PS4 Launch Sales Close to Wii U Equivalents, 3DS Remains Best of the Rest

I don't understand why they have not released the 2DS over there yet, as surely it would provide a much needed sales boost. 3DS is tracking at nearly half its sales rate in 2013, 480k so far in 2014 compared to 900k at the same stage last year. Wii U is behind too, 117k so far this year compared to 164k in 2013.

We are DOOMED!

I hope Nintendo has a few games for a March direct..... Or else were DOOMED!

I dont understand why 3ds and LL arent listed together, they are the same system

Only took the PlayStation 4 three months to reach (or perhaps even surpass) the worldwide number of Wii U's.

... not good. Not good news at all!

PS4 only sold 15k more than the Wii U so in Japan atleast Nintendo don't have much to worry about for now.

It doesn't matter if the PS4 remains top because the fact is, it doesn't have games that people want yet. The only reason why its selling well is because people expect great games to come out of it something I seriously doubt will happen soon because making great games takes lots of time and money and Nintendo has and always will prove that.

Besides, Handhelds and Consoles are completely different so you can't judge the 3DS by the PS4 sales.

@ThomasBW84

"15. [PS4] Tomb Raider – 12,093 (Strong)"

Huh? Why "strong" and not "new"?

Heh, for Sony's sake considering the company's money status I say good for them that they're getting good numbers. The question is will they keep this momemtum up?

It's an okay launch for the PS4 in Japan, but that's all it is- okay. I think we can see why Sony didn't make it a prime directive to release it in Japan first.

As for the Wii U, it has no chance in hell coming close to the PS4's sales figures. But it may win 2nd place with the Xbox One not winning in the battle for 1080p and 60fps against Sony, not to mention still being a lot more money than either console. At least the Wii U has unique exclusives that the other two don't really have, and the PS4 will win in the multi platform titles.

Well that is much less PS4s sold than i thought. And I really doubt it can keep the momentum up for more than another week. Good news for Nintendo.

By the way, Sony shipped less than 350k consoles, and it's pretty much sold out in every major retailer, so it couldn't really have gone any better for them. Of course the Wii U had a similarly spectacular launch, but the problem is that after 15 months, those first two days account for nearly 20% of Wii U's total sales. Impossible to predict wether the PS4 will go the same way at this stage.

Interesting to see PS4 and Wii U having equal launch sales in Japan. PS4 has MGSV coming out in less than a month so it's going to hold a bit better in the long run.

In any case Xbox One is bound to perform far worse than either of them in that region.

PS4 + 3DS Combo

@Lance168
There are no Wii U retail game coming out until May

Well done Sony, with infamous & MGS:Ground Zeroes out next month that will probably give the PS4 another little boost.

@Peach64 - I dont think they're in any rush to sell the 2DS in Japan b/c it doesnt fold in half so it's not as portable. I know open its the same size but portability matters. And I think it's just geared towards kids - no 3D - and probably a lot of 3DS go to adults in Japan. So basically the japnaese are too smart to buy a gimped system.

Considering the PS3 is still outselling the Wii U I dont see the PS4 selling less than the Wi U. Well maybe for a few weeks when Mario Kart 8 comes out - way at the end of May - and then again when SSB comes out, whenever that is. Actually if the 3DS version comes out at the same time as the Wii U version, and most people have already bought a Wii U for MK8, then SSB may not give Wii U a boost.

@Artwark True. It only beat Wii U by like 14,000 which is a very slim margin and people may be having buyers remorse already. Right now on Yahoo Japan there are a ton of Knack bundles http://auctions.search.yahoo.co.jp/search?auccat=&p=%A5%D7%A5%EC%A5%A4%A5%B9%A5%C6%A1%BC%A5%B7%A5%E7%A5%F34&tab_ex=commerce&ei=euc-jp

@ThomasBW84 Shame on you for presenting this information this way. "Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze swings past 50,000 sales to date" is so biased! You should have used the word "rocketed" to describe DKC's wonderful accomplishment of being in the Top 12 in its second week of release. Why are you so negative all the time????

@Wolfgabe That is most likely to do with the fact the console is sold out most places and people see an opportunity to make a quick buck just like the US and UK launches.

@vamkar my copy arrived yesterday, got to play it a little bit last night... Enough to fall in love with it. Fantastic, highly recommended to all Wii U owners

@Wolfgabe

Hahaha! Grasping at straws!

