Will the Wii U ever sell 20 million units?

UC4,Bloodborne and The Order will make it happen,mark my words!

Yes I'm very dead serious, given at the rate its selling + more leg room for price cuts, remodels, bundles, VR headset, Chinese launch....etc. So many tactics they could employ to help stretch out those long legs it has, as is typical in the line of Playstations.

I just don't see it happening, it will probably at most get 17 million sold in it's lifetime and that's a big maybe.

Definitely, with a good price cut and continuing with the good releases, no doubt WiiU will reach 20 million units in the next 2 years.

It's at what, 8 million now? Hard to say, but probably not. It will likely end up just short of the 20 mil milestone.

It's above 8.5 million or close to 8.5 million by now most likely.

I agree with what many others say. It all depends on when the next gen console gets announced. I wouldn't be surprised if it's before Sony/Microsoft, considering Wii U launched a year earlier and that it has not sold good enough. That said, there is a high possibility the U won't make it to 20 million.

I've just done a calculation: Wii U has sold 7.29 million from Nov '12 to Sep '14 (that's 22 months), so 7.29 divided by 22 = an average 0.33 million units MONTHLY. Let's assume the next gen will be announced 5 years after U's release ---- there are 42 months in 5 years, so 0.33 million * 42 = 13.9 million. From this calculation, if Wii U sells at the same rate as it has from Nov 12 to Sep 14, we should expect just 13.9 million sales after 5 years (Nov '17), which is extremely low compared to the other two.

And don't forget 13.9 may be an overestimate considering that Wii U was announced 4.5 years after Wii's release (instead of 5), plus the fact that Wii U has sold poorly means that the next gen may come sooner than we think. In fact I think it would be better for Nintendo to start working on the next gen ASAP because clearly the U has failed.

EDIT: even with VGChartz's higher estimate of 8.22 million lifetime sales, we'd still only have 15.7 million by 2017 with that same calculation I done above.

Oh **** yes.

It doesn't matter if it does or not, it's profitable.

Explain to me why this matters so much. Wii was profitable, but it was also heavily riddled with shovelware and the majority of its games did nothing ground-breaking or revolutionary, contrary to it being heavily marketed as such. GC was profitable, but large droughts plagued the system and 3rd parties didn't care for it. You don't need a crapton of money to make excellent content. Hell, Minecraft's development costs was very miniscule and had no advertising budget yet it holds infinitely more replay value than any Nintendo game.

I'm guessing no. But I haven't really analysed the data.

I'm guessing something closer to 16 million by the time this generation is over.

Might be close! I bought one in black Friday and I saw a lot of places sold out, kind of shock to see the number wasn't as good!

It was sold out because stores don't stock more than 1 or 2. Its a niche product.

Even the PS3 managed to sell 80+ million units. The PS4 could easily sell 20 million more than the PS3. In the first 13 months on the market the PS4 sold over 2x the number of units the PS3 did at the same point in time.

It is unlikely that the WiiU will hit the 20 million unit mark. Nintendo have only themselves to blame for such an underwhelming performance. Hopefully they will learn from their poor decisions (i.e. poor third party support, mediocre online infrastructure, gimmicky controls, underwhelming advertising campaign) and make a comeback with the release of their next console.

Because if a console does not make a profit, the company doesn't have means to make a new one.

The fact you don't grasp this very basic concept of business means you should never start your own business, unless you are a monetary masochist and like seeing your money just disappear.

Who cares it's the WiiU.

There's more to it than just that. Money is meant to be used as a tool, to be able embark in new prospects and expand the growth and reach of your business. That said, its pointless having money if you don't know how to effectively use it. This whole notion of the Blue Ocean strategy that they had adopted with the original Wii was a total flop, because they didn't know how to leverage it and make it work in their favor, which is why they lost most if not all of their casual userbase. That's why they're rock bottom.

Even though the Wii sold a ton it still didn't get multies like GTA or Fallout. GC sold around 20 million and still made Nintendo a profit. As far as Nintendo first party titles, console sales are irrelevant because any given Nintendo system could sell 10 million LTS or 100 million LTS and the number of first party and third party titles wouldn't change.

That's why sales have no effect on Nintendo console libraries.

If Smash Bros, and Mario Kart 8 can't move units then...yeah no. It probably never will. It would take a real surprise hit. Maybe something like Splatoon will catch fire, or Maybe a true sequel to Wii Sports Resort. But I'd say no and it's a real shame.

Lmao again with averages, why not compare wiiu/gamecube sales in the same period instead?

Wiiu and gamecube ltd as of their 2nd march on market:

wiiu, 5-6m~

gamecube 9.5m~

Gamecube had sold by its 2nd march more than what wiiu had sold by its 2nd december.

Here more data, npd numbers this time

Launch Period:

GameCube (November 2001 - December 2001) - 1.24 million

Wii U (November 2012 - December 2012) - 0.88 million

1st full Year on the Market:

GameCube (January 2002 - December 2002) - 2.26 million

Wii U (January 2013 - December 2013) -1.21 million

Wii u is tracking BEHIND gamecube and the price cut hadnt even happened yet.

ltd averages averages are BULLSHiT as sales always tailend in the later years. Gamecube sales declined heavily after its 3rd year on market

While I don't really do nuts over sales, I do care since I own a Wii U.

lol no its not reasonable at all. u know why? because if we take the average of gamecube first 2 years on the market (it sold 14m) then it should have ended up with 42m total sales assuming the gen last 6 years. we all know how that turned out

The probability of that happening is very high.

