Rumour: Wii U Sold Less Than 40,000 Units In North America In April

Pay no heed...

Two words: Who cares ?
I feal like a parrot on this site for repeating myself over and over and over. The WiiU STILL hadnt had a big AAA release. These are all still in the pipeline. Its the same as with the 3DS. It was said to be dead till the big hitters came in. And look at it now.
Also, about the whole thrid party whining: The games that brought the 3DS on top of its game were first party titles, its most successful ones are first party titles...nintendo consoles and handhelds CAN survive on first party software alone, since its simply THAT good.
Please NintendoLife. Instead of wasting your time, digging up "doomsday massages" about nintendo, how about spending that time, trieing to find out more infos about stuff that really matters. Game development progress, make some hype about them. Concentrate on the positive aspects. How do you expect the generel misconception to vanish, if you, a dedicated nintendo fansite, also mainly posts doom and gloom ?

I'm confident Nintendo will turn it around, but the problem is a lack of excitement, which is why I found Fridays Nintendo Direct so disappointing. All consoles lack games to begin with, but with every other console there's footage of games that might be a year or two away, something to draw people in. With the Wii U... it's just Pikmin 3 and Wondeful 101.

A lot of fans are ignoring how bad the situation is though. No major consoles have months as bad as the Wii U has been having consistently in 2013. And this just after the release of 2 well reviewed exclusives. Will Nintendo turn it around? I think so, but to say this is no problem and normal for a new console? Not true at all.

Didn't PS2 outsell PS3 for awhile, too?

Of course Nintendo can turn the ship around. But, I don't have much faith in the current management to do it. Nintendo needs some fresher blood at the top.

While I'm sure Nintendo can improve the Wii U's fortunes, there is so much negativity and lack of support, I'm not sure how much it can improve.

At this point in time I can see it selling less than Gamecube.

@Tornado the difference is PS2 was still getting huge games like God of War 2, Shadow of the Colossus and Final Fantasy XII so you could understand it. The Wii hasn't had a big game for nearly a year and a half, so why are more people interested in it than Wii U?. PS3 never sold under 40k either.

So Microsoft and Sony sold 252.5k units of product between themselves whereas Nintendo sold 241.5k units of product by themselves??? Wow that's actually pretty amazing!!!

Sure the Wii U still moving slowly but I have a feeling the Best Buy promo's are going to turn that around

yeah but that's just america and all they care about is the 360

i bet it's selling better everywhere else

Its almost like clockwork. Nintendo Direct airs, everyone is happy for a few days, then the stream of steady PANIC, DOOM, HATE articles/news trickles out. This will happen until the E3 Directs of course, then back to warm fuzzies for the E3, followed by more weeks of shortsighted negativity when Big N fails to pacify the "experts" (you know, guys who know everything about Video Games, like EA and Pachter, not consumers who have been playing since the late 70s/80s).

Didn't Pachter say 55,000 in his own prediction and don't NPD not have access to Nintendo figures?

@FullbringIchigo

True about being limited to the US, but it does sort of put all those claims about Big N's demise to bed. I mean 240k worth of units by a single company whereas 250k by the others which is shared between two others.

The Wii is probably still popular due to its price and to the fact that it is so easily soft modded, which in turn allows games to be easily pirated =(

Bar Lego City there hasn't been a real big exclusive for Wii U casual costumers.

@Saleemra true i mean that is a hell of alot just for one company and while it may be a all round figure for all their systems it still impressive

and yeah i also think that it's the price of the Wii that keeps it selling now and i can't help but think if Nintendo stopped making the Wii and included a Wiimote and a Nunchuck with the Wii U and put on the box in big letters "WILL PLAY ALL Wii GAMES" it could help it's sales a lot

This is my first comment on Nintendolife, and what i would like to say is, WELCOME to the new 38000 wii u buyers in NA and beyond, for the month of april. You have made a great purchase. I have been enjoying video games since the early 80's and can honestly say IMO, the WiiU for me is by far the most enjoyable system I have come across. The features and gameplay always leaves me wanting more. I was never one for caring about a systems power and specs. ( and the WiiU does perform highly) To me it was all about the software and replay value. I am an owner of 12 physical and 8 digital WiiU games. Believe me, there is no shortage of software or entertainment with this system, in its early existence. ENJOY!!!

Thanks Nintendolife, you do a wonderful job. I also enjoy reading all the wonderful comments for this community.

well at least the wii u did better than the vita

...They still sell new PS2s?

I also see many many parents with little kids and sngle females looking at WIi packages at our local electronics market. I guess its the Wiis "casual" reputation that still atracts these people. It may be the first console they heard of that doesnt has the image of a "basement dweller geek toy" to them. For them, the Wii is a party console, much a like a karaoke machine. Since the WiiU tries to aim its marketing towards the more game affine crowd, these people are not interested. They dont look at adverts of Monster Hunter or ZombieU and if they see an abvert for Lego City, they say that the Wii also has Lego games, so why buy a new console. They are not interested in "next gen" or better tech, all they want is light and fun entertainement, wich the Wii can provide in spades for them.
The WiiU has 2 problems: Not enough software for the "hardcore crowd" which is on the way and the Wii, wich draws all the casuals away from the new, more expansive console, thinking of it as just another remodel (i talked to many who think like that)
But it all can change once Nintendo "releases the kraken"

@TwilightV Yes, they do, in spades. Over here in germany, many many elecrtronics markets still have PS2 consoles and game shelfs on display along with the current gen systems.

Also, what the hell is going on with the Vita? People are saying Nintendo need more advertising but there was almost 24/7 Vita advertising a few months back.

@Einherjar: Well here in the US I haven't come across a brand new PS2 in the last few years, so this kind've caught me by surprise.

NES innovated; SNES improved.
N64 innovated; Gamecube improved.

Wii innovated...

... so I really think all Nintendo needed to do this generation was improve, not innovate. Put HD and much-improved online on the console--hype the fact that it plays Wii games and is fully backwards compatible--sell it at a reasonable price = BOOM, money factory.

By targeting both "casual" and "hardcore" players by half, I don't think Nintendo has successfully attracted either.

