January NPD Results Show the NES Classic Edition Was the Third Best-Selling Console of the Month

And why was there a rumour that Nintendo was ceasing production of the NES Classic Edition?

given up. switch is to close now for me to bother with mini, not going to have the time to play both.

Generic could of been #1 one or something if Nintendo produced more comment is generic.

This is even sadder when you consider how few consoles were produced.

That's hilariously sad. A collection of 30 roms outsold Nintendo's own home console system. I know they're making money either way but those are some DIRE Wii U numbers

With 3DS's, 2DS's, and the remaining WiiU's being sold out by Christmas, and let's not forget Nintendo planned on having low WiiU stock by the end of last year, it's not much of a surprise. Also, 3DS's seem to be taking their sweet time getting back in the stores. 2DS's have started to get good restocks since the tail end of January, from what I've seen around my way that is.

@ollyander You took the words right out of my mouth. It must have been while...wait what?

@Oat
Well, ya... the console's life is over. Not exactly sure what people were expecting. It's not 2013 anymore. Wii U is history.

Well...I guess Nintendo knows what to do next if the Switch fails.

(psst SNES Classic)

Despite NES Classics being virtually non-existent, Wii U has been out of production for like 2-3 months now. I can't remember the last time I saw on on store shelves. So any console would outsell the Wii U.

Not sure how you get the One has managed to outsell the Wii U in January?All the article you've linked to says is " the Xbox One had its best January ever" which wouldn't be hard.It doesn't say anything about it coming in second.I'm pretty sure it'll have been the N3DS XL in second.The Wii U's numbers have predictably plummeted into triple figures recently but the One has been down in ,triple figures for a good while and more recently,double figures.

From a quick search,in the 2nd week of January the Xbox sold 99 units while the Wii U sold 15,398.The last week of January the One sold 231,up from 35 the week before,while the Wii U sold 710,down from 794 the week before.That's a 365 total of One's sold in 3 of the 4 weeks of January.So unless the One sold 17k + more than Wii U in the first week of January,I bet the Wii U's sales in that 2nd week alone absolutely trounced the One's total for all of January.I'd be surprised if the One even outsold the PS3.

Not exactly nothing for the Wii U to shout about but saying it came in behind the One when it wasn't even close isn't accurate reporting.

How this be selling highly if the production count is only 12? A ratio of produced vs. sold must be factored in.

I didn't even think the Wii U was being sold any more after December, so it's hardly surprising they'd sell more Classics. The Classic could have been number 1 if they bothered to actually meet demand for it.

For $60, it could even outsell Pokémon Sun&Moon if enough units existed.

I'll be buying a Wii U after I get my Switch.
Why?

Because my Wii U is so well used it needs replacing!

GreatNES awaits!

@kingc8 I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic or not? I will assume you are.

Um... NES mini is not a console for a start. It's a very cheap android box. Secondly, who the heck is surprised it outsold the Wii U? The Wii U has spent its whole lifecycle selling less each month than machines that were previously considered flops like the Dreamcast and GameCube. That was before it's successor was revealed! So now that's happened, it's no surprise at all it was outsold by anything, least of all a very cheap box like the mini.

@OorWullie. Those numbers you mention are for Japan. This is North America. Xbox One tends to sell 5-6 as many units as Wii U does every month and about 2-3 times what the 3DS does. North America and Europe's numbers dwarf Japan. In Japan, the top selling hardware would have sold about 300k in December, its strongest month. In North America, PS4 and Xbox both do over 1.5 million.

@Peach64 Oops.I was on my first coffee of the day when I wrote that so I'll blame my mistake on that.

Soooooooooooo who is buying them from where??? if Nintendo pulled their finger out and actually produced some it would of been the best selling.

I finally had a response from Nintendo yesterday as per stock or new rather and they wouldnt confirm there was more. they only said it was sold out and to check back periodically to 'see' if there are any.

I really wanted the Black Friday 3DS, but we all know how Nintendo is with stock.

It figures TBH, who in his/her right mind is going to buy a WiiU now with Switch only a month away?

If you're going to spend a few hundred bucks on a Nintendo console, spend it on the new one...

I wonder how many they sold compared to last month? In other words, how ample was the stock increase?

The original NES probably outsold the Wii U last month.

