Splatoon Splats Top 10 NPD Position in June as Hardware Momentum Stays Positive

The fact that they seem to be winding down the Wii U is gonna make it much less likely to sell this year. People want to know they're investing for the future.

Go Splatoon. I wonder if the August update will entice even more people to buy the game.

Impressive that Splatoon is still holding on but I expect that the huge focus on NX from E3 onwards in addition to a not so great future Wii U lineup is going to hurt next month's sales hugely.

An important thing to note is Splatoon is an exclusive title and out performing multi-platform releases. I would like to see sales for individual platform releases. The lower development costs of not porting the title, not to mention the huge loses WB is taking because of the Batman PC issues, would lead me to believe that Nintendo is making a larger profit than any other publisher this month besides 2K, maybe.

Great to see Splatoon holding strong. It completely deserves the success and we can only hope it encourages more new Nintendo IP. Hardware is a bit of a disaster though!

PS4: 365k
Xbone: 297k
Wii U: 60k

Wii U has sold 4 million units in the US in 32 months. By comparison the Dreamcast had sold 4.28 million in the US when it was discontinued 18 months after launch.

It's also selling less in 2015 than it did in 2014 in every region, which Nintendo are cleverly masking by taking about the improvement in combined console and handheld sales. If people really think Nintendo will ride this out til 2017... and no, it's not making them money. Nintendo as a whole are making a small profit. 3DS and amiibo are doing decently, but something is bringing the overall profit down and it can only be the Wii U. Roll on the NX and a fresh start!

I don't know why everybody disects nintendo 's sales so much, I always seem to find that the handheld is possibly commercially where they concentrate most and home consoles tend to take a back seat, other than the wii but in my opinion that was a plan since gamecube launch by nintendo considering Sony had taken a big piece of the pie and now bill was after putting some gravy on his, so again genius marketing by nintendo and hey we are still playing on their games.

There is no denying that the Wii U has been something of a disaster on the hardware side. However, there have been several software titles that sold very well. I think the Wii U will be highly coveted by collectors in a few years. It has a library that is small but packed with high quality games. That is the kind of thing that collectors love.

@Dezzy the announcement of nx was supposed to quash rumours that nintendo was leaving the home hardware market, I don't think the wii u is finished yet but everybody as usual puts one and one together and comes up with five, fast racing neo, xenoblade chronicles and a couple of other wii u xclusives coming up before end of year and all will be quality, some want to see blockbuster names but what's the point when the other two are churning them out, tech these days is very much a much of a muchness, it's about the games.

Something I've never really got about charts and game sales though is they actually tell us very little. How much did the game cost to make? How much was it sold for? Nintendo games seems to stay at full price for a lot longer, so do Nintendo need to sell less copies because they'll eventually see more money back anyway?

Splatoon deserves all the sales!

@Peach64 Actually, if you search for a report Nintendo released around 2 years ago, the Wii U is making them a profit. they make a profit on every console sold. That was 2 years ago, and development costs will have reduced slightly, so they are probably making a slightly bigger profit.

No doubt, the 3DS family is making them the big bucks, and is what is making their overall yearly profit, but their home console is making money.

People complain that nintendo have given up on the Wii U. Clearly not true, with some great titles still to come this year, and some titles we already know about for 2016, and what ever else is released. However, can we blame them for directing some of their resources towards "NX"? It is going to be their next console, of which type is unsure at the moment, but obviously it takes resources and money to develop and bring to the market.

@Peach64 it's important to remember that PS4 and XBOX1 are being sold at a loss while Nintendo profits from every Wii U sold. The Dreamcast was also sold at a loss which is why Sega had to can it. It is easy to forget that because Sony and Microsoft spin it like console sales will cause profit, but sometimes a loss leader is just a loss.

Great to see Splatoon holding well. Too bad it doesn't push Wii U sales much though.

Sad that Nintendo is squandering the momentum of Splatoon by having no releases in June, July, and August.

That's top five, baby. Looking good.

@sketchturner, I don't see why they didn't release Yoshi here over the summer, like they did in Europe. If you are new to the system- get Splatoon, play it for six weeks, then boom. Get another new release.... then in early Sept., get Mario Maker.

@Dezzy
Yes and no. A lot of people just wanna play the games on the system, and there's quite a pileup of great Wii U games. I don't think it's QUITE time that they are winding down. I think next year is when that will start to happen. But, that still doesn't detract from all the games on the system now (and after this fall the library will REALLY be poppin off).

