Satoru Iwata Highlights Growth of Wii U Sales in the West

That picture of Iwata-san and the Gamepad makes me happy every time I see it. I like to imagine that it's not a forced perspective shot and it's just a giant Gamepad or a tiny Iwata.

Good to see that the Wii U is doing decently for itself, it's a great system that deserves a better marketing team. However, the Wii U struggling in Japan might have something to do with the fact the fact that Japan is a more Handheld centric market, that's probably why all home consoles in Japan don't really do very well, week by week...

@CaviarMeths Or an Iwata amiibo!!!

I have more fun with nintendo than the other console brands. and I will continue to purchase nintendo handhelds and consoles in the future.

Nice to hear some good news!

I sense that there will be some trolls in this thread later on

@DinoFett yeah I'm the same, Nintendo systems will always be bought at launch with another system, be it Sony or Xbox, a year or so after launch. You can always depend on Nintendo to release amazing games either way.

Sorry to hear the Wii-U trailing in Japan, but 3DS completely dominates over there. At least in Japan, the Wii-U is outselling the Xbone by a massive margin!

The Wii U still came in a distant third in the console race this holiday, selling roughly a third of what the other two did globally. Increased sales is a good thing, though, although I'm disappointed sales weren't higher given the superior quality of the titles that came out in 2014. I was hoping Smash Bros would move way more units than it did.

It sounds to me that they are more focusing on appeasing current owners than bringing in new ones, which is never a bad thing - even hinting at just biding their time until their next system. I just hope their future sales projections reflect a very modest goal.

The Wii U's mediocre, but against all odds exsistence is a great testament to Nintendo's biggest strength (quality first party software) and it's biggest weakness (being out of touch with third parties and the larger gaming community).

Well, it's starting to pick up speed, which is always good news. Sad to see that it's struggling in Japan, though.

I wish we could stop talking about the "runaway success of the Wii" as if that did anything good for Nintendo outside of padding their bank account a bit.

The system drove away core gamers, it further damaged the company's reputation with third parties, it was a short-lived fad that burned quick and burned out early, and if it was truly a success, then the Wii U would be performing better. It's good to hear that sales are up, but we're not hearing what we need to hear: A true, modern, account-based platform for their machines, a return to third party support, modern console elements such as strong profiles, strong online (because their free online certainly isn't a strong or competitive online offering), and an achievement system.

Essentially, we're hearing "sales are up, but we haven't learned anything, so don't expect a turn-around or competitive improvement, and by the way, look forward to Quality of Life."

I also find the "let's release cards to replace Amiibos" concept ludicrously misguided. People are buying these things for the collectibility, first and foremost, not for their functionality, which is absurdly limited.

@CaviarMeths Wii U XL accidently leaked!

I wish the handheld was much stronger like Vista then they would have me buying their games, but as it is now.... no go.

@Quorthon

"I also find the "let's release cards to replace Amiibos" concept ludicrously misguided. People are buying these things for the collectibility, first and foremost, not for their functionality, which is absurdly limited."

To be fair, these cards won't be expensive to produce, nor do I believe it will take sales away from amiibos. As you said, most people want to collect amiibos for the sake of collecting them. This is a pretty smart, low risk move if you ask me. Certainly, there will be some people who want the cards.

Take Fire Emblem and Code Name STEAM for example. You get extra characters in the game that can die off and not come back until your next level. You have to re-scan them, if I remember correctly. If you're on the road, who wants to carry around amiibos with their 3DS? The cards are a much easier way to provide portability.

Don't forget, Nintendo loves making cards. It has something to do with their history, haha.

@sub12 You know you're beating a dead horse right?With you talking endlessly about Nintendo not having third party support.We know!

Stop ruining lives Nintendo!

What I'm most surprised by is the fact that Australia seems to be Wii U's biggest audience. No wonder they got the New 3DS first (outside Japan).

I'm in south america now and Im just really sad how inaccesable Nintendo is here. Ive been in Colombia 3 months and I've only seen one store with only a regular 3ds....300 USD...

Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U definitely helped sales, but the Wii U is probably going to be another GameCube (sales-wise). The Wii U will probably sell 5 million worldwide in 2015 and have a lifetime sales figure of 20-25 million units.

My main concern for wii u is what games are going to come after those allready announced, we get zelda, starfox, splatoon, yarn yoshi, kirby and X this year, but the slate could be pretty sparse after that so we'll have to wait and see on that.

Great, I hope the sales momentum keeps going through 2015. At least in NA, we've got plenty of good games coming every month.