@Einherjar - always a good read, and today we got 2 already. Funny thing I completely disagree w/ the 1st post - I think NL reports the news, which is 80% WiiU gloom and doom; if Nintendo wanted happy coverage for the WiiU they should put out more happy news. If they only covered happy news they would be accused of fanboism so it's really "no win" for them. And "Who cares"?, maybe game developers who don't want to spend money making games for a console nobody buys? Maybe retailers who don't want to take up shelf space w/ merchandise nobody buys? Maybe April says don't matter to you, but NPD puts them out - or in this case leaks them - for a reason.

2nd post I heartily agree, why buy a WiiU right now? Nintendo should have killed the Wii. The WiiU plays Wii games, why keep selling the Wii?

@Tornado - They should have done that 2 or 3 years ago and put the Wii to rest, instead they came out with Mini Wii w/ no internet, meaning you get about 1/4 of the Wii content. Funny thing, Nintendo actually came out w/ 2 new Wii modifications, first the silent removal of BC of Gamecube games, along w/ port connectors for games like SSBB and Mario Kart, and then the Mini. Not once in 6 years did Nintendo actually IMPROVE the Wii. Meanwhile Sony and Microsoft were constantly making obvious changes - some for the better, some not. I think hardcore gamers appreciate improvements, it shows the companies are trying.

@rjejr: I think cutting the Wii off 3 years ago--2010--would've been too short for the lifespan of the console, especially given the depths of recession the world was in at that time. But I agree that the trend of devolving the Wii is odd. I could understand if GC compatibility were removed because N was going to move toward GC support on a download service--alas, not the case seemingly.

Just wait till the heavyweight titles hit the market. For me I'm hoping this might mean a price drop

@rjejr There are enough reasons to buy a WiiU although these reasons may not be enoughj for some people, i agree on that. The Wii was such a sleeper hit that is still very much present in the heads of people, that it in fact could be consideresd the WiiUs nemesis. It simply distracts and drags away the target audience thet the Wii has brought to gaming in the first place.

And why "i dont care". Its quite simple. I can understand that general gaming news sites post that kind of news since they dont focus on a single company and its products. So, comparing the sales charts makes perfect sense. But this is supposed to be a nintendo fan site and should provide people with news and storys that draws people TOWARDS these products and not give out doom and gloom news everyday, directly contributing to the general negative press. They should encourage people, show them the positive aspects of nintendos consoles, games etc. Tooting in the same horn as everyone else is quite contra productive, in fact, many news covered here are almost destructive.

still better than PS Vita

I wonder what he means by off on 3ds and ds though? Maybe he thought they would sell less?!

@Einherjar couldn't have said it better myself =)

The Wii U is good enough for Nintendo which has been the case for all of its consoles, but when it comes to thirdparty support, Nintendo couldn't care less. But the Wii had poor thirdparty support, yet it outsold all over consoles. But the Wii U going up against the Xbox 720 and PS4, it'll have no chance. Even though the Wii U can keep up with the Xbox 360 and PS3, it's a wasted effort as the Xbox 720 and PS4 will be released this year. Cross format games will get thinner (on the Wii U), plus most publishers are not interested in the Wii U. EA has washed its hands with the Wii U and I can't see that changing, plus some publishers will pull of plug on the Wii U, if not most publishers. Same old, same old from Nintendo (latest Nintendo Direct news).

@Einherjar I'm a Nintendo fan and I don't want to be visiting the website equivalent of North Korea where we're just lied to about how great things are and how much it sucks to be anyone outside Nintendo fans, or that guy in Iraq telling the TV cameras there was no invasion, while you could see tanks rolling in behind him.

"Don't panic! These threats are not real!".

No thanks!

I want to be able to discuss the problems Nintendo are facing, to discuss what we all think they should do, and even to discuss when someone else is doing things better. NLife are reporting all news related to Nintendo, it just happens to be a lot of bad now. There's no conspiracy. People aren't staying away from Wii U because they read on a website that it sold badly. Lets discuss the real radians they're staying away, and what we'd like Nintendo to do.

I dont want them to lie either, thats not the point. But there is so much effort spent in reporting bad news, why not have some good news from time to time ?

@Einherjar Here yee, here yee.

Better times will be here by the end of the year, so Nintendo says. I'm still only interested in 3 games for the system at this time. For a $350 console, that's a huge problem. I'll say it again Nintendo, PRICE DROP(at least -$50). I refuse to buy one until at least that happens.

Oh look, Pachter!

In the words of Hades: Oh look! Who cares?

Nintendo should cut the price and reward the early adopters with a new ambassador program. It worked great for the 3DS.

sounds all right to me. No new games out and the fact that it is outsold by Wii is also pretty great - Wii is breaking history records. Overall, with the "massive" libraries of 360 and PS3 they should be selling much more than Wii U but they don't.

With a library at the end of the year with NSMB U, 3D Mario, Wii Fit U, Zelda, Pikmin, Mario Party, Mario Kart U and whatever else they throw there, it will sell. No reason for it to sell consistently, just in total, according to Nintendo's release schedule.

Step 1. Release interesting (original?) games, or at least new titles for games we already like. Remember when Super Mario Bros and Legend of Zelda were fresh, new, original concepts and they blew up the NES? All they seem to do is reboot old titles anymore — is there no new creativity?
Step 2. Make the TVii work like they said it would, with every device, every service, seamlessly and easily. If I want to watch Game of Thrones (HBO Go) I still have to fire up that piece of crap Xbox360 system (worst console EVAR). Netflix post-play feature is still only on Xbox version.
Step 3. Cut the price.
You're welcome, Nintendo.

I hope Nintendo puts the wiii into retirement by the end of this year so they could focus on getting more wii u's out the door and into the living rooms of gamers, When the wii is outselling the wii u thats an indication thats telling you drop the price, put the wii to rest and bring us some of the best games gamers of this generation and past will enjoy expiriencing

@theadrock13 Seriously? Post Play? Just checked what this meaningless thing is. I adore the Netflix on Wii U. It is absolutely incredible, to switch between screens, and have all the menu there. Couple of clicks with your finger and that's your post play it seems.

I think it's funny how people profess not to care, then proceed to type up some repetitive text walls full of whining afterwards...

Wouldn't it be smarter to just ignore the news posts you deem to be too awful to acknowledge (..come on, it's only facts), rather than try turn this site into a place for extreme fanboys only? Don't pretend that more effort is made to reporting the bad stuff, a quick look at the front page disproves that BS.

