The Wii U sales thread - 220k shipped last quarter

[Alpha eX]

Do I need nunchucks to play Nintendoland?

I think it's quite ridiculous to pay £45 for a controller set up. I have to get 4 Wii Remote Plus at £30 each and then potentially 4 nunchucks at £15 each

For the Metroid game you need a Wii mote plus and Nunchuck for extra players and for Zelda you need two Wii mote pluses for your sword wielding allies. Luigi's Mansion, Animal Crossing, Pikmin and Mario Chase only ask for bog standard Wii motes.

Ah, so not all of them need motion plus? I want to do 5 player, so assume I need 4.

[Dalagonash]

Do I need nunchucks to play Nintendoland?

I think it's quite ridiculous to pay £45 for a controller set up. I have to get 4 Wii Remote Plus at £30 each and then potentially 4 nunchucks at £15 each

For the Metroid game you need a Wii mote plus and Nunchuck for extra players and for Zelda you need two Wii mote pluses for your sword wielding allies. Luigi's Mansion, Animal Crossing, Pikmin and Mario Chase only ask for bog standard Wii motes.

Ah, so not all of them need motion plus? I want to do 5 player, so assume I need 4.

Yeah, only the Zelda and Metroid attractions need motion plus so you'll just need 4 wii remotes of any type to play the others games with five players.

[Something Fishy]

just four. just another ton or so. the wii always was much more costly once you added all the extra tat in.

I only ever had two as I just couldn't justify it for how much we used it together.

[Dalagonash]

just four. just another ton or so. the wii always was much more costly once you added all the extra tat in.

I only ever had two as I just couldn't justify it for how much we used it together.

Another ton if you don't own them already, yes, but the Wii U also has the advantage, for the consumer, that a pre-owned market for Wii controllers already exists.

360 controllers are normally about £30 or more if you go wireless, while PS3 controllers normally dawdle around the £40 mark for the official peripherals. If you were to buy a PS3 tomorrow, wanting to play some local All Stars Battle Royale, you'd be stomaching an extra £100 or more in extra pad costs if you went with buying it all brand spanking new. Oh and did your daughter want to play Wonderbook? That's another £50.

Controller/peripheral cost is a problem across all modern formats.

[Something Fishy]

It's a fair point but I've only ever bought one extra controller for my others for general playing at most but had to buy extra chucks and motion plusses and classic controller and stuff for my wii, it was very bitty. The need to buy bits was much less with the others but maybe that's because they don't tend to be party consoles, apart from singstar maybe.

[Zellery]

360 controllers are often £22-£23 for the wireless model brand new.

I don't think lumping them in with the extortionate costs of Nintendo accessories is fair.

[Pedz]

Think they're £20 on Amazon.

Edit: Sorry that was a wired I saw. £22.99.

Edit 2: For Black at least other colours were around £35.

[HSH28]

I don't think lumping them in with the extortionate costs of Nintendo accessories is fair.

Well thats bullshit.

The reason 360 controllers are cheaper is that they don't have any motion sensing tech in them. The idea Nintendo controllers are overpriced compared to other official controllers is nonsense.

[Dalagonash]

360 controllers are often £22-£23 for the wireless model brand new.

I don't think lumping them in with the extortionate costs of Nintendo accessories is fair.

Basic d-pad models are now, earlier this year they were still £35. Chrome controllers, and the transforming d-pad model, were around £40 in most places when they launched.

[Monkey Man]

Numbers by P. Lavoué from Nintendo France.

Wii U 2012 : 120k / 38M€
Wii 2006 : 180k

Basic pack: 10%; ZombiU pack: 15%; Premium: 75%.

3DS 2012 : almost 950k
ps3 2012 : 700k
Wii 2012 : 372k
Xbox360 2012 : 360k

http://www.lsa-conso.fr/premier-bilan-c ... nce,137328

They shipped 240k for launch in what probably is Nintendos strongest European country.

[TheTurnipKing]

just four. just another ton or so. the wii always was much more costly once you added all the extra tat in.

I only ever had two as I just couldn't justify it for how much we used it together.

You don't know anyone from whom you could borrow a few?

There's also cheaper third party alternatives. Which are practically a tradition or an old charter or something when it comes to big local multiplayer nights.

[Something Fishy]

Actually our two was enough, three of us and one uses the gamepad once we had wiiu.

[HSH28]

They shipped 240k for launch in what probably is Nintendos strongest European country.

Surely they sell more consoles in the UK?

[Monkey Man]

They shipped 240k for launch in what probably is Nintendos strongest European country.

Surely they sell more consoles in the UK?

Not at the moment, the Wii U has probably sold under 100k in the UK.

[Monkey Man]

Nintendo UK has remained silent about Wii U sales, but MCV reported first-weekend results of 40,000 consoles. It's a modest sum compared to other launches constrained by the level of stock allocated to the UK, although what did filter through to shop shelves didn't entirely sell out.

Eurogamer has been told by UK numbers firm Chart-Track that, after five weeks on sale, the Wii U's initial sales figure counted for 50.1 per cent of the system's total. This indicates that Wii U sales in the UK were at the 80,000 units mark at the beginning of January.

In terms of money made, it took four weeks for the Wii U to earn £18 million - the amount that the original Wii made in its launch week. That's despite all three Wii U launch bundles costing more, with the most popular Premium bundle priced at least £100 higher per unit.

Software attachment ratios also drive home the fact that, since launch, Wii U has commanded a far lower user base than other recent home console launches.

Loads more in a lengthy article - http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013- ... s-struggle

[KK]

PS3 and 3DS both indicate a slow launch can 'easily' be turned around in the long term. The Wii U will be helped considerably when the PS4 and Xbox 3 arrive by the massive differential in price.

[Drunken_Master]

Price cut imminent?

[Victor Mildew]

Price cut imminent?

I reckon there could be one around E3. Also I think wind waker HD will be a free download for early adopters with a little crossover period to tempt people to buy, again around E3.

[Gario]

Wind Waker HD will be a free download for early adopters.

That's optimistic, but it would be a good idea. It would certainly tempt me to buy the console.

[SuperChris]

That said, in America they have the problem of the vanilla DS refusing to die, and I wouldn't be too surprised if the vanilla Wii will again prove to be a spoiler for the Wii U.

It's because they released so many variations of the DS such as Ds Lite, Dsi, DSI XL, that ordinary people not knowledgeable about games may assume the 3DS is just yet another new model in this chain. (and not a new gen handheld)
It's really unfortunate but they may have sold more if the name was not so similar to old products.
Your right, the same thing could happen to Wii U sadly. (some people just think it's an addon)