And is it me, or Nintendo is truly giving amazing games this gen? I don't think they had this much quality since the GC days.

P.S. You don't have to be sorry Thomas

@MoonKnight7

My point was more that Nintendo seems to think people are buying the Amiibos for their functionality, which is not the case. People are buying them for collectibility. So replacing them with cards just seems pointless in that regard.

The functionality they offer is extremely limited. If they were just cards from the start, they wouldn't be selling remotely this well. I think it's a lazy and misguided peace offering in that regard.

"We're sorry you didn't get the Little Mac you wanted because we didn't bother to make enough, so here's a card that acts like Little Mac."

"Yeah, but I want the actual Little Mac."

"#dealwithit."

It's a little like hyping people up with a super new iPod, and when sales run out, you give them a Walkman without headphones as an apology because you're not going to make any more.

Oh, and MoonKnight--that thing I showed you before via Miiverse. February 26th.

@LuigiTheGreenFire

I'm curious where you came to your estimate. It is currently selling slower than the GameCube, which had a lifetime total of just over 21 million.

I'm not disagreeing with you, but the way things are going, I expect lower sales unless Nintendo does something truly exceptional over the next two years.

@Quorthon

Amiibo was shoehorned into Smash Brothers, that much I am certain of. I believe the concept was rushed because Nintendo had such a poor shareholders meeting last year (I mean seriously, who in their right mind would willingly make a Luigi figure like that? Just saying). They don't want to do smart phone games, so this was a way to get out of the heat. Having said that, amiibo is poorly realized as it stands. Who's to say it doesn't improve? Code Name STEAM, appears to use amiibo creatively. Yes?

I really don't see the cards as an alternative to the figures themselves (even if Nintendo says so), but more of a tool for the 3DS's portability. Curiously, I don't know why Nintendo has failed to mention it, but I believe there will be a statement addressing it later.

This won't take any manufacturing away from actually making the figures. The chips aren't the problem, it's the making of the figures themselves.

"Oh, and MoonKnight--that thing I showed you before via Miiverse. February 26th."

Dude that's awesome! And soon! I'll help you out my friend. Congrats!

@Quorthon Well, in the case for amiibos, in places where they dont sell them unless you import or dont have all the amiibos other than the standard ones for 30+$ (here as an example), cards will be more easy to get.

And also, if some unlock stuff, this ensures there's a bit of an easier way to get that content...

@MoonKnight7

I understand that. My only point is that Nintendo seems to be missing the why when talking about the popularity of the figures. They seem to think the thing consumers are concerned about is getting them for the small unlocks, but consumers are concerned because they want to decorate shelves. I'd have bought a whole bunch, but seeing how hard they are to get, my interest plummeted. Still tempted to get Bowser as he isn't hard to find, looks fantastic, and I just plain like Bowser. It was the only Mario Kart toy I got from McDonald's and finding his big 6" action figure was kind of a quest for me--and then I got it for the holidays because my girlfriend is crafty.

The cards totally make sense for the 3DS. I just don't think they'll be as fun to collect.

I was under the impression that the cards were intended to be an alternative to the figures, as Miyamoto noted it in a capacity that "we probably won't make the sold-out figures again, but maybe we make the cards instead so players can still access the features."

I understand the figures are harder to manufacture than just stamping a card with an RFID inside, but it makes the company look bad since the sales of these are being fed right into the hands of resellers. I may disagree with many of these ridiculously dedicated fans on their buying habits and many tastes, but at the end of the day, such dedicated fans perhaps deserve better than this.

I never even saw Little Mac, and that was the one I wanted the most.

Oh, and thanks. It's been a long-time coming, but we didn't want to do a lazy port.

@Quorthon

See this is why I enjoy our conversations. We yin and yang all the time. Haha

I totally understand, I do. I'm trying to say that these cards just don't really matter in the grand scheme of things. Even though Nintendo is suggesting that they can replace cards with figures, doesn't mean that's what collectors will do. Nor do I believe that Nintendo believes that. It's just a statement from a long translation that hasn't been fully translated yet. I believe the 3DS is the real reason they will exist. I wouldn't discount them as not being fun to collect either. As I'm sure I don't have to tell you, Nintendo is pretty good at making cards, haha.

I do believe that it was slightly intentional to make some amiibos in limited quantities to create demand for the holidays, however, I also believe they massively misread just how popular they would be. I think they understand collectors want these more than cards.