@dumedum You don't have young kids then, LOL. Sunday morning, parent turns on the Netflix show at 6am, goes back to bed, :20 min later the 3 year old kid is waking you up asking to start the next episode. Point is that ALL the other systems have had this feature for a year, except Nintendo. Nintendos are "family" console, right? Its not a big deal, its just one of the many straws on the camel's back.

I wouldn't pay alot of attention to this, when the games start coming and the stats are still bad, THAN we can really worry lol.

I live in NA so I know that alot of gamers over here aren't usually early adopters to consoles anymore, and unfortunately, they need a must have shooter -_- It's sad, but it's true, NA gamers are like obsessed with shooters ¬¬ I like to think most people are waiting to hear about the next xbox and ps4 before making a decision on what console to buy.

@Damo lol, right on!!! I love the fact you guys have interviews lately

@Peach64 I'm pretty sure the Wii got Pandora's Tower in April, but I doubt that would've helped sales.

We did get teasers and trailers in January, and there's the even bigger games being shown off at E3. But none of them exactly confirmed for 2013 except for Pikmin 3 and Wonderful 101. So in a way, you are correct.

A weak launch and no notable new games will do that to a console. But at least they can only go up from here and the Wii U's upcoming line up is promising.

@theadrock13 - that never occurred to me, thanks. How old are them? Is it because you don't trust them with the gamepad so they won't break it or just screw around with it instead of watching the show? Interesting.

@Banker-Style there has been NSMB U which is huge. It will continue to sell for years. The Wii version is still selling greatly. Even the DS one which I did not buy.

FYI, at this point in the PS3 lifespan, PS2 was outselling it.

WTF, they're still selling PS2s???

I believe they stopped selling PS2s this year. Sony most likely bunches it in with the PSP to cover up how bad the PSP is doing. Its a shame that they continue to make great handheld hardware but dont support it.

To be honest, I like NintendoLife's reporting. At least it's honest news. At this time, Nintendo really does seem to be struggling with Wii U regarding sales in North America. This doesn't mean it's Nintendo's Dreamcast, rather it's looking like Gamecube (from a sales perspective). That said, like GameCube, the core Nintendo fans seem to be fine with Wii U (my apologies for the generalizations). The problem is getting everyone else excited about it like they did with Wii.

I think to help, Nintendo may want to find a way to make Wii U attractive to the new and changed audience. Maybe focus more on Wii U's convenience and the Wii U and eShop? I'm not sure.

We know Nintendo doesn't have any of their first party titles releasing until June/August time frame, so all these months talking about how much the Wii U sales every month is pretty pointless. The sales will remain crappy so as long there is no first party titles being released on a regular basis, so i'm curoius why we should even pay attention to them until after this holiday season is over.

Hey! we still more than doubled the vita sales but I suppose that's not saying much!

They need to convince the fan base that Wii U is something you want in your living room even if you have something else. Wii was successful at doing that and Wii U is positioned to do that. If it had applications like ABC app or other network apps, this would fly off shelves. They need to appeal to women like the Wii did, that's how they crushed Sony in the last gen.

Once 3D Mario and Mario Kart are released, the console will fly off the shelves.

Reality Check, WiiU isn't competing with the Ps3 or 360, Its competitors are Ps4 and Nextbox. Every WiiU sold extends it's lead over it's competitors. Untill Christmas 2014, when all the systems have had a year on the market is the ealiest we'll know the pecking order for the Next-Gen.
Yes Nintendo has made mistakes and combined with various other factors WiiU's missed out on having a free year to exploit potential sales however Come this Christmas and into early next year WiiU will have sold enough units worldwide to easily stay on-top during the Launch Window months of the Ps4/Kinectbox. Nintendo will then, (preferably long before then tbh) need to start fighting and it's going to be tough but if Nintendo capitalize on the WiiU's strengths (Off-tv play, Gameplay possibilities using gamepad, Miverse, backward compatability, no online subscription etc) and the Ps4/Nextbox weakness's (no hardware bc/paid online sub/maybe no used game market and others that may (will) become aparant as more info is released), maybe then the WiiU will be there fending off M$ or Sony from the 2nd place spot. (WiiU's not going to be the lead console, though like Wii not being lead system, it was the biggest selling and WiiU could be same in the long term)

Nintendo NEEDS to make sure people know what their product even IS in the first place. This needs to be priority #1. If people do not know it exists, or what it is, they will not buy it. I do not know how they could botch the Wii U launch so badly; they should have learned from 3DS. I am a HUGE fan of 'The Big N,' however sometimes I think they have a monkey at the head of their PR department (actually if donkey kong was heading their PR then things might not be as bad as they are now.....).

Forgot to mention this in my previous post:

Priority #2 for Nintendo needs to work hard on brutally undercutting Sony and Microsoft. If they can drop the price of Wii U before the PS4 and XBOX launch, and there is a good selection of games for Wii U at that time, then Nintendo will be in much better shape.

Sold less does not mean a bad consoles. This is still early in its life cycle and it still sold more than 360 and PS3 at this point in its life than they did at that point in there life.

The only part I don't understand is why people are buying PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles, when there's new consoles coming out sooner than later now, and Wii U is already available.
I see people asking about device relevance all the time, and it doesn't make sense that people would be buying an older device over a new one. Personally, I haven't bought any Xbox 360 or PS3 things, because I'm waiting until the next consoles to come out before I buy anything.
Nintendo is working things out. The 'now' argument doesn't work. Why haven't people that know about Wii U gotten over the slow releases, and just wait for the announced games we know about? We know they're coming.
Nintendo isn't stupid. They'll advertise their consoles, get more support, and get games/features on the console in due time. Why don't people understand that Xbox 360 and PS3 are done? Move on.

Plus, Microsoft and Sony are over charging for their 7-8 year old consoles. Xbox 360 has costed the same this entire generation, while still collecting Xbox Live subscription money.
PS3 phat had Other OS and PS2 BC ripped away from it which people paid for back in 2006.
These consoles haven't had a price drop for 3 or more years, so why would people be asking for a price drop for Wii U, when it costs $350 at no profit, and is a new thing?
People are stupid as f***.

