More than 300,000 Wii U units sold during launch weekend in Japan, Mario game remains top-seller

By: Muhammad Qasim Hassan

  |   December 12th, 2012   |  

Uncategorized

Impressive launch weekend sales for Wii U in Japan. Becomes seventh biggest launch in hardware history for the region. New Super Mario Bros. U remains top-seller.

The first-ever high-definition (HD) console from Nintendo hit Japan on Saturday, December 8, after keeping the consumers in the region waiting three weeks more than the North American consumers, who were able to get their hands on the console starting November 18.

This, however, seemed to have taken the hunger of Japanese consumers to new heights, who wasted no time to get their hands on Wii U.

The Wii U launch weekend in Japan turned out to be a memorable one for Nintendo as more than 300,000 units got sold in a matter of just 48 hours.

According to the date from Famitsu and Enterbrain, the console sold 308, 570 units during the launch weekend, while further suggesting that the figures make Wii U’s launch the seventh biggest in Japan’s gaming hardware history.

Even though the Wii U’s launch weekend impact was not as solid as the one made by its predecessor Wii, which sold a slightly higher 371, 936 units during its first-two days of hitting the shelves in Japan, it was still pretty impressive.

Wii U sold more than 400,000 units during its first week of launch in the US. For the sales to cross the 300,000 mark in just a matter of two days in Japan, there is hardly any doubt left in one’s mind about the amount of love that the Japanese consumers have for Nintendo products.

Aside from the number of sales that Wii U made during its launch weekend, the data by Famitsu and Enterbrain revealed the titles that remained most popular over the weekend.

According to the data, New Super Mario Bros. U was the top-seller, with 170, 563 units getting sold during the period. 55 percent of the consumers who purchased the new Nintendo console bought a copy of the new Mario game as well.

This attach rate was slightly less than the one that was seen in the US, where 60 percent of the Wii U buyers walked away with a copy of New Super Mario Bros. U as well.

Following up the new Mario game was Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. The latter sold 110, 159 copies during its first 48 hours of launch. 36 percent of the Wii U buyers also purchased a copy of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate.

With Wii U making such a strong impact in the Japanese market in just two days, Nintendo would surely be keeping its fingers crossed and hoping for the launch weekend to be just a trailer of what is to come in the future.

With the likes of Rayman Legends and new 3D Zelda game still in the pipeline, it seems highly unlikely to see a drop in popularity of Wii U in the near-future.