It may have out sold the Wii U but it would have been alot better if they had more stock.
Also who would buy a Wii U with Switch coming out?
Unfortunately Wii U is now dead

@OorWullie WTH are you talking about???

@diwdiws See comment 20 correcting me politely and comment 21 admitting my mistake.

Wasted opportunity for the mini. Buying a cheap second hand wii u will be a good thing for those that like hacked machine's. The hackers will do great things with it. I already have a hacked psvita and yes vita is dead but a hack has breathed new life into It. I love playing Doom and Quake on the go

@JTMnM they must be considering ebay resales as their own, ha!!

Seriously, I've long given up and besides the fact, I either own all the games on the original system or 3ds vc. Switch in 2 weeks and I've already spent a small fortune for that.

I'm not surprised that it would sell well if actually available. I am a little surprised there were that many available in January. I have still never actually seen one on a store shelf. I bought one the day launched, and that came straight out of its shipping box.

And if the stock matched demand... might have outsold everything!

It makes sense. The NS is going to cause a sales vacuum until the NS release and an NES mini is only $60.
What's weird is the lack of handheld hardware sales but they still put up top10 in software for WiiU and 3DS.

blue

If only there was a decent amount of stock but I'm sure Nintendo was pretty aware that having sufficient NES Classic stock would've decreased the chance of the Switch being a success as people will have already got their Nintendo fix.

@Grumblevolcano Are you sure about that? Explain to me the customer that views them as the same type of gaming fix.

I go into the store fully expecting to spend $300 on a Switch and... I see NES mini and leave with that instead?

The experiences are so, so different and have such a different draw.

I could see someone going into get an NES mini and seeing a Switch on the shelf, doing a little math and seeing the Switch as $240 more. That could lean towards a Switch purchase or not, but the intent was to get a mini anyway.

I was thinking the way you were before, but then I couldn't think of plausible scenarios where the NES mini would reduce sales of the Switch. Especially at the launch where standing in line at midnight or preordering is the best bet to get a switch. At least perceptually.

Here's a scenario we probably both wish happened. NES mini has been sitting on shelves in decent numbers (always 2 or 3 on a shelf) since the end of 2016. People have been buying them and reinvigorating their love for Nintendo. Nintendo Switch ads come up with beautiful modern feeling Zelda game and one day, while shopping a Switch is seen on the shelf and the desire is strong.

Pretty sure that's what Nintendo had hopes for as a secondary goal for the NES mini. Pretty sure the first goal was to make up for lost Wii U sales and it may have done that even when demand was outstripped. The problem is that a negative wave of attention hit as a result when it was hoping for a positive one.

Not surprised NES Mini beat the Wii U since you can't actually buy a brand new Wii U online anymore (unless you go to eBay of course).

Well, here where I live, it wasn't problematic, to get on of these NES minis.

There were a bunch of NES mini boxes... I've grabbed one from the shelf, the price was/is 70 EUR.

One of the guys, that work there and I know him, said, they've got about 100 pcs with the first shippment (that was in december 2016) in 50 pcs now in february 2017 (attention: for the whole country!), yet it still didn't sold out.

There are still some boxes available in their online store:
https://www.bigbang.si/igralne-konzole/nintendo-classic-mini-nes-classic-edition-593197#

The only thing, that isn't in the box, that the US version has is the AC adapter. You only get an mini USB to normal USB cable

So you need a modern TV with USB support or buy an USB adapter with 1A/0.5V support... or USB hub, that has AC adapter included.

@YANDMAN from where? I'd guess Nintendo's store in New York City. Reports indicate they had a lot of stock there at first, and probably plenty of restocks.

The way I see it is if you haven't bought a Wii U prior to Nintendo switch March announcement, you wouldn't buy it now. Why buy a current-gen when the next-gen it's just around the corner.

As for the NES Mini, Nostalgia is a hell of a drug, a drug that plagues the US (make gaming great again).

I do hope the positive sales means that Nintendo will make a classics line.

This means it outsold the 3DS as well, right? Why is that sad sad sad fact being ignored.

Drop Switch production. Make NES Minis and start slapping together SNES mini. that's where the money is.

@sdelfin Nintendo UK

@iphys Doesn't mean stores won't have leftover stock to sell. I still see plenty of WiiUs.