When people see that Wii U will still cost $300-350 w/ a game, Deluxe Digital Promotion, etc. things people would want the Wii U for, and the console they bought less than a year ago aren't getting as much attention as the new devices(and probably get a price drop to $180-200), that's when they'll realize the mistake of buying old consoles that are over priced over a face value priced console(Wii U) that will still be getting games. I'd honestly rather see at least half of the Xbox 360 and PS3 sales at least converted into Xbox∞ or PS4 sales. The sales don't even have to convert to Wii U sales. I'm just astounded that anyone would buy older consoles at that price so late in their like cycles...
I guess GameStop or other used game stores will be getting LOTS of used game sales in the coming generation since everyone already blew their money on last gen consoles.

@SCAR392

Maybe because those systems have huge game libraries? These systems probably have atleast another good 2-3 years left in them. That, and we should probably know all the consoles will generally have slow starts.

@ex-ps3-junky This guy gets it.

I've had the Wii U since launch and haven't once griped about there being too few games. Go check the store shelves, load up eShop, or look at their current library, there is plenty to play.

That said I can't freaking wait for the new X (enoblade?) game! Oh, and Monster Hunter 4 for 3DS (hurry up and come stateside).

"Wii U walk a little faster?" said a whiting to a snail,
"There's a porpoise close behind us, and he's treading on my tail.
See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance!
They are waiting on the shingle – Wii U come and join the dance?
Wii U, won't you, Wii U, won't you, Wii U join the dance?

I recently bought another Wii (for virtual console use) instead of WiiU for the simple fact that the WiiU has nothing to offer. Plus its price and stupid touch screen gamepad. If I wanted to use a touch screen, I would use my iPad.

N64 still has the best game releases ever and the Gamecube has the best controller. But for some reason Nintendo feels the need to keep re-creating the wheel. Make a N64 HD with a Gamecube controller and go back to low poly 3D and 2D pixel style games and I would be in heaven.

Oh and HD don't mean crap if the games aren't good. I'd rather play NES over the WiiU.

@Midnight3DS
Ya, I know about the big game libraries they have. My point is that they won't be getting any more games than what they have established soon. Besides, you get a Wii menu with Wii U(which costs them almost nothing to include), so that carries the Wii library with it.
Wii U will be relevant LONG after Xbox 360/PS3. Those consoles have been over priced for a while now, and we all know it. Couple that with a shorter future, and they aren't worth it anymore.

@SCAR392 "Ya, I know about the big game libraries they have."

Well, there you go. And surprisingly, not everyone makes the same buying decisions that you do. You or I don't get to decide what's relevant to people. Many people will still find their PS3/360/Wii relevant 5, 10 years from now.

My PS2 is still very much relevant to me, as it still gets the most action.

@Midnight3DS
Ya, people don't care to be as up to date technically and practical as me. I can understand that

@Saleemra Umm if you are going to count all platforms then what about Sony and Microsoft PCs, phones, tablets etc.?

The Wii U in no way should be outsold by the dead Wii. Nobody wants a Wii nowadays, only people buying it are cheap parents that don't want to spend a lil more on another console.

it keeps getting worse.

Holy crap those Vita numbers are depressing.

@GamerJunkie, last I checked the only big things in the mobile/tablet markets were by Apple and Samsung. Feel free to correct me since I dont actually follow those markets - I still use a basic monochrome mobile that only needs a charge once every three days and can double as a disposable weapon in the event I need something to throw at any dogs that get it in their mind to chase me lol.

Does microsoft actually sell prebuilt PC's?

The reason why I am including the wii, 3ds etc etc etc is because they all are dedicated video game platforms. Sure MS and Sony have their other divisions but we are talking about video game platforms here and in that respect Nintendo seem to be doing blisteringly well even with the Wii U's slow sales.

Say what you will you but when you only look at the relevant sector here - and that is really all that is needed since Nintendo dont have other divisions ala MS and Sony- Big N is out selling both MS and Sony individually by a large margin for now and only lagging behind by a mere 10k++ units when compared to both of them combined.

So yeah I think its pretty safe to stand by the assumption that Nintendo are sitting pretty atm.

@Saleemra http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us is the windows tablet and is selling well. http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us is the phone made by Microsoft and while its 3rd in sales, it is still selling well and making them a good amount of money(i think they sold at least 5 million of these phones+tablets last year) where Nintendo sells 0 phones and 0 tablets right? If you add up every device where you can play games Microsoft outsells Nintendo(especially to true gamers, not children). MS also gains money since this new http://shield.nvidia.com/ uses Windows and can stream pc games to a handheld, etc. They also have "games for Windows" and get so much money from their operating system and games on it. My point is Nintendo needs to step up with the Wii U and start making things for adults and gamers, not only kids. I will never use a Nintendo handheld in public, only kids would be caught using one or adults that are laughed at. Wii is dead, I bought a Wii U as they said it would be a gamers console not only a family/kids device with a gimmick behind it how the Wii was. So far they are not delivering.

@SCAR392
Those consoles are still selling because those companies built a consumer base. They didn't bet the farm on casuals like Nintendo did last gen. Even when there was a lack of games PS3 and 360 owners could at least keep faith/interet due to XBL and PS+ providing a service that interested them as well as 3rd party support. You should expect those sales to stay around that amount, if not increase, when the next gen consoles release and the prices drop.

I wouldn't read too much into these numbers. The game lineup is fine, the timing isn't optimal.

1. Some of the PS3, Wii and Xbox are just replacement purchases and other sales due to the installed based. The installed base is huge on these systems !

Example from twitter:
"Ashton Brooke-Thorne ‏@AshtonBrookeT 23h
Pissed off Matts bought himself a new PS3! Gunna have to break this one aswell now! ...P.S Don't tell him I broke his last one!"

2. Some people might want to check out what MS and Sony is releasing first.

3. With summer approaching, it's more likely the nintendo-fans are buying portable systems like the 3DS's. Consoles is an indoor activity.

4. Birthdays aren't evenly distributed. More people have their birthdays in the fall.

@MANIAC911
Actually. I'm not as concerned about it as I was an hour or so ago. This will keep Microsoft and Sony catering to last gen. Wii U will actually benefit from having last gen consoles still being relevant.
As for the mobile market, Miyamoto already clarified that competition from mobile games helps Wii U.
Looks like all these other devices selling well actually makes Wii U more relevant, so ya, we don't have anything to worry about afterall.

