Wii U Sales Plummet, Wii Still Strong

Nintendo’s financial figures for the April-June quarter reveal that the company is still making a profit, even if Wii U sales plummet further. Surprisingly enough, the Wii U predecessor is still going strong and has successfully sold more than 100 million units since its launch in 2006.

The latest figures made gaming experts wonder if Wii U still has a chance to make a spectacular comeback as Nintendo expects, or is just dead in the water.

In the last quarter, the Wii U sold only a disappointing 160,000 units worldwide, bringing the total of Wii U sales to 3.61 million. Of these 160,000 units, 90,000 were sold in Japan, 60,000 were sold in North America and only 10,000 in Europe.  In the same period, Nintendo sold 1.03 million games for the console.

But despite the low numbers, Nintendo is still convinced that it will sell 9 million Wii U units by March 2014. The company believes that the low Wii U sales are caused by the lack of great titles for the console and that this is about to change really soon.

Nintendo is hoping that console sales will be boosted by the launch of several new titles and famous revamped games this year, such as Super Mario 3D World, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, The Legend of Zelda and many others.

But even if the last quarter saw Wii U sales plummet further, Nintendo still made a profit of $88 million, mainly driven by strong sales of the handheld console 3DS and a weakened yen. The 3DS sold 1.4 million units worldwide between April and June, a fact Nintendo attributes to the release of key gaming titles one after another.

And Wii U’s predecessor, the Wii, is still selling well, seven years after its launch in 2006. In April-June, the console sold 210,000 units and 3.67 million games, bringing the Wii lifetime sales to over 100 million. The Wii is thus Nintendo’s third gaming platform to sell over 100 million units, after the DS and the Game Boy.

IGN gaming experts said the Wii U situation is not that dire for Nintendo, as the 3DS is still keeping the company afloat and allows them to push harder to make their console successful. Others suggested that it would make more sense for Nintendo to start work on another console than putting so much money and efforts into the Wii U. What do you think? Is the Wii U worth it?

[Image via digitaltrends]