Wii U in 2nd Place After PS4 For This Gen's Console War, Says Nintendo

[Evonisia]

If the Halo bundle and Halo 5 doesn't cause the Xbox One's sales to burst like Halo 3 did the 360, then yes I think it's quite possible that the Wii U will come in second place.

They inevitably will boost Xbone sales in a major way. It's unquestionable.

Depends. Halo 4 was the comeback for the series yet it sold less than half the amount Halo 3 did (7 million as opposed to 14.5). I think Halo 5 would have to be incredibly popular amongst the fanbase to get people to buy a whole new console just for it. Hell I would have even bought it had the Halo bundle not been announced.

 

[Ichigo]

Wii U is already out for over a year dude. Also when it launched it was already last gen so compareing it to xbone and ps4 isn't valid what so ever.

 

[Madmanonfire]

It's really mind-boggling how the PS4 and the Xbone are doing so well in the first place. There aren't any games on the PS4 that justify a purchase right now, and I imagine the Xbone is in a similar situation, while the WiiU has at least a few. I've gotten more time out of Nintendo Land than any PS4 games I own (got a PS4 as a gift). My PS4 will continue to collect dust while I wait for something worthwhile to come out.

It's clear that games aren't driving sales because if they were, Nintendo would have a huge lead again.

 

[Nazulu]

I don't believe in their quality bar any more, but those friggin' famous franchises always seem reliable enough to pull 'em out of anything. They keep getting mentioned and many are constantly eying the big names, so they are definitely still in this race, no doubt. You can't call till you see all their cards.

They're the closest to wining me any way.

 

[Colt47]

Nintendo shouldn't even have to worry about competing with the PS4 and Xbox One. The latter two are competing for a mainstream audience interested in sports games and shooters, which is a very big segment. The main problem for Nintendo is keeping up with the audience interested in the off-beat and colorful games: That is a very difficult group to keep up with because they can't always rely on reusing older game mechanics to keep them interested.

Right now the big issue is that Microsofts Xbox division were unable to see past the majority audience much like the AAA publishing industry and are falling behind because the games they put into development are for that over saturated market.

 

[sXeth]

If the Halo bundle and Halo 5 doesn't cause the Xbox One's sales to burst like Halo 3 did the 360, then yes I think it's quite possible that the Wii U will come in second place.

They inevitably will boost Xbone sales in a major way. It's unquestionable.

Depends. Halo 4 was the comeback for the series yet it sold less than half the amount Halo 3 did (7 million as opposed to 14.5). I think Halo 5 would have to be incredibly popular amongst the fanbase to get people to buy a whole new console just for it. Hell I would have even bought it had the Halo bundle not been announced.

I'm skeptical of how devoted the wider "Halo" fanbase is, with Titanfall and Destiny cracking open the space-shooter market on them. Last gen you prettymuch had Halo and eighteen thousand "Realistic" military shooters letting it be in its own pool. Destiny being the more relevant one in impacting Xbox sales, since its multiplatform (and Sony seems to have tossed barrels of money at them for fancy bonuses and such)

 

[Something Amyss]

Second place in a race you started a year early. Not only are you second place to one console that came out a year after yours, you're not that far ahead of the other one.

I also like how "quality" prevented them from releasing software, but not the hardware.

Horse race? The console cycle struck me as more of a dressage sort of ordeal.

It's a race to the bottom.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Wrong. They need to expand their game base rather than just rehashing the same old Mario and Zelda titles over and over again.

 

[MrMan999]

Wrong. They need to expand their game base rather than just rehashing the same old Mario and Zelda titles over and over again.

Which if you paid attention at all to E3, they are. Bayonetta 2, Devil's Third, Splatoon, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Sonic Boom X, Actually trying something different with Zelda.

 

[Falterfire]

You're absolutely right. I can't think of anyone who saw Star Wars: Episode IV and then when on to watch Star Wars: Episode V. And NONE of my friends who read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone read ANY of the other books in the series! Preposterous!

That's not a great comparison. Sure, I have friends who watched Star Wars IV and V, but if Star Wars VI had cost $200 in addition to the ticket, they probably would have been a lot less likely to go see it. And that's ignoring the fact that most people don't play Smash Bros or Mario for the story. Those of my friends who mainly just play Smash Bros at parties don't really care enough to buy a whole new console just to do basically the same things their Wii does.

Personally, I just have gotten too used to Steam Sales to be interested in a console where I have to pay $40 for every new title instead of $5-$10. It's less PC Master Gaming Race elitism that stops me from buying a new console and more just good ol' fashioned cheapskate-ism.

 

[tstorm823]

No, but seriously, Nintendo is actually beating Microsoft. The Xbox One did 2/3 of it's sales shortly after release based on hype alone. If you follow their trendline out a year, they won't hit current WiiU sales by the time the Xbox One is out a year and a half itself without any major system sellers, and the only major Xbox One exclusives I see coming for certain before next E3 are Sunset Overdrive and remakes of old Halos.

People keep saying there's a headstart as though sales are linear, but it's quite likely that Microsoft and Sony have done most of their console sales for the first 1 1/2 years already, particularly since it won't be until late 2015 at the soonest that they stop competing with their own last gen consoles. I'd personally guess that by next E3, lifetime sales of PS4 and Xbox One will be like 12 million and 8 million respectively, both beating WiiU's comparable timeframe, but less than double the current sales and it'll be Q4 2015 that people actually move in mass to the current gen systems. But all of that is irrelevant since this is the year Nintendo uses their head start and releases exclusive system sellers while the other two muddle about sucking the last of the money out of last gen.