I don't need updates on the Wii U's struggles everyday thanks Nintendolife! Let me know how it's doing in 6 months. (I'm going to guess a lot better)

@GamerJunkie - Wow talk about missing the point entirely. So MS makes tablets and smartphones, what is your point? You might as well be comparing Nintendo to McDonalds at that point, Nintendo sells neither tablets nor do they sell smartphones thus there is no point in even bringing them up.

Additionally I am not overlooking the fact that the Wii U is selling slowly but overall despite poor sales Nintendo as a whole seems to be doing pretty well - better in fact then its rivals in total hardware sales FOR VIDEO GAME PLATFORMS. You cant really dispute that since the numbers speak for themselves.

As for the Wii being dead? 40k for a dead system is pretty impressive.

Making games for adults LMAO thats a joke, sure keep telling yourself that games that revolve around big tits, big guns and big explosions are for adults - they are adolescent escapist power fantasy, nothing more. Sure Nintendo could definitely benefit from a couple more of those to attract that side of the market but please dont try to pass them off as being ADULT games.

With regards to the lack of games on the Wii U, I dont think it was Nintendo that hasn't delivered but rather the third parties. Nintendo gave the third parties a 6 month window to establish themselves without direct competition from 1st party releases and yet they botched it. EA, Ubi and Activision all failed to capitalize on the Wii U nor release anything of real interest on it that hadnt been already released 6 months to a year earlier. Post E3 is going to see the BigN pushing their first party wares, if the Wii U still doesnt do well by the second half of next year then I'd be worried.

@Scar392
I can't speak for the future of the Wii U.
The current situation and slow start are frustrating though. You can't do what Nintendo did and expect success. I just hope that all this negative press is a wake up call for them.

@LDXD

http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/03/20/46-best-and-2-wtf-new-android-games-from-the-last-2-weeks-3713-32013/

Go there and look at Zenonia 5, Real Boxing, Chaos Rings 2(by square), Blade Slinger and the rest of them and that is only games of the past month or so.... They rival console games in gameplay and even graphics. The RPGS on tablet are acvtually better than the ones on console lately as there are so many at such a high quality and many of these games are free or $5 and under....

Seriously if you say you never have seen a good tablet game you really need to look closer.

Nintendo needs to step up. The gaming world is evolving and moving forward and they seem to be only taking baby steps and missing out on a lot of stuff.

@Saleemra Umm when i said Nintendo promised us a console that would be appealing to "adults" and "adult games" I mean games that a person 20-35+ enjoys playing. It has nothing to do with adult content. It has everything to do with a console for gamers, not for children. They cannot ignore FPS, sports and other genres that have console selling games on the other consoles.

Nintendo focuses too much on the 8-14 year old gamers and on "family oriented" and "games kids can play together in same room." Seriously I am an adult, I don't invite my friends over to play games anymore. Even kids don't as there is something called the internet where you can team up or play against other people. Games with only local multiplayer are awful nowadays and one look at the box "local multiplayer only" means no sale to me.

Also, you were saying "it doesn't matter if Wii U isn't selling, they still outsell Sony/Microsoft when you count the 3DS and other Nintendo devices." So, I countered you by saying Sony and Microsoft sell laptops, tablets, phones and many other gaming devices that you forgot to include when you mentioned your point.

Wii U has a head start and they are wasting it so far and also the future looks pretty weak as each day a new developer drops Nintendo. They have to focus more on the Wii U and adult gamers and less on the 3DS and children.

@LDXD Tablets and phones both have controllers. You can use bluetooth to use a 360 controller or many other controlers and things like MOGA for phones etc. Look at the Shield by Nvidia.

Also, you really don't think the Square, Gameloft and top RPGs on tablet are better than a game such as Zombie U? hahahaha Seriously?

Stop being a fanboy and look at reality please. I bought a Wii U. I support it. I bought 2 VC games today, buy things for it each week to try to keep supporting it.

But i also look around me and play on PC, mobile and see that they are making huge leaps and bounds in quality while Nintendo is selling me games I played on SNES 20 years ago as their best game of the month. I already sold 4 of my WIi U games because they were either not fun or not quality. The main thing I play on it are Mario, pinball and the old VC games from SNES and NES. They need to up the quality and type of games they have.

They need RPGs, need FPS games, need a lot better multiplayer online games, need more Sports games, need just more variety of games and ways to have fun for people my age. Not stuff made for Nintendo fans only and family/kids.

@LDXD Nintendo is only selling games to Nintendo fans only. They are losing gamers daily to phones, tablets, sony, microsoft, iphone/ipad. They are not stealing gamers from other consoles or pulling people away from PC to them.

You don't understand that point? Gamers go to where games are at. Nintendo did great in the mobile gaming world the past 15+ years to keep them afloat. However, with tablets and phones growing by the day, Nintendo will find it much harder to sell their handheld games anymore, especially to adults that own a Google or Apple(even MS) handheld.

Also, Nintendo sells games on mobile for $20+ while tablet and phone games are free - $5 mostly.

So again you don't understand this?

@LDXD OK last time I try to make the point as simple as I can for you.

I was on a cruise Friday to Monday. I saw people on the ship while eating and exploring the islands walking around using ipads, iphones, android phones, etc. playing games, taking pictures, handing them to their kids also to play on them.

I did not see one Nintendo handheld being used and the cruise had 3,000 people on it and many of them kids and teens and people 20-30s. that covers all the main gaming ages.

You do realize that games have dpads and analog type pads built onto the screen right? Not many would use a controller on a tablet/phone as its not needed.

Also, the quality of graphics on a tablet are by far better than a 3DS. People 20-30 freely play games anywhere you look on their phone and tablet proud to show everyone.

A 3DS, I see them in kids hands in malls, sometimes teens in a bus, but very few adults 20-30 use them in public, I live in a major city and am around people daily that are gaming mobile and its like 95% phone/tablet that i see not a Nintendo handheld.

If you do see a man 20-30 using a 3DS in public its like "look at that nerd" from any normal adult, they consider it a kids toy and that the person is a geek using it. However, the people playing a tablet/phone game in public do not get that reaction as people know adults play them all the time.

When did you see a teen-30 yr old girl playing a 3DS in public lol. I see them playing tablets and phones though and all the time.

You actually think a $5 tablet game with 50+ hours of gameplay, story and cinematics and everything is somehow less quality than a 3DS game? YOu pretty much are showing me you don't have a tablet or don't use it at all as that is completely false.

