same about the Wii? Oh wait.....they're all still locked in the closet gathering dust cuz nobody cares anymore.

2nd place currently locked by Nintendo it seems.

As we learned last gen, head starts don't matter to lems.

it will likely grow when zelda comes out and metroid

@tonitorsi: Doubtful. Not when the brunt of multiplatforms are shared between PS4 and Xbone. You need 3rd parties to win and right now Nintendo hardly has any.

The problem with 3rd party support is that developers are starting to move away from PS3 and 360 gen games and are focusing on PS4 and XB1. The Wii U is much closer to last gens hardware specs than this gen which will cause 3rd party devs to pass on Wii U ports.

I refuse to believe that Nintendo thought things would be different this gen 3rd party wise after they finalized their hardware specs. They had to know Sony and Microsoft were getting ready to move on to a new generation. The Wii U got a handful of 2012's 3rd party games and that was it. There is no way they were only looking that far. Are they really that naive?

I agree 100%. Sheeps havent learn their lesson with Wii. They might with Wii U.
We all know that sheeps will end up playing on other platforms soon or later. And we already know most of them already do.

So let em be ! Dust collectors are nice i guess.

Wii U still in second. Poor little Xbone.

It is pretty amazing, that MS and Sony have both made the Wii U appealing again. Nintendo had an opening and they took it, and I hope it pays off for them. What MS and Sony did is so boring it's mind-boggling.

WiiU > XBone!

After the holiday no one will be talking about the WiiU.

You are right in that, but I'm talking more about the games that were released for the PS3 and 360 skipping the WiiU.

Wii U is in second place...hypothetically.

M$ didn't want to release actual Xbone numbers, but it seems Wii U is holding it's 2nd place position. As a Wii U buyer, I'm buying more exclusives for Wii U this year than for my Xbone or PS4.

As the industry shifts to PS4/Xbone development, it's going to be tough on Nintendo getting 3rd party support as marches on as the Wii U hardware is closer to PS360 specs. Even then, Nintendo had trouble locking down easy-PS360 multiplat ports to Wii U.

Still, it was a dismal 2014 for gaming, and Nintendo did well to capitalize on such a pathetic gaming year.

Man, those games they showed at E3 make me think the WiiU is going to go hard as **** in 2015. This gen should be a two horse race with Nintendo and Sony if gaming is still about games.

Yeah, Nintendo's trying to ride the lightening best they can despite a rough start.

The Wii U probably should be doomed by this point, and yet it keeps chugging along, picking up speed.

It seems that Microsoft and Sony constantly dropping the soap ball has given Nintendo a bit of room to maneuvre. It'll be fun to see how the holiday sales work out, especially if there's a Wii U Smash bundle.

You might be underestimating the power of Smash Bros there. That game will have serious legs.

Also, after the holiday season Nintendo can properly start the next Zelda hype train. Xenoblade will also make a splash (like the first one), plus Nintendo will keep the spotlight due to the New 3DS launch in the US and Europe.

Aside from software and hardware sales, Nintendo is going to make some serious cash from Amiibos. Those little guys are gonna be huge. Most people I know are buying more than one.

Yeah, because, no one wants an open world Legend of Zelda or anything.

Indeed. Anyone who's had a GameCube in that time should know how long Melee kept that console afloat.

No The Xbox one outshipped the Wii u, the Wii U sales are all shipped.

No it didn't melee came out at launch. This did not, and melee did not stop Nintendo from stopping shipments because of poor sales.

Aren't Xboxes Shipped number around 7.4-7.5? I mean sure, they didn't give shipped LTD but you can basically add the numbers they did give out together.

PS3 didn't save it self unless you are talking about only Sales toward the 360. It's still unclear who's ahead but yeah in that way it didn't. In a financial case the PS3 was a flop. It didn't save tisef at all in that case.

Doubtful Amiibos will be huge. people don't even know there real purpose, and of course, Skylanders and Disney 2.0 having price cuts.

