According to analysts from Strategy Analytics, the Wii U will sell around 19 million units by 2019. Since we’ll likely see Wii U’s successor by that time, it means they don’t believe the Wii U will sell more than 19 million units during its lifetime.
By comparison, they expect the PlayStation 4 to sell 80 million units, and the Xbox One 57 million units by 2019. Here’s what the analysts had to say about Wii U and the current console race:
“Nintendo’s Wii U will trail a long way behind its rivals – it is looking more and more like Nintendo struck lucky with the original Wii, after failing with the GameCube and now the Wii U. Nintendo must decide if it is going to let the console business remain a two-way battle when the next generation comes along – I suspect it won’t but it will be sorely hurt by its latest experience.”
While we can understand the notion that the Wii U will only sell 19 million by 2019 — if continues at its current pace, that’s a probable number. However, you can never dismiss Nintendo when it comes to great games that turn out to be system sellers. And saying that Nintendo was “lucky” with the original Wii is pretty disrespectful — Nintendo dared to try something new with the Wii, and it paid off.
The Wii U has often been compared to the GameCube in terms of its place in the market and its sales. In fact, the Wii U is trailing behind the GameCube in sales during the first two years. The GameCube eventually went on to sell almost 22 million units after being on the market from 2001 to 2007.
Even if Nintendo launches a Wii U successor (and there have been plenty of indications towards that) in the next few years, it’s likely that they’ll still be selling the Wii U for a while. Nintendo kept selling the GameCube for a full year after the original Wii was released.