 

[VG_Addict]

Well there didnt seem much hope for Nintunder-dog before E3 at all, i was personally ready to tearfully bury the family pet with a heart condition. But then it gasped for air again with some games that actually make me want to buy a wii u! I am hoping to have a pisspoor alongside it for the best of both worlds. So Reggie has a point there.
But the majority of gamers will still want power and fps's like low functioning males wanting big titties and beer; its just to be expected.

This is a far out pipe dream, but...if they could somehow throw a bigger wad of cash than Ms at Rare, whatever soul draining contract theyre currently in, perhaps that could bring some oomph to the future library. Oh and fish those creative ex-employees back from whatever misty sea they are in.

Why would they want to get Rare back? Most of the people who made games like Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark, etc left the company long ago.

 

[Fox12]

-snipped-

As of last month the Wii U wasn't doing as bad as it was due to the release of Mario Kart 8, which drastically boosted Wii U sales, far more than any other Wii U game.

Not to mention that E3 was 5 days ago, and if you have the ability to count, you'll see that 5 days ago was much sooner than 30 days ago.

And hardly anyone expected anything from Nintendo at this E3, aside from maybe what we expected (bayonetta, smash bros and hyrule warriors), but they ended up announcing a ton of games for the Wii U.

Hell, even if you look at the post E3 Wii U thoughts on the escapist, about 25-30% of the poll voters said that they changed their minds and wanted a Wii U after E3.

The Wii U is not doomed to fail. The game releases up till now have just been too few and far between. However, with a lot of release dates being confirmed through 2014 and early 2015, there are enough games to warrant buying the console. You might be extremely cynical about it, but it doesn't change the facts, nor the fact that you have no clue what you're talking about, as shown by "the Wii U is still overpriced, reliant on a stupid gimmick, and is getting as much love as they ever get from third parties."

I largely agree with this. I don't see the WiiU beating Sony or Microsoft, but it could still enjoy success. I know that, before E3, I had zero interest in the WiiU. Now I could easily see myself getting one. I'm still a Sony fan, since they have the JRPGs, exclusives, and indie games I'm looking for, but if Nintendo can give me a mixture of Zelda, Metroid, fire emblem, and some new IPs they'll have me. A tall order, maybe, but one they can certainly deliver on in a year or two. I'm really excited for Zelda.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

If the Halo bundle and Halo 5 doesn't cause the Xbox One's sales to burst like Halo 3 did the 360, then yes I think it's quite possible that the Wii U will come in second place.

They inevitably will boost Xbone sales in a major way. It's unquestionable.

Depends. Halo 4 was the comeback for the series yet it sold less than half the amount Halo 3 did (7 million as opposed to 14.5). I think Halo 5 would have to be incredibly popular amongst the fanbase to get people to buy a whole new console just for it. Hell I would have even bought it had the Halo bundle not been announced.

Even if that number halves again, selling another 3.5 million Xbones because 1 new game came out is gonna be significant for MS.

 

[Evonisia]

Depends. Halo 4 was the comeback for the series yet it sold less than half the amount Halo 3 did (7 million as opposed to 14.5). I think Halo 5 would have to be incredibly popular amongst the fanbase to get people to buy a whole new console just for it. Hell I would have even bought it had the Halo bundle not been announced.

Even if that number halves again, selling another 3.5 million Xbones because 1 new game came out is gonna be significant for MS.

True enough, though I imagine the number to be further reduced by the fact that to get that one game you have to add £350-£425 to get it. Still I do agree that it will sell the Xbox One a bunch, but I doubt it will be enough to stop the Wii U's slow burn from staying in a solid second place.

 

[Lightknight]

What an idiotic quote from them. The WiiU has been out for an extra year as nearly everyone posting in this thread seems to know.

May is the first month that the WiiU has sold more than any other 8th gen console since the PS4 and XBO launched. For the past 7 months, the PS4 and XBO have regularly sold twice or more the numbers of the WiiU. In April the XBO sold 100k more units than the WiiU and May they traded places. But both the XBO and PS4 are selling at a much faster rate than the WiiU. Sorry, but the mere fact that one has been out longer doesn't make it 2nd place.

 

[MrBaskerville]

What an idiotic quote from them. The WiiU has been out for an extra year as nearly everyone posting in this thread seems to know.

May is the first month that the WiiU has sold more than any other 8th gen console since the PS4 and XBO launched. For the past 7 months, the PS4 and XBO have regularly sold twice or more the numbers of the WiiU. In April the XBO sold 100k more units than the WiiU and May they traded places. But both the XBO and PS4 are selling at a much faster rate than the WiiU. Sorry, but the mere fact that one has been out longer doesn't make it 2nd place.

It really depends on what happens in the future, if it keeps outselling XboxOne from now on and throughout the year, then they will stay in second place, it doesn't matter that they had headstart, what matters is what happens now and in the future. I don't know what effect Mario Kart and future releases will have on sales, it could continue to be strong or it could drop below XboxOne, who knows. But the thing is, if they manage to continously boost their sales, they can still compete.

Personally i don't really care what place they are in, i just hope they can keep up and create a platform that is suitable for niche games and the like. I don't need the big AAA games, there are other venues for those, i'm more hoping that they could create a console equivalent of the DS, a place for stuff like Layton, Phoenix Wright, Srpgs and Jrpgs and quirky action games.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

This is a far out pipe dream, but...if they could somehow throw a bigger wad of cash than Ms at Rare, whatever soul draining contract theyre currently in, perhaps that could bring some oomph to the future library. Oh and fish those creative ex-employees back from whatever misty sea they are in.

Why would they want to get Rare back? Most of the people who made games like Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark, etc left the company long ago.

If you care to look closely, youll see the words "far out pipe dream" and "creative ex-employees" up there, implying i have some rudimentary knowledge of that. Perhaps it was lost in translation, i dunno.