Gamers have shifted the focus to next gen wii u should of came out earlier all the hype is gone already the casuals saved the original wii they are not here to prop this thing up again and the real hardcore gamers are beyond disapointed with this thing nintendo said they would give us that third party support they wont be out gunned but if you havent noticed it was a lie

I get the numbers and thats close. But it will turn around.

someone replacing Triforce?

@CDreams

The fact of the matter is, what Nintendo have bought to the table so far isn't good enough.

They're selling you 8 year old hardware at a premium price (mainly due to a gamepad which not many people actually want), they don't have proper online infrastucture, the OS still needs to be fixed, it has no 3rd party western support apart from Ubisoft and a couple of WB titles...not because of a lack of an installed base, but because western developers realized long ago that Nintendo don't make their consoles with 'them' in mind. The only 1st party title of note in the first 9 months of the console is a rehash of a 2009 title that's been rehashed a million times before, and their advertising has been nothing short of abysmal, and still targeting the grandmas, kids, and families that they did with the wii. They say they want to bring back the 'core' gamer, but everything they've done up until now has contradicted this statement of intent. As an adult gamer, I don't feel as though Nintendo are interested in my support.

I'm not saying the console is doomed, and that's not what this article's about either. It's just showing that people are voting with their wallets because Nintendo have botched the new console launch. The fact of the matter is that the console is in bad shape at the moment, and until Nintendo take steps to rectify the situation, I think such articles, are completely warranted. Hopefully after E3 things will be much different.

@LDXD

Do you even realize there are more tablet/phone games and by far than 3DS games? How are you saying tablets/phones are not on the same level as a dedicated gaming device? Hundreds of games come out each month for them. 3DS has like 10 games a month max?

Yes we all know 80-90% of the day you are either in the water, exploring the islands, dancing and having fun and not gonna be gaming on a cruise. But, when people sit down to eat(which most people do 2 to 4 times a day on a cruise) they pull out their phone/tablet that is all we need to know. Nobody pulled out a 3DS. Same goes for pictures like you mentioned. It all points to not many want a 3DS as it does just one thing play games and games that mostly kids-teens only play. An adult wants to game mobile is getting a good phone or tablet to game/communicate/browse all in one.

Next, you keep mentioning quality. Tablets have a graphics processor, RAM and CPU that is leaps and bounds more powerful than a 3DS. Also their storage is unlimited with SD cards. This means games can be bigger and better on a tablet in terms of what can fit on the machine.

Also about what games are more than 50 hours on a tablet? You realize there are even MMORPGs on tablets? 2d ones, 3d ones, those give you hundreds of hours and even thousands for some people and many are 100% free.

A week or 2 ago I picked up 11 RPGs for $11 by Kemco(android sale). They are all great games, many that easily rival many 3DS rpgs.

• Symphony of Eternity
• Alphadia
• Aeon Avenger
• Eve of the Genesis
• Grinsia
• Dark Gate
• Knight of the Earthends
• End of Aspiration
• Alphadia II
• Symphony of the Origin
• Covenant of Solitude
• Silver Nornir

Those are classic old school looking games. But there are many open world 3d ones as well and again $5 or less and no cash shops. There are hundreds of quality RPGS 20-50+ hours of gameplay and that are good games on tablet/phone.

Now, also there are remakes of classic Square and other company RPGS on there and they usually cost $2-20. Nintendo charges as much or more even for re-releases(no added features) of a game like balloon fight or solomons quest......

Finally, tablets and phones have emulators on them that let you play all of the games on any system. So you really have no reason as an adult to get a 3DS over a phone/tablet. That is the bottom line of what we are talking about.

Nintendo needs to make moves to attract adult gamers how they promised. They said they were making a gaming machine for gamers and are not delivering.

==========================================

Ravensword: Shadowlands look at this game for tablet/phone

==========================================

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.crescentmoongames.ravensword2&hl=en

The game is like skyrim but mobile. No 3DS game looks like this or is as detailed a 3d rpg world as this. $7 man! See my point?

================

Aralon: Sword and Shadow

=================

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.crescentmoongames.aralon&hl=en ONLY $5

Again a full 3D rpg world. Nothing on 3DS can look like these games or rival them and at this price.

=========

WILD BLOOD

=========

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gameloft.android.ANMP.GloftWBHM&hl=en

$5 and another great game no 3DS has or will ever have.

I don't know about you, but I buy something because I want it. Not because how many other people bought it. Somehow people think they are successful through association if they support the most "successful" console. Main reason elections have so many polls, because people are more incline to vote for someone they think will win.

@GamerJunkie

I know what you meant which was my point entirely, the games most "hardcore" gamers play just tend to revolve around BT/BG/BE examples - Mass Effect, Halo, COD, Battlefield, insert fighting game here etc. I wont dispute that some of these are good to great games but it doesnt change the fact that the games cater to adolescent fantasy, the upcoming Dragons Crown on the Vita is a prime example of that.

I agree that the Wii U could use decent FPS', sports, etc games but here is the kicker Ninty doesnt make those games very often. Third parties had months prep for the Wii U's launch to bring those titles to the console but their efforts for most part have been ham fisted coupled with incredibly unrealistic expectations with regards to sales. Ports that are 6 months to a year old do not sell consoles nor do they move a million ++ units unless they are completely and absolutely amazing with added exclusive content, why should anyone get BLOps 2 or ME3 (especially) when they already have it?

Your absolutely correct that Nintendo focuses on the 8-14 demographic, it is afterall their schtick. You seem to expect them to produce 18++ content when they as software devs clearly have limited interest (and probably limited capability) in directly engaging those markets. You might as well expect 2k, gearbox and rockstar to make mario esque platformers. No, Nintendo does what it does best by catering to the family market whilst second & third parties bring out the stuff like heavy rain or what not.

The problem is that the western third parties are so caught up in the RAWR MOAR POWAH mentality that they cannot appreciate the subtlety of Wii U's architecture which would allow them to produce products at a sufficient graphical resolution without going broke in the process. Mark my words, with Infinity and PS4 devs are going to back themselves into an increasingly tighter corner chasing the HD Graphics unicorn, and that most of them are going to fall flat on their faces in the process of doing so. We can already see it in games that sell by the millions but are considered to be financial disappointments.