Its an investment for what is has now more so that what it will have in the future.

Wii U sales in June 2015 were around 70,000 units, which is roughly half of June 2014's figure at 140,000 units. Splatoon itself is selling quite well, which is great given that it is a new IP, but it hasn't really helped the Wii U in sales at all.

3DS sales in June 2015 were around 130,000 units (give or take 5,000 units), which is a slight dip from June 2014's figure at 150,000 units. This is understandable, given last June's release of the sleeper hit, Tomodachi Life.

Overall, during the first six months of the year in the U.S., 3DS sales are up 40% YoY (thanks to New 3DS XL), Wii U sales are down 10% YoY (Splatoon =/= Mario Kart 8), PS4 sales are down 1% YoY (essentially flat), Xbox One sales are up 16% YoY (price is $150 cheaper than last year), and PS Vita sales are negligible.

June 2015 itself was an excellent month for the year, with Batman Arkham Knight (fastest selling game of the year so far), Elder Scrolls Online, and LEGO Jurassic World (based off of the year's biggest movie). Things will tank dramatically in July.

As far as I was aware, the NX was going to be some "third pillar" device so it wouldn't be replacing the wiiu or 3DS. That's not to say that they are not planning or replacing either of them, but not with the NX at any rate. This is like when we had the GameCube, the GBA and the DS.

It would be interesting to see WiiU console sales if Nintendo was trying to move more units ( price cut, attractive bundles )

Pretty decent, especially considering Splatoon's the only single-platform title in this top 10.

Splatoon is a great game, so it's good to see it on charts like this. When it comes to hardware, I bet releasing the New 3DS normal size outside of Japan would help... But maybe that's just my wishful thinking.

@Grumblevolcano Wii U hardware sales? Yes. Splatoon sales? No. Those will carry on I'd imagine.

@Peach64 "but something is bringing the overall profit down and it can only be the Wii U".

Not necessarily. Other operating costs as well as something to due with the value of the yen (not very knowledgeable on that) can bring down the overall profit. Stuff like buy new buildings, buying their own stock, etc. can decrease overall profit. Not to mention R&D on things like QoL and NX.

@Peach64 That's a great idea! Let them just put out a new system as the current one is failing to ensure people are going to feel secure about it! You should be an executive.

@electrolite77 That is according to Kaz Hirai. The PS4 just had it's first model revision. Unless distribution or base cost for the parts fell considerably I wouldn't think that his definition of profitable is substantial.substantial prior to this new model. You can sell it for more than it costs to produce and then lose money during distribution. Kaz was careful with his wording and compared it to their PS3 business model which wasn't much of an achievement for them. Sony is doing much better this time around as far as hardware goes, but it is a lot of power being used. Long term things will be different I think. All of that heat without sufficient cooling is going to take it's toll. They are essentially gaming PCs without gaming PC cooling systems. top that with AMD made and early adopters are probably going to be experiencing hardware issues soon now that they are out of warranty periods. Intel may be slower for the cost, but Intel needs to make products for business which is why Nintendo uses them I would bet. Wii U is a superior system when it comes down to efficiency and efficiency in engineering terms usually means the system will last longer.

Lots of potential "game of the year" nominees up there and this is just July; What a great year for video games so far. GTA V is a money printing machine (and rightly so).

Splatoon succeeding like this on such an underselling console is excellent. I'm always disappointed by Wii U sales. I've just loved it so much. That said, I'm anxious for Nintendo to get on to the next phase. I came in on launch day for the Wii U and I'm ready for a success story that isn't just local to my own home. lol.

NX has me very, very curious, but I think others are right in that whether it is or not, it really SHOULD target end of 2016 for launch. But really, what is NX? I know what I want it to be but I don't see indications going that way and the way Nintendo talks about a "new way to play" I can't quite put the pieces together. Especially with the likelihood that Wii U games aren't going to have a future platform to be played on unless they are ported.

@Raptor78 About that NX as third pillar idea:
The way Wii U sales are going, I'd say it's a one pillar(3DS) approach with a makeshift prop (nx) and a stool (Wii U). Smartphone games are a doorway with no capstone yet and QoL is in another (abandoned?) town. Fortunately, the whole thing is splatted with multicolor ink so it's still attractive looking.

I wonder if they could afford to slash the Wii U's price maybe 6-9 months before NX. I mean, I haven't always kept up with the games industry, and the $99 GCN caught my attention. There's great software there for a budget consumer. Might form a nice bridge to the next system, too.