Ubisoft was the biggest third party supporter of the Wii U. When the console launched, Ubisoft had no less than 6 games ready, one of them was an exclusive (ZombiU).
However, since then, as Wii U sales failed to gain steam, Ubisoft’s support has dwindled. The company’s recent quarterly earnings show just how bad it has gotten: For the last quarter, the original Wii accounted for 2% of the company’s global sales.
That doesn’t sound like much but it’s better than the Wii U, which accounted for just 1% of Ubisoft’s sales. By comparison, the PS4 accounted for 27%, the PC for 20%, and Xbox One for 12%.
It’s not surprising that the Wii U isn’t a big games seller for third party publishers, what is surprising is that it’s beaten by its predecessor. The Wii will soon be entering its 10th year (Nintendo discontinued the Wii U in 2013).
The reason the Wii is doing better than the Wii U, despite being older, is that there are over 100 million Wii consoles out there, while there are just over 10 million Wii U consoles on the market.
Recent Japanese sales charts showed the Wii U holding steady as the 4th best selling console, moving some 9,000 units last month. It’s outsold by the PS4 (1st spot), the 3DS (2nd) and PS VIta (3rd).
