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Wii U Japanese Launch Shifts 308K Units, Less Than Wii By 50K

By on December 17, 2012
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The Wii U released in Japan December 8, Nintendo’s next-generation console that supersedes the original Wii and continues to innovate on the motion gaming philosophy. According to Famitsu, Nintendo sold 308,570 units during it’s launch weekend in Japan. To software sellers were New Super Mario Bros. U (170,563) followed by Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (110,149) and NintendoLand (78,461).

In comparison, the original Wii sold 371,936 units during its launch weekend in Japan, and Wii Sports was the top selling launch title with 176,880 copies (note: while it was bundled with Wii hardware elsewhere, Wii Sports was sold separately in Japan).

As well as not making quite as strong a debut as its predecessor, Nintendo’s next-gen console also failed to beat the debuts of its handhelds Nintendo 3DS (371,326), Nintendo DS (441,485) and Game Boy Advance (611,504).

Overall Wii U is Japan’s 7th best games hardware launch of all time, behind notable systems such as the PS2, GBA, DS and Wii. However, it also fell behind Sony’s PS Vita, beaten somewhat by just under 13,000 units.

Top console launches of all-time in Japan

  1. PS2 (630,552)
  2. GameBoy Advance:  (611,504)
  3. DS (441,485)
  4. Wii (371,936)
  5. 3DS (371,326)
  6. PS Vita (321,407)
  7. Wii U (308,570)
  8. PSP (166,074)
  9. GameBoy Color (155,774)
  10. WSC (145,975)
  11. GameCube (133,719)
  12. Xbox (123,929)
  13. WS (102,655)
  14. DreamCast: (101,490)
  15. PlayStation 3: (88,443)
  16. Xbox 360 (62,135)
  17. NeoGeo Pocket: (21,471)
Editor-in-Chief at Total Revue. Games and Technology are my thing although so is being social, sports and everyone else in life outside of these. If you want to jam online, let me know.
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