If Japan is anything to go by, the Wii U hasn't proven to be the smash hit Nintendo hoped it would be. Granted, hardware launches are tough. The 3DS had a difficult time getting off the ground. Now, it's doing gangbusters. In Japan, the Wii U, however, is having a hard time lately.
To put things into perspective, let's compare how the Wii U stacks up to the Wii's first six weeks on sale in Japan (data courtesy of 4Gamer and Media Create):
First Week
• Wii: 371,936 units sold
• Wii U: 308,570
Second Week
• Wii: 109,068
• Wii U: 130,653
Third Week
• Wii: 101,956
• Wii U: 122,356
Fourth Week
• Wii: 284,648
• Wii U: 76,760
Fifth Week
• Wii: 121,510
• Wii U: 70,662
Sixth Week
• Wii: 146,553
• Wii U: 20,715
Online in Japan, people are pointing out that there's reason for being concerned—namely that the Wii U is now posting GameCube's sales numbers.
Nintendo will say that the Wii launched during the height of Nintendo DS mania. That's correct. It did. However, the Wii U started out strong, but it's been running out of gas. There are not enough games to lure people who might be sitting on the fence about the Wii U. If Nintendo did not make games, I'd say this is cause for concern. There isn't. Yet.
In case you missed it, here's Kotaku's review of the Wii U.
WiiUが発売から6週間で失速？はやくも販売台数でPS3以下に。ゲームキューブより売れゆきが悪いとの話も・・・ [へちま起稿]
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