Skip to main content

Nintendo Wii U launch game sales 50 percent lower than those of Gamecube, Wii

Image used with permission by copyright holder

After two months on shelves, the Nintendo Wii U is still finding its balance. Sales of the console have been disappointing to analysts, but at 890,000 sold worldwide inside of two months, that’s not too terribly shabby. Nintendo’s problem, however, isn’t that no one is buying the console. It’s that nobody is buying the games just yet.

On Jan. 7, as Nintendo and others began to discuss holiday sales details, a number of analysts including Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter and Stern Agee’s Arvind Bhatia expressed concern about the Wii U’s attach rate, or the number of games people buy when the purchase the console itself. Bhatia merely said Wii U software sales have been “low.” Now Cowen & Company analyst Doug Creutz is providing a more detailed perspective on Nintendo’s worrying software sales.

“Software sales for the Wii U remained well behind launch levels for the original Wii and Gamecube in December,” said Creutz in a research note to investors, “Totals for the November-December period were -43 percent lower than software sales for the Wii [during the same launch period] and -50 percent lower than those for the Gamecube.”

There are mitigating factors to consider when looking at the Wii U’s low attach rate. Unlike with Wii and Gamecube, all Nintendo Wii U games available at retail are also available as downloadables through the Nintendo eShop, so Nintendo is selling games not factored into the retailer checks that analyst data comes from.

Still it’s clear that the Wii U didn’t release with a game that readily appeals to the gaming enthusiast audience that Nintendo relies on for early console sales. The Nintendo Wii debuted alongside The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess in 2006 and the Gamecube saw the release of Super Smash Bros. Meleewithin month of releasing in 2001, and both franchises have enormous pull with core gamers.

New Super Mario Bros. U, a new entry in a series that has been enormously successful for Nintendo in recent years, sold just 580,000 copies in December. The Wii’s Twlight Princess, on the other hand, sold 1.5 million copies in December 2006 (albeit with the help a version for Gamecube as well.) NintendLand and New Super Mario Bros. U simply weren’t the first-party Nintendo games that tend to draw in the company’s usual early supporters. The same problem caused slow adoption of the Nintendo 3DS when it released in March 2011.

Editors' Recommendations

Anthony John Agnello
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Anthony John Agnello is a writer living in New York. He works as the Community Manager of Joystiq.com and his writing has…
Latest Nintendo Direct ushers in an age of Wii nostalgia
The player throws a bowling ball in Nintendo Switch Sports.

If 2021 was the year of the Game Boy Advance renaissance, then 2022 is the year of the Wii. At this point, the Nintendo Switch has outsold the Wii, but it still doesn’t feel like the Switch is as ubiquitous with casual gamers as the Wii was. Meanwhile, the Wii is getting just old enough that it’s starting to feel nostalgic and retro.
If Nintendo wants to continue to grow the Switch’s userbase, these yearnful Wii fans need to be its next target. Perhaps that’s why the latest Nintendo Direct felt like a love letter to the Wii era by featuring games like Nintendo Switch Sports, Mario Strikers: Battle League, and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. 
Nintendo Direct - 2.9.2022
Let’s go bowling
At this point, most hardcore gaming fans who want a Nintendo Switch likely already own one. While those 100+ million players will continue to buy new video games, Nintendo still wants to sell 23 million more units this year alone. If it’s going to accomplish that, it needs to entice people who might not usually play video games or spend hundreds of dollars on a new system. 
Nintendo was the most successful at doing this during the Wii era but moved away from this casual focus after the Wii U flopped. Focusing on its hardcore fans is what made the Nintendo Switch a runaway success right at launch, but we’re now almost five years in, and Nintendo is looking to maintain a growing audience. 
Making the Nintendo Switch even more appealing to casuals and non-gamers seems to be the company’s next goal. Nintendo Switch Sports recapturing some of that Wii magic is the spearhead of this strategy.
Its predecessor Wii Sports is one of the most successful games of all time. Even people who’ve never played a video game might remember the game from the Wii’s heyday. Nintendo wants a Switch in every nursing home, school, or daycare if it isn’t all ready, and first-party titles like Nintendo Switch Sports make that a possibility.
If the game catches on with casual gamers and Nintendo makes it a bundled Switch game, there’s a chance that this could be the Switch’s next Mario Kart 8 Deluxe or Animal Crossing: New Horizons from a sales perspective.

Wii Remember
Believe it or not, the Wii is over 15 years old. Young kids who played games on the Wii with their parents are now adults and likely have nostalgia for those experiences. Some may even consider it to be a retro console at this point. As such, it’s not surprising that Nintendo and other companies would dip back into the well of Wii-era IPs. It started with the Skyward Sword remaster last year, but several Wii-related announcements were in this Nintendo Direct too, which made it a real trip for those of us that grew up with these games on Wii.
Mario Strikers’ last great outing was on the Wii, and the sports spin-off series has been dormant for just long enough to where Nintendo fans are delighted that it’s making a grand return. Even Nintendo Switch Sports will trigger nostalgia for the millions of people who enjoyed it over 15 years ago.
Third parties are even taking notice. Aspyr decided to specifically remaster the Wii version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, which is an odd choice considering that a more polished version of the game existed for Xbox 360 and PS3. Still, the Switch is the only console capable of preserving that Wii experience, and Aspyr ensures that the Wii port doesn’t get lost to time. For players who enjoyed the Wii but don’t want to dig out their system, sensor bar, and some Wii Remotes, releases like this will allow them to satiate their nostalgia. While games like Xenoblade Chronicles 3 indicate that Nintendo isn’t abandoning its hardcore audience, it’s clear that the casual market is the Switch’s next great frontier. Many of the games featured in the February 9 Direct capitalize on a new wave of nostalgia for the Wii. Embracing that market and those causal players with these games might be the key to the Nintendo Switch’s continued success. 

Read more
Mario Kart 9 shouldn’t turn the series into ‘Nintendo Kart’
Mario, Link, Isabelle, and a Squid Kid race down the track in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for the Nintendo Switch.

Following a report that Mario Kart 9 is in the works, fans have been sharing their hypothetical visions of what the game could be. While the game is still a rumor, it's assumed that there will eventually be a sequel to the sales juggernaut that is Mario Kart 8, which released nearly a decade ago in 2014. Based on the continued sales this game still rakes in on Nintendo Switch, Nintendo is obviously in no rush to get a sequel made and out the door, but that hasn't stopped fans from making some ambitious predictions.

Almost any time a conversation about a potential Mario Kart 9 comes up, there's one common request: Crossover characters. A vocal group of people out there want Mario Kart to be the new Super Smash Bros. with tons of guest characters filling in the roster. Some are content with it sticking to Nintendo properties, dubbing it Nintendo Kart, while others want characters from all gaming properties in the driver's seat.

Read more
How to delete and reinstall games on the Nintendo Switch
Nintendo Switch review

The Nintendo Switch is a huge hit thanks in large part to its stellar, constantly growing selection of games. As your library grows, storage space will become an issue — especially with only 32GB of onboard storage. You’ll almost certainly need a microSD card down the road (if not already), but even then, there may come a time when you just can’t keep your whole digital collection on your Switch at once.

Read more