Does Nintendo need better online infra? Yes they do but at the same time it is refreshing that they dont forget local multiplayer which is incidentally important for older gamers with families, if MS and Sony wont cater to this demographic then why shouldnt Ninty make a name for itself there.

There are very few decent games on the Xbox that I can be play local multiplayer on, do you realize just how much of a ruckus that causes when the kids are fighting over who's turn it is? Because of the Wii's strong local multiplayer support I find I'm playing on it more simply because my kids can partake in the games that I am playing at the same time. As a result my 360 has been reduced to a glorified media player. At any rate both the Wii and the Wii U have online support though admittedly on the Wii's friend codes was a rather silly idea.

If you had bothered to read properly you would have noticed that I said that all these predictions regarding Nintendo's demise and that they will do a Sega seem to be debunked by the fact that even when they arent doing well they are still doing better then their competition. Considering that Nintendo is a VIDEO GAME developer and VIDEO GAME HARDWARE manufacturer you dont need a genius level intellect to figure out that I was referring to both MS' and Sony's own video game departments. Bringing smartphones and tablets into the equations is erroneous as your comparing apples to oranges here.

I have no doubt that both MS and Sony generate higher revenue and maybe even profit across all their divisions but when you just look at the sales data for VIDEO GAMES HARDWARE you can see that Nintendo is still leading the pack overall. Smartphones and tablets can be gaming devices in the same way a PC can be a gaming device, however that is NOT and will NEVER BE their primary function.

Wii U did have a head start but it wasnt Nintendo that squandered the lead there, rather it was the third parties. EA, Activision and Ubi all were given a free pass on the Wii U for 6 months with no direct competition from Nintendo first parties and they pissed it away by not releasing games, releasing gimped games and cannibalizing sales (in the case of ME especially). That lies squarely on the shoulders of those publishers. Ubi seems to have gotten their act together and their new IP will be coming to the Wii U. If hacking people and bashing them over the head with a collapsible baton isnt "Adult" enough for you then I really wont know what is.

@LDXD You don't even have the games man, I wont reply to you anymore. You say horrid controls? No buttons? lol.

Wii U just made a controller that is 50% based on touch controls but with a lower resolution and low quality touch screen compared to tablets. So if you think touch based controls are horrid, I guess you think the Wii u controller is even worse.

I like some games on Wii u so far, it just isnt living up to what it promised and the 3DS is no competition for gaming on tablet sorry. Price, quality, variety, all combined, tablet wins by a long way unless you like pokemon or some other 1st party title enough to just buy both.

@Saleemra You are wrong in every way.

A gaming computer and gaming tablet are gaming 1st devices just much more powerful with many more games at a much cheaper price than consoles. You can also buy a work computer/tablet or internet browsing only computer like google chrome. But I build gaming computer and believe me its primary function is to play games.

They just also happen to be able to do other things much better as well. I mean you do realize consoles also try to let you browse the internet, watch movies, and do many other tasks as well as gaming? They just are much weaker so do it all poorly in comparison.

And I'm talking about games like a dungeon crawler or maybe an MMORPG even one like Final Fantasy XIV or similar, Wii U needs those type of games and many other rpgs. Even super mario RPG Wii U version if it was a 1st party one, just something.

FPS they dont need to have a port of all the ones you can get on pc and every console, but they need to have a few for FPS gamers. Even a Nintendo based Tf2 ype game would be awesome, like a smash brothers but FPS type.

They need sports games for sure, can be 1st or 3rd party.

Its just that they have been announcing games that no non-nintendo fan gamer would care about enough to spend $300+ for the console and game.

We are talking about how Wii U can pull in new fans, sell units here, not how they can just keep the nintendo crowd.

Also, I know Wii sold great to kids and stay at home mothers to do "exercise on" for a few months then it collected dust. But I bought Wii U under the impression it would be back to Nintendo making a console for gamers.

@LDXD I'm not talking only about me personally. I'm telling you, very, very few adults walk around with a 3DS or vita. I guess maybe you do, more power to you, not many people have enough pockets to take it around with a phone/tablet already on them. Plus they consider it a kids toy anyway even if they did.

We are talking about how Nintendo can improve sales, not about what you and I like most.

The numbers show people overall don't prefer Nintendo's new console over any old consoles and that they prefer tablets and phones over Nintendo handhelds too.

Nintendo needs to start thinking on how to gain more sales and stop catering to children first. Adults are the main gamers, idk what they don't understand about this.

This is getting annoying, the wii u just came out and nintendo wii come around

I think we can all expect it to jump up in a few months. Nintendo is taking their time here, they still have the pile of cash from the success of the DS, Wii and ongoing sales of the 3DS. They have room for mistakes here, and I guess they're using it to their advantage.

Well nintendo seems to have been bitten by somthing

@LDXD

My solution is Nintendo needs to try to gain back all the people that left them for Sony/Microsoft/PC/Tablets/Phones. They used to make games people of all ages loved, true gaming consoles.

Nintendo is selling decently with the 3DS now, but its to kids that play pokemon for the most part. No respectable adult is going to bust out a 3DS and play in public. Even then for example, my 2 nephews are 3 and 5, both have played on tablets since age 2 and neither one owns a DS, kids of today mostly all play with parents phones/tablets and will want one of their own as they started out with touch controls, its no problem for them.

The Wii was sold to stay at home moms and as a gimmick machine to play with your family. It was fun for a couple months, but to true gamers it was a disaster. i bought one but 95% of its life it spent turned off while I played my PC and other stuff.

Do you understand anything at all? We are talking about how Nintendo can gain back a broader audience, not stay the same or shrink even more.

They need better games, better prices and more features online, more marketing for adults, more 3rd party stuff, more 1st party stuff, more everything.

Nintendo will be fine. They're not even trying yet.

@LDXD Nobody is saying Nintendo should try to become a tablet or phone. Its that tablets/phones and android on TV devices are all cheaper wasy to game on the go and on the TV and they have way, way , way more and cheaper games too.

Look at this a $99 console that plays android games on your TV. http://www.ouya.tv/discover/ It got 8+ million dollars of kickstarter money and that shows people wanted it.

You can root it and then it plays all games from google play store that you already have. Every game on the official UI has to have a free element to it like a demo of the game at least.

It has a controller too: Wireless controller with standard controls (two analog sticks, d-pad, eight action buttons, a system button), a touchpad

Then steam(valve) is making a steambox console that plays your steam games on the TV. valve has a controller for it also and they have the money and customers to have great support for it.

