Though the Wii U has struggled in the past, the console saw an unusually strong week in Japan thanks to the release of Pikmin 3. The Wii U’s weekly sales rose to 22,199 consoles sold last week, marking the first time the Wii U has risen above 10,000 units sold since early May. This more than doubled the sales from the previous week, which was around 8,000 units sold. The console was unable to unseat the current weekly champion, as Nintendo’s 3DS sold 29,594 units.
This sudden boom was thanks to the release of Nintendo’s heavily advertised Pikmin 3, which sold 97,720 units in its release week, bringing it to the top of the Japanese sales charts. The game’s sales were still relatively low when compared to Animal Crossing New Leaf which sold 600,000 units in its opening week. This can be partially attributed to the Wii U’s low installed base, which has now increased thanks to Pikmin‘s success.
It seems that Nintendo is moving in the right direction now, finally beginning to release a stable of games to make the new console worth owning. Nintendo will have to keep the momentum going into the next several months in order to turn their stumbling console into a success.
Source: GamesIndustry International
