The Wii and the Wii U are about as different as is possible from a sales perspective. The Wii repeatedly sold out for months, even years, after its release. The Wii U, on the other hand, simply doesn’t have the same appeal. A few months after its release Nintendo’s new console dropped like a rock on the sales charts.
In fact, at this point it has dropped below the original Wii! According to a recent earnings report, the big N shipped 160,000 Wii U systems worldwide in the past quarter, and still managed to ship 210,000 original Wii’s. Software sales back up these numbers, with 1.03 million Wii U software titles shipped as compared to 3.67 million Wii software titles shipped.
Nintendo has indicated that the Wii U’s slow start is a result of so few first party titles being offered for the console. Killer apps like Smash Bros. have not hit the market yet. Though, the upcoming Super Mario 3D World may qualify for some people. Still, huge game breakers like Zelda and Metroid are absent from the platform.
Source: Shacknews