SNES MINI IMG

If you need to be reminded just how miserable lifetime Wii U hardware sales were, Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad has shared a number of charts on Twitter, comparing Nintendo system sales as of 31st December 2018.

Noticeably, the combined sales of the SNES Mini Classic and the NES Mini Classic are expected to surpass Wii U lifetime sales, within the space of two years. To date, the Wii U has sold 13.56 million units. As NintendoSoup points out, combined sales of the classic systems could overtake the Wii U before the end of the fiscal year, ending 31st March 2019.

Nintendo Lifetime Hardware Sales IMG
Image: @ZhugeEX

While it might seem unfair to combine the sales of these two retro-powered systems, this newer hardware did not receive the same level of marketing or support as the Wii U. The Wii U had a midnight launch worldwide, ongoing support for multiple years, online capabilities and even offered its own digital library of retro games. In contrast, the SNES and NES Classic systems were sold in limited supply, which only increased demand.

The success of these nostalgic Nintendo products hasn’t happened overnight. System sales for these devices over the past year have been outselling modern hardware. As of October 2018, the combined global sales hit the 10 million mark. Now if only Nintendo could follow this up by releasing more classic goodness on the Switch. Hold up – it just did.

[source nintendosoup.com]