Wii U is still selling worse than the Gamecube did at the same point in time. The big hitters have already been released. Nintendo needs to drop the Wii U to at least $249.99 with a pack-in game for it to even have a chance of selling 15 million units LTD.

yeah im changing my prediction. originally i said they would hit 20m if they kept going for the next 3 years but after looking at all the data im not so sure. might get around 16-17m assuming further price cuts happen. 20m is possible but only with heavy pricecuts which i dont think they are willing to do with wiiu as they were with gc

2015 will be Wii U's swangsong. 2016 and beyond is most likely going to be pretty weak for the Wii U in terms of AAA software. I would be surprised if Nintendo actually releases another AAA exclusive after Zelda U is released on the Wii U.

I wouldn't surprised at all if we hear some kind of official unveiling of Wii U's successor sometime in 2016 for a 2017 release. I'm also 90% sure the 3DS's true successor will be released in 2016.

hahahha this the funniest shit ive read all day, HOW THE **** CAN U COMPARE FULL CYCLE OF BOTH CONSOLES WHEN WIIU HASNT EVEN HAD A FULL CYCLE YET. the best way to make a prediction would be to compare them during the same sales period and analyse the sales trend.

ur method of calculating averages of 2 years and then comparing it against full 6 years is fukin retarded as i proved. did the gamecube sell 42m as ur great method would have predicted? **** NO

I'm very eager to watch Nintendo's actions over the coming years. Never before has this company been so backed into a wall and forced to act given the Wii U's performance. It's going to be very interesting to see what direction they take. Make it or break it, there are going to be some serious changes in the future to come or they will be in some seriously deep shit.

It's about damn time, too.

This farrell2k guy is delusional. 2014 was the peak year for WiiU with Kart and Smash, its downhill from here and still well behind GC's pace. 15 is the absolute best it can hope for and even that is a stretch.

looking like gamecube sales numbers for the wii u

Except its doing worse. But I have to give the Wii U some credit though. At least it doesn't look like a retarded lunchbox.

The fisher price tablet is worse imo.

Of course, and that's one of the big appeals to Nintendo consoles. And I also doubt Nintendo will ever make a console directly intended to compete with the competition. I do think, though, that the Wii U's inability to move a substantial amount of units is going to be something Nintendo's going to have to address when designing their new hardware.

Where's this "huge" price difference for Nintendo? Their console is not that much cheaper, nor are their games. The ones I see on the shelf are $59 (with one exception so far, Toad), and in fact Nintendo insists on not lowering their software prices as time goes on where Sony and MS's titles are oftentimes discounted not too far off from release. Nintendo is definitely within the realm of pricing their wares against their competitors.

There's no way it gets to 20 mill. Ps4 and Xbone have too much hype. Wii U is in the shadows.

so everything just went over ur head huh haha yeah im done here.

its like conversing with a brick wall, i point how bullshit comparing averages of 2 years vs 6 years are and then he proceeds to do the same thing again.

Keep in mind, the last time their backs were against a wall, they came out with the Wii that became the best-selling home console of its generation and the DS, which is the second best selling piece of hardware only after the PS2.

My point is this, everyone who expecting Nintendo to play ball like Sony and Xbox do with a similar system might not get what they want. The last time Nintendo was backed into a corner and everyone was expecting them to fail, we got the Wii.

And taking aside the arguments that it was aimed at casual gamers, sold because of a gimmick, the reality was that it has outsold every other system besides the PS2, Nintendo DS, Game Boy/Game Boy Color(the sales of those two platforms are often combined), and the PS1.

So, we might get a system that follows the same trends as everyone else. Or we could get another system like the Wii that everyone laughs at while being convinced that Nintendo has lost their minds until it explodes out of the gate and sells insane numbers.

One lesson I don't think many people get is that you never count Nintendo out. How many times have we seen Nintendo on the losing end of a console war in the past? How many times have they not only endured, but managed to survive and in the case of the Wii, make a massive comeback against all odds?

To be honest, Nintendo is a better company when their back is against the wall. It seems to push them and for some reason motivate them even more. When the Genesis outsold the SNES during the 4th generation, Nintendo responded with some of their best games ever made that gradually wore down Sega's lead until they won the generation. The Gamecube got trounced by the PS2 and Xbox, and everyone in the world declared Nintendo dead. How did they respond? With the top selling consoles of the next generation.

I wonder how Nintendo will respond this time.

The price difference is huge when you factor in things like no annual fee, backwards compatibility instead of full priced rereleases, backwards compatibility with controllers, etc. Nintendo consoles are really the only consoles that are still cheaper to own long term than a gaming pc.

Really difficult to say but Mario Kart 8 was the big pusher for the console as was Smash too. The likes of Zelda will probably only be bought by people who own the console. Star Fox isn't a system seller, If they announce another big Mario title in the future it probably should do.

@PurpleMan5000: Irrelevant in terms of perception, regardless how flawed it might be. Despite media backing from the likes of Time Magazine and Forbes, the Wii U is still in third place.

Brodudes matter, and they would rather be caught PC gaming than with a Nintendo console.

That said, this is requires a very specific combination of: owned a Wii before purchasing a Wii U, *kept* the Wii after it all but died in 2009 (and didn't sell it and all its games to purchase the Wii U), and still have a desire to play Wii games. That said, most Nintendo gamers continue to play past Nintendo games, because... duh... It's Nintendo. But many people aren't going to view it like that, and will simply look at the 100$ difference between the Wii U and the two consoles that will receive quite literally all of the third party games they want to play.

No argument for the annual fee.

Now, I think I'll go start a new Twilight Princess game because a kind gentleman on Gamespot just reminded me I haven't played any Wii games in awhile. :p

It wont even reach 18.5 millions. ;)