It seems reports of the Wii U‘s demise might just be premature. Nintendo‘s home console has seen it’s sales rise by more than 200 % for the month of September.
Nintendo recently dropped the price of its Wii U by $50 to $299.99. The company also began offering a Wii U bundle with The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker in September. The price drop and excitement over the new exclusive and bundle are thought to be the causes of the uptick in sales.
While the Wii U’s sales are up, it still trails the Sony’s Playstation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360, and it will face the new consoles from both companies this Holiday season. Sony unseated Microsoft in September, selling more PS3’s than Xbox 360s for the first time in 32 months.
Hopefully the big N can keep the exclusives coming, at least enough to keep the Wii U in the game long enough for the Wii – V to come out! (I kid, I kid)
For more information, Nintendo’s press release follows below:
Oct. 17, 2013
Nintendo 3DS Repeats at No. 1, Wii U Responds Following Price Cut
Nintendo enters the critical holiday selling season with strong momentum, as Nintendo 3DS finished as the best-selling video game system in the U.S. for the fifth consecutive month and Wii U enjoyed new momentum following a price cut.
On Oct. 15, Nintendo revealed that Pokémon X and Pokémon Y, which launched globally on Oct. 12, combined to sell more than 4 million units worldwide during its first two days on the market. A full breakdown of U.S. sales for the games, as well as the new Nintendo 2DS handheld, which launched on the same day, will be included in next month’s NPD report. In addition to the latest Pokémon adventure, Nintendo 3DS fans have two exciting games on the horizon, both launching on Nov. 22: The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and Mario Party: Island Tour.
On Sept. 20, Nintendo reduced the price of the Wii U Deluxe Set by $50 to a suggested retail price of $299.99 and introduced a limited-edition bundle that features a download code for a digital copy of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD. Sales of Wii U hardware in September increased by more than 200 percent over sales in August, and that is with only 15 days of data being reported at the new price. Over the next few weeks and months, Wii U fans can look forward to playing Wii Party U (Oct. 25), Wii Fit U (Nintendo eShop, Nov. 1) Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games (Nov. 15) and Super Mario 3D World (Nov. 22).
*Data regarding physical sales of games in September are from the NPD Group. Data regarding digital downloads of games and combined physical/digital life-to-date numbers are from Nintendo’s internal sales figures. All numbers, unless otherwise stated, are specific to the United States only.
[Via: Nintendo]