In terms of Miyamoto's quote, I believe this was debunked when they announced more Marth figures with Code Name STEAM. It's certainly possible that SOME may not come back, but will you really be upset if they don't make more Wii Fit Trainers? Maybe OCD collectors would, but I feel that's their problem to figure out. Wii Fit Trainer isn't going to sell well, and they knew it and made a limited amount. It would be insanely stupid if they did not make more Little Macs, Shulks, etc. They know who is in demand because of the popularity of the characters themselves.

That said, I really believe that more are coming, but you have to understand that it isn't just a flick of the wrist and more Little Macs are made. Companies lose a lot when they change equipment in factories. It's obvious they only have access to so many machines. Once they think they have enough DKs and Diddy Kongs, then they'll make more Captain Falcons and Villagers. Then once they think they've made enough of those, they will make more Shulks and Rosalinas, etc.

Everything is in line to make more, but this takes time. Now we could argue that they should have had more machines in place for this venture from the get-go, but that's a separate discussion entirely.

Btw, you should get Bowser. The detail is freaking awesome. He's just solid weight. You could use him as a paper weight if you wanted to.

"Oh, and thanks. It's been a long-time coming, but we didn't want to do a lazy port."

That's rather admirable of you all. I, will certainly appreciate the thoughtful effort. I'm really looking forward to it.

Thats some pretty good news for Nintendo. Although to some its never enough no matter the size of the positive news.

It is what it is. The system is getting more respect as more of the vocal online personalities start to tell us that, yes, they ACTUALLY do own one and they do ACTUALLY like it.

Disgusting or not, our hobby is now driven primarily by rabid, anonymous internet dwellers that froth and foam at the mouth over talking heads on Youtube and other venues. If the talking heads say Xbox One is now cool, then dang it, it's time to buy one or start bugging mom and dad to buy one for you. It was INSANE to see the deluge of blind PS4 support on the internet after that E3... absolutely insane. So many people ended up buying that system purely from forum frenzy and being immediately let down with the total lack of games for quite some time.

Anyway, as the Wii U picks up more "internet cred," it will continue to do better, but never great, I think.

@Quorthon "The system drove away core gamers, it further damaged the company's reputation with third parties, it was a short-lived fad that burned quick and burned out early, and if it was truly a success, then the Wii U would be performing better. It's good to hear that sales are up, but we're not hearing what we need to hear: A true, modern, account-based platform for their machines, a return to third party support, modern console elements such as strong profiles, strong online (because their free online certainly isn't a strong or competitive online offering), and an achievement system."

Why am I not surprise to hear this coming from you? Nintendo doesn't need to become a generic, wannabe PC port-box like the PS4 and XBO has become. The achievement system has lost its novelty and is about as useful as a turd in hand - fun to fling around, but not all that healthy for you.

The only part of your post that makes sense to me is a more unified account system to tie our purchases to should we exchange systems or if our systems crash. That, and the return to third-party support, given that the investors who have the third-party devs by the balls will actually care about quality products instead of turning a profit.

As far as your argument against free online play goes, if you've actually played online with the Xbox One and PS4 you would know that there is literally no difference in online play compared to last-gen. People still lag switch and people still make poor hosts. To pay for being able to play against people in the same network without the use of legitimately dedicated servers is a scam.

The only time I will ever pay to play online is when I can connect to players on other platforms. Take Final Fantasy XI and XIV for example. You pay the monthly fee of ~$12 monthly and you can play with people across PlayStation, Xbox and PC platforms. I'm not going to pay for unreliable online services that still get DDOS'd by a bunch of kids who have yet to hit puberty.

Really pisses me off that wii u sales in japan are bad and yet they literally have twice as many vc titles in the eshop than we do!! DKC trilogy, 28 turbographx 16 games, bubble bobble, gba namco museum, legend of kage, tons of squaresoft RPGs just to name a few!!! It's ridiculous already!! These games should be available in the states too!!!!😡😡

In the previous year compared here, Wii U had trash games like Game & Wario, Wind Waker HD and Mario 3D World. Compared to games like those, of course there's some growth in sales with Mario Kart 8, Hyrule Warriors and Smash, but overall figures are still very low. The Gamepad console has simply been one huge mistake from Nintendo with only a few noteworthy releases.

All home consoles are having rather crappy sales in Japan, not just the Wii U.

However I don't see the Wii U getting anywhere near 20m. What we are seeing is the after effects of MK8 and more recently SSB.

Not saying VGCharts is the most reliable (but its better than nothing and they have done a good job tracking the Wii u to within a few thousand over the last two years) but it seems Febuary going into March is going to show Wii U back into dreaded 30k a week WorldWide region again.