@JohnRedcorn I am not I am just pointing something out here. Launch sales mean zilch in long term anyway

Digging deeper to find some good news -

The Wii U sold nearly the same the week before and during the PS4 launch - 8,400 this week and 8,700 the previous week - (roughly just a 5% drop I think) - so the PS4 hardly affected Wii U sales at all.

And next week Wii U will still be the same and PS4 will have like an 80% drop (b/c there wont be any left in stores to sell, I know, but still)

@Peach64 PS4 is far from sold out in japan, my partners sister got hers this morning as did some of her friends (Yokohama).

@Wolfgabe

Pointing out that the PS4 has sold out and is in such high demand that people are reselling unopened consoles for a profit online is not evidence of "buyers remorse".

Hah. People don't want new consoles. I think Sony and Microsoft should have waited a good, two or three years before releasing their new crap. I think nintendo counted on them doing it-- thus why they released the wii-u so early. Now the wii-u is getting dreamcasted, a term I use when people refuse to buy an 'inferior console' that is on the market before even knowing what the next console is going to be like. The Playstation 2 did just that to the dreamcast.

Either way-- its funny to see these minuscule figures for console sales. I have a feeling gaming as a hobby is going to go back to its glory days of inventiveness, less emphasis on the mainstream and more emphasis on staying power.

No surprise. Japan is not too much into home consoles.

Wow, pretty much a mediocre launch for the PS4. Surely people talked as it would have a sold million at launch, not even close.

When will we see a worldwide sales-perspective?

@Peek-a-boo That's one way of looking at it. It also shows that the Japanese console market is pretty stagnant despite what people thought was going to be an impressive launch for the PS4 in Japan.

This just proves that the Japanese market is essentially mobile console/device dominated. Neither Nintendo nor Sony can really rely on the Japanese market anymore for home consoles (except for prior generations like the PS3).

PS4 is going to overtake the Wii U. lifetime sales. There is no doubt about that. Nintendo must hang in there and not give in. All they need to do is to release more games on the Wii U.

@dumedum

There were only around 300K PS4's released at launch. Impossible to sell a million when that many weren't even available...

Here's the article about the Wii U launch in Japan.

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2012/12/japan_clocks_up_impressive_wii_u_launch_sales

People calling the figure fantastic, impressive, domination etc. Now the PS4 sells more, and people are call the same figure 'okay' or even pathetic. There's some serious revisionist history going on here. The Wii U had an amazing launch, and it was only in the January after that things took a nose dive, so surpassing that figure is very impressive, especially as it's not a holiday period.

People might be finding a few here and there in smaller stores, but they've sold almost every unit they shipped. Nobody that knew they were talking about thought it was sell a million, not when Sony had already said they were only shipping under 350,000. Most people playing the sales prediction game on GAF thought it would do about 200k.

The more disturbing trend that I am seeing is in regards to my local Walmart. There used to be a full case of 3DS, Wii, and Wii U each in the store. Now they are down to two cases, one 3DS and one with a quickly dwindling supply of Wii U games being replaced slowly with old Wii stock. That doesn't speak well of the console's lifespan if a major retailer is not stocking product.

@JosieC84 "Nintendo must hang in there and not give in. All they need to do is to release more games on the Wii U."

Boy that sounds so simple, doesn't it?

Le sigh...

Glad to see at least Wii U selling as usual even with the release of PS4. I honestly thought PS4 would sell waaaay more but really just sold the same as Wii U on launch week. Now the Next Generation is pretty much all setup on Japan and the real battle of consoles can begin (I'm not even going to mention Xbone. Microsoft shouldn't even bother on release that console on Japan.)

@Peach64 Shhhh! Talking like that around here will get you reported! At least for me it did. Guess some folks don't like hearing the truth.

@Darknyht Same at my 2 local Walmarts. The Wii U case has now been consolidated with the Wii case and pushed all the way to the back behind both the Xbox and PlayStation cases. Media bias! LOL

@AdanVC "Glad to see at least Wii U selling as usual even with the release of PS4."

If ~8-9,000 is "as usual" then I'd hate to see what a dip in Wii U sales will look like.

@gatorboi352 The lowest dips Wii U has suffered have been between 3,500 to 5,000 units. That was around spring-summer of last year during the huge Wii U drought of 2013. Hope it can never repeat... but considering there's still 3 months left for Mario Kart 8 and no big retail releases in between... damn.

@Tsuzura No longer true! Lego Hobbit is coming out in April

Time and time again in these comments I see the same line : "You people said something on one article and the opposite on another".

Ever stop to think that it's actually different people making different comments?

Good. Good...

