Nintendo Wii U Slumps Behind PS Vita in Japan

By Jorge Ba-oh 28.02.2013 6

Nintendo Wii U Slumps Behind PS Vita in Japan on Nintendo gaming news, videos and discussion

It's a double edged sword for Nintendo in Japan, with the 3DS on top and the Wii U falling behind last week.

The Nintendo 3DS has found its market through the likes of Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Dragon Quest VII and New Super Mario Bros. 2, yet the latest console offering from Nintendo is having a mixed ride.

The Nintendo Wii U is hovering around the 8-10k per week mark, and for the week ending 24th February fell below PlayStation Vita and close to the original PSP.

In terms of software, the 3DS has a continued dominance in the Japanese charts, taking a  firm hold of seven out of the top ten spots with ease.

Japan Hardware Sales: 18-24 February

1. 3DS LL - 49,317 (66,139)
2. 3DS - 25,412 (31,832)
3. PlayStation 3 - 18,529 (16,934)
4. PlayStation Vita - 11,456 (8,044)
5. Wii U - 9,633 (10,744)
6. PSP - 8,981 (10,501)
7. Wii - 1,317 (1,655)
8. Xbox 360 - 473 (506)

Japan Software Sales: 18-24 February

1. [PS3] Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance - 308,681 (New)
2. [3DS] Dragon Quest VII: Warriors of Eden - 75,427 (1,088,341)
3. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf - 74,438 (2,666,040)
4. [3DS] Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic - 29,402 (New)
5. [PSP] Toaru Majutsu no Kagaku no Gun Sou Katsugeki - 13,894 (New)
6. [Wii] Taiko Drum Master Wii Super Wonderful Edition - 9,825 (406,050)
7. [3DS] New Super Mario Bros. 2 - 9,664 (1,932,156)
8. [3DS] Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate Best Price! edition - 8,230 (235,465)
9. [3DS] Fantasy Life - 5,870 (236,341)
10. [3DS] Taiko Drum Master: Chibi Dragon and the Mysterious Orb - 5,799 (429,163)

What do you think of the Nintendo Wii U performance in Japan so far? Can Nintendo turn things around for their latest home console offering?

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Not really surprising.. as LS said in another thread, the WiiU doesn't have the digital support it does in the west, which will hurt both hardware and software sales even a little.

Not to mention, the Vita just got a really great price drop in that region. One that would certainly help it in the west if Sony weren't so bloomin' stubborn. Vita's selection of quality "animu games with huge fanbases" is also improving, it's got games like Persona and Project Diva. It'll be getting Senran Kagura too, though why a game like that sells is beyond me.

( Edited 28.02.2013 14:39 by SuperLink )

Twitter | C3 Writer/Moderator | Backloggery

SuperLink said:
Not really surprising.. as LS said in another thread, the WiiU doesn't have the digital support it does in the west, which will hurt both hardware and software sales even a little.

Not to mention, the Vita just got a really great price drop in that region. One that would certainly help it in the west if Sony weren't so bloomin' stubborn. Vita's selection of quality "animu games with huge fanbases" is also improving, it's got games like Persona and Project Diva. It'll be getting Senran Kagura too, though why a game like that sells is beyond me.

That's not the reason. The Japanese don't buy consoles for digital offerings, they never have, it's physical software that sells hardware Japan.

It won't have much in the West also very soon. According to a new study conducted at GDC this year. Only 4.6 % of developers are making Wii U games, while only 2% of developers are making 3DS games.

http://mynintendonews.com/2013/02/28/study-says-only-4-6-percent-of-developers-making-wii-u-games-and-2-percent-nintendo-3ds/



( Edited 28.02.2013 15:50 by Linkyshinks )

Linkyshinks said:
It won't have much in the West also very soon. According to a new study conducted at GDC this year. Only 4.6 % of developers are making Wii U games, while only 2% of developers are making 3DS games.

http://mynintendonews.com/2013/02/28/study-says-only-4-6-percent-of-developers-making-wii-u-games-and-2-percent-nintendo-3ds/


If that's true at all, then the lack of developers on 3DS isn't hurting its success at all. It's been insanely successful in the past half a year and this year will be even better for it.

Frankly; those developers who aren't on board are missing out.

Twitter | C3 Writer/Moderator | Backloggery

The study shows that just 4.6 percent of developers are currently developing a Wii U game, while 6.4 percent of respondents said their next game would be on Wii U. Microsoft had the largest amount of developers with 13.2 percent of surveyed developers currently making games for the Xbox 360 and 14 percent planning their next game on Xbox 360. Sony was just behind Microsoft with 13 percent releasing their current game on PlayStation 3 and 12.4 percent developing their next game for the console. Just 2 percent said they were developing for Nintendo 3DS and 2.8 percent said they would bring their next game to the handheld.

...So only 34.6 percent of video game developers are working on video games and only 35.6 percent of developers are going to release a game again?

I'd like to know what the other 65% is. Multi-platform games? PC? Didn't answer?

Oh, wait:

The group polled more than 2,500 North American game developers who attended GDC 2012

So they're asking developers from the same ~20 companies the same question.

55 percent are currently developing for those platforms; 58 percent said they plan to ship their next game for smartphones and tablets.

It found that 53 percent of respondents identified themselves as "indie developers."

If we're going by this study, everyone but Apple is fucked. I wouldn't go by this study though, because these aren't "game companies" so much as they are college students all hoping to make the next Angry Birds. Not downplaying what they're doing  and of course they're real game developers, but you made it sound like all the major gaming companies are shunning Nintendo, and that's not what this study was for at all.

NNID: crackedthesky
My blog, mostly about writing: http://www.davidjlovato.com

justonesp00lturn said:
The study shows that just 4.6 percent of developers are currently developing a Wii U game, while 6.4 percent of respondents said their next game would be on Wii U. Microsoft had the largest amount of developers with 13.2 percent of surveyed developers currently making games for the Xbox 360 and 14 percent planning their next game on Xbox 360. Sony was just behind Microsoft with 13 percent releasing their current game on PlayStation 3 and 12.4 percent developing their next game for the console. Just 2 percent said they were developing for Nintendo 3DS and 2.8 percent said they would bring their next game to the handheld.

...So only 34.6 percent of video game developers are working on video games and only 35.6 percent of developers are going to release a game again?

I'd like to know what the other 65% is. Multi-platform games? PC? Didn't answer?

Oh, wait:

The group polled more than 2,500 North American game developers who attended GDC 2012

So they're asking developers from the same ~20 companies the same question.

55 percent are currently developing for those platforms; 58 percent said they plan to ship their next game for smartphones and tablets.

It found that 53 percent of respondents identified themselves as "indie developers."

If we're going by this study, everyone but Apple is fucked. I wouldn't go by this study though, because these aren't "game companies" so much as they are college students all hoping to make the next Angry Birds. Not downplaying what they're doing  and of course they're real game developers, but you made it sound like all the major gaming companies are shunning Nintendo, and that's not what this study was for at all.

Is it weird that I read this post and without looking I was certain that Linkyshinks had posted the original article?

I'm surprised that people haven't said that the PSP sales are only a meagre 200 odd units off the annual sales...

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