News Article

Japan Clocks Up Impressive Wii U Launch Sales

Posted by Andy Green

New Super Mario Bros. U and Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate most popular titles

Wii U launched in Japan on Saturday, a whole three weeks after North America got its hands on the new console. As you'd expect Nintendo's homeland went wild for it, and that's been reflected in the opening weekend's sales.

According to Famitsu Wii U sold 308,570 units in just two days (8th and 9th December). The best selling game was unsurprisingly New Super Mario Bros. U with 170,563 copies sold — so around 55% of Wii U owners in Japan have themselves a copy of the latest 2D Mario game. Almost as popular was Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate which shifted 110,159 copies, meaning over a third of Wii U owners are out hunting; Nintendo Land, which was not bundled in any packs in Japan, sold 78,461 copies.

To put these figures into perspective, Wii U in the UK sold 40,000 units at launch, a small figure compared to Japan but apparently influenced by limited stock availability. It took North America a whole week to rack up 400,000 sales, something Japan almost surpassed in a single weekend.

Nintendo consoles seem to be enduringly popular in Japan. The 3DS is currently outselling all other platforms by more than 2.5 times in the Land of the Rising Sun, and it appears that the Wii U could potentially be on course for a good run as well.

[via famitsu.com, siliconera.com]

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User Comments (34)

BenAV

#1

BenAV said:

Well, that's what happens when a system launches with Monster Hunter (and Mario for icing) in Japan.

I wish my Wii U launched with Monster Hunter.

Dev

#12

Dev said:

308,570 Wii Us in two days?! Wow, just wow. I shouldn't be surprised, but that is still impressive.

rjejr

#14

rjejr said:

I'm only surprised Mario didn't sell 2x that many, especially if there were no game bundles so everybody needed to buy a game w/ the system. If you add up Mario and MH:U sales you get the number of consoles sold so I guess it was either or.

Doesn't say much for Nintendo Land. Maybe I'll buy the Basic after all.

Rapadash6

#15

Rapadash6 said:

Good first week sales, but next weeks are even more important. Vita, for example, sold quite well in its first week, but dropped sharply the next. The rest is history. Wii U has to keep the momentum going, and then, and only then, can we begin to predict how well the system is going to do in the long run. You also didn't need to be a psychic to predict that Mario and Monster Hunter were going to be the best selling titles over there. Poor Nintendo Land though. :(

C-Olimar

#16

C-Olimar said:

@rjejr Game sales are not at all always proportional to quality. Look at Okami, Little King's Story, Madworld, and oppositely, Call of Duty.

JayRydah

#17

JayRydah said:

@rjejr I wouldn't go for the basic 1 becuz of da 8gb storage it has.u get a far better deal with da deluxe bundle.dats wat I got.just my opinion.

N_PowerGlove

#18

N_PowerGlove said:

I buy all my games on Disk i have a few external USB HHD.. Black attracts too much dust and fingerprints. I went with white and got mario and batman sorry Nintendo land i might pick it up from ebgames for 10$ one day.

Oh and i got the charging dock from Nintendo for 8$.. only wish they send me a white one :P

Anyways GO JAPAN!

Dreamcaster-X

#19

Dreamcaster-X said:

Can't wait to play Monster Hunter in HD with gamepad controls!!!! Aliens in February and Monster Hunter in March!!!! Darksiders 2 will keep me busy til then!

Hokori

#20

Hokori said:

The WiiU did better then I thought it would in Japan.... I thought home consoles were dying there?

HawkeyeWii

#21

HawkeyeWii said:

Never ended up getting Monster Hunter Tri for Wii, so I will defiantly be getting this!

Scollurio

#23

Scollurio said:

I still think the Wii U launchtitles are not too overwhelming, of course it blows the socks off everyone in Japan with Monster Hunter available...

BrightShadows31

#25

BrightShadows31 said:

people always say nintendo is a joke, but they dont actually look at whats happening. excellent example: pachter's advice v. this.

LzQuacker

#26

LzQuacker said:

@BrightShadows31 One week's sales don't determine everything for a system. If you must know, Pachter is referring to the stock price of Nintendo atm, which is still a lot lower than it used to be

kdognumba1

#28

kdognumba1 said:

Very nice! I hope this will help put the internet to rest on the Wii U and how well its doing. It seems to me that the system is off to a good start.

Traxx

#29

Traxx said:

Only reason I bought this lackluster system. Can't wait. Gimme naow!

Araknie

#32

Araknie said:

I don't like Monster Hunter, not because of the game itself or the franchies. I don't like farming.
I think it's a stupid idea to make a game feel longer that what it is.
It's my opinion on farming, but i'm glad Nintendo did an homerun in Japan.

rjejr

#34

rjejr said:

@C-Olimar - I'll give you COD and Madworld, but Okami must have had some sales w/ a PS2 original, Wii motion remake, and PS3 HD and motion remake. Not to mention a DS sequel. Beyond Good and Evil was a great game that sold 8 copies before hitting the $5 bin. I hope Wii U has enough giddy-up to get the sequel. I don't think anybody is ever going to compare NL to Okami or BG&E.

@JayRydah Somebody telling me not to by the basic while typing the words becuz da dats and wat makes me think I really should buy the basic.

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