@AugustusOxy Yeah,I don't want a ps4 after seven years of playing on a ps3.I think last gen had a pretty long run.Ps4&x1 need more games before I consider one,and the new metal gear solid is a start.Cod ghosts&battlefield 4 was not enough to get me to throw down several hundred dollars.

@Klimbatize You are kidding right?

you know im surprised wii u got as high as 8000 this week, not too be affected by ps4 at all. With this yyou need not to be afraid wii u will de create the sales for a quite time

Haha wow love the Mario Kart 8 trailer playing in the background!

I'll never understand early adopters I swear, even for Nintendo systems. Sure the PS4 hardware is impressive, but there is hardly any worthwhile games for it, why buy it now? As far as spring goes Infamous: Second Son looks fun, Thief was pretty much a mediocre grey experience that disappointed fans, they are getting another MMO Final Fantasy port, the new Metal Gear Solid is a $30 dollar demo, Watch Dogs looks fun but that's not until summer. The launch titles were the worst of any system, arguably, in the new generation of consoles. I didn't buy the Wii U until it was bundled with a game and there was a price drop and at least 10 games on the console I wanted. I'll be waiting until some time later this year or early 2015 to get a PS4. Hopefully by then I can get it a bit cheaper.

I think the total sales of this generation from all consoles are going to surprise a lot of people. And not in a pleasant way.

Does this mean that the PS4 is doomed ?

@withoutdk

Nope.

Sold out their Japanese launch and in the next couple weeks it should surpass worldwide sales of the Wii-U if it hasn't done so already.

If anything, it's looking like it will be the top system this time around.

Why are you all chocked? First of all. Ps4 is a lot lot stronger than the WII U. There is more potential since a lot of gamestudios will work together with them. While Wii U hardly has any support except the die hard fans (you guys). Ps4 has 500gb harddrive and a lot stronger . It's only 90 euro higher and you get a lot more our of it. You don't need to get an external drive and i can go on like this longer. So stop putting your head in the sands and just accept it!

I wonder what the XBONE launch will be like in Japan. Launching it out a catapult on the hopes that someone will take it home? I kid, but it seems that consoles are no longer the day one purchases they were in the past.

@AJWolfTill As long as it has less bugs than Lego Marvel WiiU, I'm buying. It's worth the WiiU version just to not have that stupid rotating split screen.

Hmm. Interesting.

...On a side note, why is it just now releasing in Japan? It was made in Japan wasn't it? Just like how DKC:TF was made in North America, but released in Japan first...

GTA5 and Monster Hunter 4 are no longer on the list. well, I still find it kind of odd that the PS4 is just now being released in Japan. I still have no plans on getting a PS4, I'm sure better games will come out for it though.

The is a cash converters not to far from where I live and already I have seen 4 PS4's in there, I have only ever seen 1 Wii U and I have never seen a XBOX ONE.

In fact I have seen many second hand PS4's in CEX and other cash converters. I think people maybe running out and buying it because it's the new thing, and then realizing that it has no games.

If sony can't get some solid games out in the next few months, I really do think the hype may start to fade and reality will set in.

But I have been wrong before

@Guybrush20X6 Were they ever in Japan ? (I always thought they got sold when there was a game that everybody wanted and not until). Until recently I don't think it really was in the West either.

@Peach64
They probably don't sell the 2DS in Japan, because they know people will buy the more expensive 3DS.

Wow the PS4 is only a few thousand away from Wii U's lifetime numbers. It's already automatic that the PS4 will surpass the Wii U. That's evident. However, it doesn't make the Wii U any less inferior.

I have to say that I'm baffled that the PS3 sold more than everyone this time around. Oh and the Wii U got a jump. For the first time in a long time, it surpassed the Vita in sales....not total lifetime sales. Just by 5,000 or so.

People saying that the PS4 doesn't have any games really needs to stop. They have plenty of games. Regardless if it's multiplat or not. Killzone, Resogun, Outlast, InFamous (coming in 3 weeks), plus a bunch of multiplats. So yes the PS4 has games for it. Can't wait for that Order:1886 as well.

The Wii U has some heavy hitters coming as well that I'm excited for. I'm not surprised that DKC:TF didn't really move any units. I think MK8 and/or Smash will move some. I also think that the console game in Japan is coming to a close. Handhelds seem to be where it's at with them and Nintendo has that in the bag.

Hopefully Sony gets more stock out fast, the PS4 has sold around 3X what the PS3 did on launch. PS4 has done in 3 months what the WiiU did in just over a year, when it comes to lifetime sale's.