Nintendo need to pull off another super E3 and even that will probably only appeal to its fanboys rather than drive hardware sales. I do believe milking the fanboys is the only way to sustain the Wii U because few outside of them are interested in the console. Amiibo is a good start.

@Quorthon I couldn't agree more with everything you just said. I love nintendo but their decisions Bogle the mind sometimes.
A unified account system is a must, all this system transfer stuff on 3ds is ludicrous in the year 2015.
I should be able to sign in on any current nintendo hardware and see my account and all my purchased games.

@AVahne word of mouth works quite well here I think. The Wii U is becoming a slow sleeper hit as people get a Wii U and show it to their friends who get one who show it to other friends etc.

@Mahe
I fully agree with you.

@MoonKnight7

I don't think Nintendo limited the Amiibos for the holidays so much as they've been going a little overboard in cutting spending, and one way to do that was to only make enough Amiibos for quick profits and to prevent them from sitting in warehouses. Granted, it's possible they also just don't have the ability to manufacture enough of them efficiently enough. But hell, this is an anything goes kind of area so we're all essentially equally right on why Amiibo supplies have been so badly done! Nintendo has literally said nothing about it aside from vague "some will be limited," "we're going to make Amiibo cards," and "hey look, another wave of Amiibos."

At this point, every question we have about Amiibos might just as well be "a wizard did it." Cost cutting fits, deliberately shorting supply for attention fits, being simply unable to make enough fits, poor planning fits. A wizard did it, and that wizard is Iwata. I'm not sure if Miyamoto's comment was actually debunked or not. They're probably scrambling to come up with a solution, so it almost feels like the Amiibo use in Codename STEAM became a kind of afterthought of "hey, is there some way we could get more use out of all these Fire Emblem figures?"

I'll probably pick up Bowser one of these days, but I've got some big Transformers purchases coming up also, and I'm trying to budget my buying of toys and such! However, I will be a little miffed if I can't get Pac-Man. Not as much as I'm pissed I couldn't get Little Mac.

It's funny you mention the Wii Fit Trainer. She was the first one I wanted, as Wii Fit U is probably the most-played Wii U game after the two Call of Duty titles that actually made it over. My girlfriend actually got her and Samus for me for the holidays.

There's not a lot of conversations that can actually work with some kind of meeting in the middle (like anti-vaxxers vs science, the anti-vaxxers are always wrong), but this is one of them--we just don't know enough about the Amiibo stuff as Nintendo is staying as tight-lipped as they are wont to be. I would like to think Nintendo isn't quite so malevolent as to deliberately limit supply for some kind of "HAY LOOK HOW POPULAR/LIMITED OUR STUFF IS", but then the other end of that is they might be too incompetent or lazy to do it right.

At the end of the day, I'm just a regular consumer and have limited money to spend on this kind of stuff. If Nintendo wants me to give them my money, they need to have the supplies available. They aren't. But Hasbro has plenty of Transformers in stock.

@kensredemption

You really shouldn't be surprised to see me waxing poetic or rational about video games. So good for you, you recognized my continued efforts in the realm of reality.

wow sales in Australia have really improved. I come from a land down under and I'm glad I wasn't the only one contributing to those improved numbers. Honestly I thought their strongest improvements would be in the US with PAL territories marginally improved. Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi !!!

@Quorthon

I really LOLed at the wizard joke, everything makes sense now! Haha.

Honestly, I believe it the biggest issue is not being able to produce enough from a manufacturing perspective, but you're probably right in the sense that there's a lot to blame. As a side note, this west coast port strike in an interesting spin on the topic, even though it is a smaller piece to the mess.

Whether or not Code Name Steam and Fire Emblem was an afterthought, I don't think it really matters. It's probably the best amiibo functionality we've gotten so far, besides Smash Bros. It's not spectacular, but it's better than unlocking costumes, so I'll take it. It's at least somewhat creative with amiibo is all I'm saying.

Seriously man, get Bowser. He's my favorite amiibo so far, because of the insane amount of detail. I also have a soft spot for the big guy. Don't wait so long that there's a shortage of him too. Get him while he's at normal price.

I had to laugh at your interest in Wii Fit Trainer! Seriously, you like "club foot" Wii Fit Trainer? Haha, I'm just ripping on you man, it's cool. I think my point is still valid though. Interestingly enough, my wife also got Samus for me during the holidays. I suppose great minds think alike!

Don't forget Hasbro knows this market inside and out, and has plenty of workers to take advantage of in China. Nintendo is just as guilty of this too of course, but they haven't been in the toy market on a mass scale like this for a long time. A lot has changed, and it appears they've gotten a swift kick in the rear trying to keep up.