The Nintendo Wii U's launch has not been the great success the company likely expected from its next generation console.
According to video game publication Kotaku, the Wii U has sold poorly in Japan over the last few weeks in comparison to its predecessor.
During the first week of its launch, the new console sold 308,507 units while Wii sold 371,936 packages in its first week a couple of years ago. In the second week of launch, the Wii U outsold the Wii 130,653 to 109,068. The Wii U's superiority continued into week three when it sold 122,325; over 20,000 more than its predecessor did in its third week.
However after that third week, the Wii U's sales numbers have been vastly inferior. In the fourth week, the Wii U only sold 76,760 consoles compared to the massive 284,648 units that that Wii moved in its fourth week. In the fifth week, the Wii U's sales numbers drop to 70,662; the Wii had sold 121,510 units in week five. The most recent figures are the most concerning however: in week six, the Wii U only sold 20,715 units; compare that to the 146,553 sold by the Wii in Japan six weeks after its launch.
Kotaku states that the Wii U is now posting GameCube sales numbers. The GameCube was the worst selling console of its generation and it was widely believed that Nintendo would be unable to compete with Sony and Microsoft in the following generation of the console war.
The Nintendo 3DS handheld game console got off to a dreadful start, but is now selling quite well thanks to an expanding library of games. It is likely that the Wii U sees its numbers increase as more titles become available.
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