_{There is a difference between constructive criticism and the flaming "fanboy" remarks. If you choose to do the latter, you may be banned. -Lz}

@Peach64

Intelligent posts like this are awesome. Using truth & logic to crush fanboys

Wow that means overall sales of Knack are better than Super Mario 3D World in Japan. Times are sad indeed when a crap american platform game is better sold than one of the most famous platformers ever
Wow how the mighty have fallen....

There are strong vibes in this comment section from both Sony and Nintendo supporters. So embarrassing.

@PinkSpider
Knack was bundled and the producer of the game is Japanese. As a matter of fact, the only thing American about it is that Mark Cerny was the Director.

@rjejr just like many said that Wii U launch sales were by Nintendo fanboys we can probably say the same for the PS4. I think its time people (not necessarily you though) come to terms with the fact that Nintendos plight isnt due to its creating terrible systems but, like Sony's CEO recognizes, is a powerful indicator of the market as a whole. If the Wii attracted a large pool of 'non-gamers' why in hell did everyone assume that pool would flock to the PS4/xbox? Graphics were clearly not important and 'hardcore' games werent either so what changed? If Nintendo hasnt attracted that market than no one did.

@Peach64 Thevresson evrryone uovotes is because it isnt true. Take this into cinsideration. Please. The Wii U launch wasnt bad. What happened since thwn "PS4 will outsell Wii U 4-1 at launch", "ps4 will consistantly be sold out", Etc. ALL of tgese predictions were wrong. We do not know how well the ps4 will perform but the reasons people are using as 'proof' of future domination are barbaric. Unfounded. I feel there is a dip in the video game market and everyone is feeling it.

@jakysnakydx
To be fair, both the Xbone and PS4 have better sales than both previous consoles had at this point. So no...there is no dip and not everyone is hurting like you seem to believe.

@cookiex

Given the track record of Xbox so far in Japan you're probably right, but I still say we shouldn't rule it out yet. MS has failed in its first two attempts to buy its way into a significant position over there, but it was much more successful with 360 than the original Xbox... maybe third time is the charm? Like I said, it probably won't happen but when a company has as much money as MS and seems more willing than ever to spend it, you never know what it can accomplish.

@PinkSpider maybe 3D World would had sold better if it wasn't a completely horrible game that hoped just because the name had MARIO in it would had sold the wii u and had put Nintendo back in a wonderful place. But nope I'm frankly quiet tired of Mario and if that's all Nintendo is trying to shove Down my throat I'm plenty of happy with my Wii still

Wii-U is in big trouble. There is no doubt about that. I hope it changes at some point but it doesn't look good. 3DS will keep rock in the worlds socks! I would love to see a focus on more online co-op type RPG's on 3DS (like Phantasy star online or zero)

@Peach64 can you give me a link or source that said Sony only shipped 350k consoles?

Unrelated, but Nintendo has announced that on May 20th, 2014, online services for many DS and Wii games will be discontinued. This includes the Gen 4 and 5 Pokemon games, Mario Kart DS, Mario Kart Wii, and Smash Bros Brawl.

Full list: http://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/vyWpoM6CBIe6FjW8NIY7bvzOrgBURhzw

_{Please watch the insults — TBD}

@jakysnakydx

Huh? The PS4 is essentially sold out in Japan, the PS4 is still hard to find in US stores, and in 3 months it's sold as many consoles as the Wii-U has in 14 months. So yes, the PS4 has been 'dominating' the Wii-U so far.

@Guybrush20X6 You can turn the rotating camera (the dynamic camera) off, btw. It's somewhere in the options, but I can't remember where exactly.

@phazon well if he said he like Mario wii better than Mario wiiu, why battle him?

@JohnRedcorn I dunno about that in Asia tho.
I can go to any store and see many piles of ps4 lol

well gonna by one if infamous is good. by record here in my region wii u is 480$ and ps4 640$ lol

No boost in ps vita sales. Guess its doomed

@MAN1AC The Xbox 360 and PS3 sold like dirt for their first year. I would say it's unfair to base total success based on only a predecessor. The new Windows surface has sold significantly better than the previous tablet's with Windows OS but at the end of the day that doesn't really MEAN much. Comparing poop to dirt doesn't give you the bigger picture, you know what I'm saying?

@KennyPowers Never denied that. Never said anything at all in contrary to that actually. I only said it's not an indicator or future success. Was blackberry's first 6 months any good indicator or where they are now? Classic example of course, but no it was not. PS4 is rocking it and I think it's a friggin awesome system but we don't know what will happen in 6 months because there is no such thing as clairvoyance and no one controls the entire world's buying habits.