All this is competition. Nintendo has to see all of the innovation coming out and types of consoles and prices and start to get back to work.

All of this cuts into the sony, microsoft, nintendo profits. For console only devices like the Wii U to be a big success in the next 5 years against all of this, yes they need to have GREAT!!! GAMES!!!

Right now they dont have even 1 Great game on the Wii U yet.

@Peach64 I'm sure the Wii U's situation is also a forecast of how things will be for the next-gen consoles. I don't think people are acknowledging how much the industry has changed.

Sales for the Wii U will go up next year, I'm sure of it. Some game announcement at E3 and maybe a price cut will do the trick.

GamerJunkie, please just stop posting. I'm cringing reading your posts. You have such a narrow minded view when it comes to gaming. You and all "cool" friends go smash your face into your tablets. Ninety will be fine in regards to the Wii U, it just needs time like any new console. It's people like you who confuse the masses into believing that there are even 10 lengthy, great games (good controls a must!) on the entire App Store. Just lots of angry birds dude. So take it somewhere else. Perhaps, Engadget or somewhere? I think you would fit in well there.

@GamerJunkie I feel you but it will never happen as long as there fans keep damage controling for them defending there every mistake and failure nintendo fans will except pee as orange juice as long as iwata says pleassssssse understand

People really need to get a little perspecive here.On paper 40k sounds low.But when you consider all the other consoles are selling 100k on average its not THAT low.Yes its last,but think theres none of the big. Hitters out there.If come xmas the wiiu is still selling poorly il worry.But right now im far too busy playing lego city,assassins creed,monster hunter and nintendoland to care...

@GamerJunkie

LOLOLOL Dude if your going to bother to reply to someone at least address what they are talking about instead of dodging them. Yeah you can get Gaming PC's, Gaming Tablets and Gaming Whatever but that doesn't change the fact that the primary function of PC's and Tablets IN GENERAL are for doing things other then playing games. Dont take a niche spin off and say it is the norm, furthermore just because you do something a certain way it does not mean that everyone does it that way based of your logic every office in the world that uses pc's have them specced out for gaming purposes lol.

Final Fantasy has been a steaming pile of crap for a while now and there arent any mainstream MMORPG's on any console. GJ, if your going to try make a point try to use examples that actually support the point your trying to make. As far as RPG's go the Wii U is going to get SMTxFE by Atlus, now JRPG's may not be your cup of tea since their not mine either but it is evident that those games are coming.

Why are you insisting that Nintendo themselves make FPS games? That just doesnt make sense. If you want a decent game you get a company familiar in those genres to make it. At any rate unless you have been living under a rock you would have know that Rare is working on one. If you want cod, bf, mw on the Wii U then why dont you go on the EA/Activision forums and ask them whats happening? Coming here to a Ninty fan forum to complain that Ninty doesnt make Dude-Bro games is as ridiculous as complaining that Disney doesnt make slasher films like saw and hostel.

What do you expect when they have been announcing FIRST PARTY games. At this point you've stopped making any sense, Batman AO, Watch Dogs, Assassin's Creed, RE, have all been announced for the U. I had no idea that if you liked Batman or Assassin's Creed that you were immediately a Nintendo fan.

The Wii sold great and at a profit on day 1, the fact that they were gathering dust months later from a purely business stand point really is incidental. Money was made time to move on. Additionally I think its hilarious that a lot of gamers like yourself seem to think that there were no games on the Wii. Dang I cant even put a dent in my Wii's library - heck I have more games for my Wii then my Xbox. Real GAMERS play games and have fun doing so Action, Puzzlers, Adventure, Fighting etc etc etc - they do not limit themselves to Dude-Bro games that rely on BT/BG/BE and Big Burly Men exclusively.

If you have issues playing on a Nintendo system because its not macho enough for you, then I really doubt that you are mature enough to appreciate what it actually means to be an adult.

Meanwhile, I'm playing this console an awful lot. Love it

Ican't believe people are still buying the Wii?? WAIT WHAT!?!

in Denmark there is nearly none whatsoever of ads or focus about the WII U... even the shops still only "mostly" make ads for ps3 and xbox...
people here dont even seem to know it is a new machine and that it is actually with good graphics..

The XBOX Next is rumored to have a $299 price for a console and a 2 year contract to XBOX live. That is way cheaper than a Wii U. The PS4 is $399 which is just a little more expensive than the Premium Wii. Nintendo needs a price cut for reals.

The Wii is a good system and the Wii emulator on the Wii U sucks. I still have a copy of Skyward Sword I refuse to play on anything but a Wii.

I think regardless of the crappy Wii emulator that Nintendo will not be updating for us is the fact that the Wii U's price is ridiculously high compared to any system on the market.

Some are waiting for games, others to see ps4/xbox and then there is me waiting for a bundle of a first party game!

@Einherjar
Yes they did, Lego City and Mario are two examples of AAA titles. I know... I know... people are going to say but it's not a 3D Mario! MAKES no difference! do you honestly know any Mario fan that says yuck, a 2D Mario game.... there are more casual gamers out there that are more a fan of 2D Mario than The 3D ones.

If they make a Galaxy 3 then the fanboy press will just be saying... more of the same but in 720...

@SteveW The people i know see 2D and 3D Mario games as a seperate category. Thats why 3D Land got the mixed opinion, because it wanted to be both but in the end, couldnt be neither.
And talking about casuals: Lets say they stand in fron of "Lego City: Undercover". What the common casual really sees is "a Lego game". The same with Mario, they dont see "NEW Super Mario Bros U", they see "A Mario game" and they already got plenty of those on their Wii. Only a tiny fraction of the casual audience is interested in owning an entire series of games, let alone play them all. To be recognized, these games must be unique and / or WAY more popular. Yes, Mario is popular, but also an old hat. No need for the casual games to "get another one". The only flaw in my theory comes with games like Call of Duty, Fifa and the likes. They get baught like hot buns although they are literaly the same every half year. But i guess this is where "mass appeal" kicks in. "Everyone has it, so i must get it too to belong"
Regarding Galaxy 3. Galaxy was one of the best, if not THE best 3D Mario game. But you can ask around, many many fans dont want a 3rd Galaxy, The second one already felt a tiny bit stellar. We want a new game with that sort of quality, yes. But a "new" game.