The reason we are buying more Wii U exclusives is because of the strength of Nintendo's 1st party support vs the weakness of Sony's and Microsoft's. It seemed as if the quality of multi-platform titles was what was dictating the sales performance of each console. At least in the PS4 vs Xbox One race it was. But the Wii U only really had 1 year of 3rd party support and that was 2012. We haven't seen a Madden, Fifa or NBA 2K title since then. Call of Duty and Assassins Creed have since jumped ship. What does Nintendo's 3rd party still have? Watch Dogs? So If the Wii U is outperforming the Xbox One sales wise, it's because of Nintendo's 1st party lineup. So the shifting of the PS4/Xbone development might not have as big of an effect as you think.

Yes, they're doing good. Looks like all their attempts to garner some goodwill back have paid off, as those are some good sales numbers. Not great, mind you- but for now, Wii U holds on to second place.

Now to see if it can continue to capitalize on this little momentum that it's managed to gather.

Fanboys clamoring about "2nd place" "2nd place"... people.. thats 7.3 mil after TWO YEARS on the market.. That's terrible!

Gamers bought more RROD 360's than the WiiU.

At this point Bloodborne looks more interesting to me.

Zelda is a good game that gets great scores still because of nostalgia.

The only reason for me to ever get a WiiU is because it has the best hack and slash game ever and that is Bayonette.

There's also the new StarFox game.

@TigerSuperman: So we agree it was a flop or ?

@TigerSuperman: So we agree it was a flop or ?

I dont care about sales

GC >> Wii U all day long .. Even Wii ..

Depends on how you look at it.

So coming back from last place to (a shared) second place is a flop now? Then 360 is just as big a flop.

But of course you mean when you compare it with its predecessor, the PS2...but every console is a flop compared to that behemoth.

Anyway PS3 was the best console to have that gen. Best exclusives (lacking on 360) and all the multiplats (lacking on Wii).

Those Wii U numbers are sad but I'm amazed the Xbone hasn't passed it yet lol.

3DS is doing well considering what it's really competing against.

Flight games bore me more than racing games.

GameCube launch: Nov. 18, 2001 (North America)

Melee launch: Dec. 3, 2001 (North America)

That's a few weeks off, so no, Melee wasn't a launch title. A launch title is something like Luigi's Mansion, Super Monkey Ball, Wave Race: Blue Storm and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II - Rogue Leader, which released the same day as the freaking console. By that logic, TES: Oblivion was a PS3 launch title.

And how did Melee not keep the Cube afloat? Unlike the Dreamcast, it didn't get nuked into hell by the PS2. It was the top selling game for that platform, with Mario Kart behind it. Sure, Nintendo stopped shipments, only to reduce some supply, but that didn't even last a year and it didn't stop them from eventually bundling the game with the Cube later on.

And what does that have to do with Smash's legs? Nothing,

My post is about the longterm and for some reason you edited part of my post where I spoke directly about the 2014 year in gaming being dismal which puts years into context. I also point to Nintendo capitalizing, which was an inference of their 1st party efforts which I am a recipient. This year isn't the year to judge the transition as devs/pubs are still heavily supporting last gen still. As far as the shifting of new gen development having a big effect this year, that was my point, 2014 sucked in gaming (especially in quality of 3rd party games & Cross gen ports), 3rd parties are still dipping their hands in PS360 development, and that was great for Nintendo due to their strong 1st party. It was a dismal 2014 as I said, but I also said "as the industry shifts" because the industry still hasn't finished transitioning as 2014 closes. Heck, even Tomb Raider due Holiday next year 2015 is for 360 and Xbone. 360 still. Good gravy. We are still getting cross gen ports of Assassin's Creed, COD, Madden, Fifa, NBA 2K...all of those are reasons not to buy an Xbone or PS4, just keep playing those games on your PS360s and buy a Wii U. The strength and power of those 3rd party brands are weakened until the last gen is cut off, and that's going to be awhile, which helps Nintendo as they roll out more 1st party quality titles.

I said as much in other posts all year, but I think the Wii U outperforming the Wii U is a combination of Nintendo's stellar 1st party output and the dismal state of the multiplats both in quality and in the overabundance of cross gen ports allowing people to comfortably rest in last gen gaming with their ACs, NBAs, CODs, FIFAs, and Maddens.

So 7.3m shipped after 2 years is considered good? Ummm ok mean while the XOne is right around 6m - 7m shipped in it's 1st year. I guess that can be considered fantastic then right?

@kingtito: good in context. Compared to how horrific it was doing, it's started to pick up.