Today Nintendo released its Q3 financial results for the months of October through December. This quarter is always the most important for any business, as it encompasses the holiday season where consumers are most likely to buy. According to the report, the Wii U managed to move 1.91 million units during that time. This is a pretty huge improvement over the sales of both 2013 and 2014, as Nintendo was able to move almost as many consoles in a three-month period as they did in the nine-month period of April to December of those years. Sales for 2013 from April to December were 2.41 million, while in 2014 they were 3.03 million.
Despite these numbers, Nintendo is now in third place behind Sony and Microsoft in terms of console sales, despite having a year head start on both of them. Financials for Sony haven’t been released yet, but shortly after the holiday season Sony revealed it had sold 18.5 million consoles worldwide, smashing both Nintendo and Microsoft’s announcements. So far, Microsoft has only announced that the Xbox One has sold 10 million units.
So what’s responsible for the Wii U’s hefty sales this holiday season? Why, the games of course. According to the report, both Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. were instrumental in helping the Wii U achieve its sales this quarter. Mario Kart 8 has so far sold 4.77 million units worldwide since it released, while Super Smash Bros. achieved sales of 3.39 million units in a much shorter release window. We’ll be further analyzing the stats released by Nintendo, but if you want to see the report yourself, be sure to check it out here.