Nintendo Updates List of Hardware and Software Units Sold
Nintendo also released info on best-selling Nintendo 3DS and Wii U games.
Nintendo has released its updated hardware and software sales numbers for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. As of December 2016, Nintendo has sold 13.56 million Wii U consoles and 65.3 million Nintendo 3DS handhelds. Software sales for the Wii U were better than anticipated, with a total of 96.52 million sold. The Nintendo 3DS is the real winner though with 320.96 million software units sold.
Unfortunately, the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS aren't quite on par with the sales of their predecessors. The Wii ended up selling 101.63 million consoles and the Nintendo DS sold 154.02 million handhelds in its various iterations. Software sales for Nintendo last-gen were even more lucrative with the Wii selling 917.34 million copies, and the Nintendo DS selling a whopping 948.51 million units of software.
Nintendo released an additional infographic containing sales data for their previous hardware generations as well. Additionally, we also have info on best-selling software per title.
Wii U's Top Ten Best-Selling Titles
- Mario Kart 8: 8.26 million units sold.
- New Super Mario Bros. U: 5.62 million units sold.
- Super Mario 3D World: 5.47 million units sold.
- Nintendo Land: 5.16 million units sold.
- Super Smash Bros. for Wii U: 5.16 million units sold.
- Splatoon: 4.76 million units sold.
- Super Mario Maker: 3.89 million units sold.
- New Super Luigi U: 2.89 million units sold.
- The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD: 2.11 million units sold.
- Mario Party 10: 2.04 million units sold.
Nintendo 3DS Top Ten Best-Selling Titles
- Pokémon X and Y: 16.06 million units sold.
- Mario Kart 7: 14.82 million units sold.
- Pokémon Sun and Moon: 14.69 million units sold.
- Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire: 13.68 million units sold.
- Super Mario 3D Land: 11.17 million units sold.
- New Super Mario Bros. 2: 11.09 million units sold.
- Animal Cross: New Leaf: 10.45 million units sold.
- Super Smash Bros for Nintendo 3DS: 8.59 million units sold.
- Tomodachi Life: 5.58 million units sold.
- Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon: 5.2 million units sold.
As you can see, all the top selling software for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS are first-party titles, a weakness Nintendo has had for several hardware generations now. With the third-party support Nintendo has garnered for the Nintendo Switch, perhaps this is the generations they'll make a turnaround. Nintendo has forecasted a bright financial future for themselves so we can only hope that they're right.
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replyJason Faulkner posted a new article, Nintendo Updates List of Hardware and Software Units Sold
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Interesting to see. You can extrapolate that, outside of the DS outlier, their handheld systems for the most part sold 5 games per system, while they're home consoles sold closer to 8 per system since the N64. No wonder they're advertising the Switch as a home console, their home consoles have better attach rates.
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Let's see if this works. Quick calculation on how many games people bought on each system.
Hardware Software Games per Rank
Wii U 13.56 96.52 7.12 5
3DS 65.30 320.96 4.92 8
Wii 101.63 917.34 9.03 2
DS 154.02 948.51 6.16 7
GBA 81.51 377.42 4.63 9
GB 118.69 501.11 4.22 10
NGC 21.74 208.57 9.59 1
N64 32.93 224.97 6.83 6
SNES 49.10 379.06 7.72 4
NES 61.91 500.01 8.08 3
I'm really surprised the Wii comes in at #2. I had read previously, like early in it's lifecycle, that Nintendo wasn't getting many follow-on purchases from your aunt & uncle that were buying the system after the initial console purchase. Assuming that staid true, it means the rest of the games really made up for it.
Also surprised the 3DS comes in so low. I thought that was their goldmine.-
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Multiple system purchases probably are a factor, either for replacements, people who want new colors and/or bigger ones, or families sharing carts for multiple systems.
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People with no data assume the Wii had a poor attach rate but it had the highest of the PS3/360 generation.
Don't ask me why. People have a preconceived notion that it was a gimmick system so they form conclusions based on that instead of forming conclusions based on actual evidence.
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