Xbox 360 Sold More Units Than The Nintendo Wii U In November | Hacker News Reader

Xbox 360 Sold More Units Than The Nintendo Wii U In November

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18 pointsderpenxyne41 comments

Considering the Wii U was on sale for 12 days in November, and the 360 was on sale for the whole month, this isn't as bad as it sounds. And as the article mentions, it's been in and out of stock in many locations (though certainly not to the degree the first Wii was).

Exactly and if you factor that into the figures then you see it did better.

Let us not forget that bundle deals with lots of games there mates have will be a weighted factor for 360 sales for many, especialy given the Wii is new. Also I suspect that many Wii U sales were to owners who already own a Wii.

I think the only fair comparision in sales will be in the new year, once the dust has setteled and a truer sales picture can be obtained.

Nintendo’s latest export has completely exhausted its initial inventory of stock [..] Moreover, the Wii U only had a couple of weeks on sale in November

So, it was only on sale for part of the month, and it sold out quickly, leaving consumers unable to buy. OK, so it's a pretty much useless comparison, then?

I'm highly skeptical of the claim that it sold out. Both Wii U SKUs are easily available in most of the US right now. Supplies were constrained initially, but that has more to do with scalpers buying up every preorder in anticipation of another Wii-style fad, which has clearly not happened. If you look at Wii U auctions on eBay, the few auctions that complete have been selling essentially for cost once eBay fees are factored in.

1.26 million Xbox 360s vs. 425,000 Wii U. Seems to me the Wii wouldn't have caught up even if they'd had more time and more inventory.

Since it is an improper comparison, what do you base your hypothesis on exactly?

It may have only been on shelves for 12 days, but people were free to preorder it all month, so you can't just divide the total sales by 12 and apply that to the other 18 days.

Also, a lot of people probably bought it for resale since it's the holiday season and the first new console in 6 years. Prices on Ebay are barely above retail though, so demand doesn't actually seem to be outpacing supply by very much.

If it had been on sale the entire month and (assuming) they maintained the same rate of sales as it did the 12 or so days it was available, it would have sold around 1.06M units.

I would imagine they could have made up the 200K difference their had been more inventory.

Please, please let this be a lesson to Microsoft that gamers aren't interested in gimmicks, and that the casuals who do want gimmicks are far more fickle.

The "lesson" is that the WiiU was sold out and on sale for less than two weeks. It's noncomparable data for any conclusion other than "the WiiU found its price point for the consumers who find it interesting."

That's right, REAL gamers only want ascii characters and play games that have development trees that stretch 10-30 years back!

Oh wait, you meant something else, didn't you?

Get off my lawn, kid!

(I own a Wii and a bunch of games for it, it's much nicer to play with the family, although Dwarf Fortress with my son sometimes happens.)

The did all right with there casual gimmick - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12697975

I think that remains to be seen. It sold extremely well, but it was also the only console hardware released in several years and came in several bundles. Not to mention the hacking/non-gaming uses many people bought it for.

Besides, how many Kinect games are in the top 50 for Xbox 360? Zero. And how many of your gamer friends play Kinect games? I'm betting it's close to zero.

What gimmicks are you talking about? They offered a deal on xbox 360 and people found it good enough to buy.

I'm referring to the Wii motion control and the Wii U GamePad. Traditional gamers don't find those appealing, yet it seems to be where Nintendo has focused a significant portion of their development and marketing attention.

Just curious, why wouldn't traditional gamers like the game pad? I can understand the disdain for motion controls, but personally I quite like the idea of the game pad.

It's somewhat awkward/clumsy and makes controlling standard games more difficult. Sure, in "Super Swipe Dart Throwing!" you'll have better control because of the touch screen, but no one would ever choose it over a PS3/360 controller for something like Call of Duty.

Well, coming from a PC background (CS, Q3 etc), playing FPS games is already extremely awkward on the PS3/360 controllers, so I don't really think that's a great example. Actually, I'd rather use the touch screen like a giant track pad to aim in an FPS (if I can move and fire with the other hand). I also think it adds a lot to managing inventory, switching weapons etc. I haven't tried it though, so could be more awkward than it looks.

"Traditional gamers" are an increasingly small market when compared to "casual gamers", though.

But traditional gamers often spend more money than casual gamers over a longer period of time. Casual gamers are more inclined towards single experiences (Wii Fit) whereas traditional gamers often prefer to try many, many games, often at launch price.

Zynga begs to differ. "Traditional gamers" are here to stay. The same can't be said for casual gamers.

The categories themselves are pretty polarizing. I consider myself "casual" when it comes to the time investment and active engagement required for MMOs and certain big budget titles, but "traditional" to "hardcore" when it comes to the indie games I buy off Steam.

Linkbait title since the Wii U wasn't on sale for the full month and stock levels were low. I can't foresee a similar article after December.

The 360 is on sale in a games bundle for $99. I was thinking of picking an extra one up just because.

The Wii U is a much bigger ticket item.

that deal is only if you signup for multi-year xbox live membership i believe.

Better than a 299 PC with two years of AOL I guess.

My how the times have changed.

I'm not surprised. Still don't understand the value proposition of the Wii U, despite the heavy PR and marketing currently in effect.

Why buy a Wii U when you can play your iPhone/iPod/Android and probably have an XBOX/PS3 already?

Because first party Nintendo games still have some love and heart put into them, in stark contrast to a lot of the "AAA" titles on their biennial churn (Level 5 are one of the few others who keep franchises going yet manage to keep the quality up).

Granted there is a lot of good indie work on mobile but it's not a like for like, we aren't discussing the DS here.

Anyone know the accurate count of total units shipped for the 360? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Console_wars#Worldwide_sales_fi... shows PS3 outselling by a hair xbox, but i've seen far more people w/x360 than ps3.

> but i've seen far more people w/x360 than ps3.

That would make sense if you live in the U.S. The PS3 is ahead worldwide, but the 360 is winning by a landslide in the U.S.

This isn't actually true. Numbers from around the world are hazy but it looks like the 360 is ahead worldwide by a million or so. The lead will be extended over the holiday with Sony potentially surpassing next year since jan-sep are the months Sony outsells the 360 worldwide.

Indeed, in my completely anecdotal experience, the Sony products (PS3, PSP, Vita) seem far more popular overseas (especially in Japan) than the 360. Microsoft has had a hard time getting the 360 going in Japan.

The 360 has sold way better in the US, while the PS3 has sold better in Europe and Japan. Their individual advantages and weaknesses evens out pretty much. Overall, the trend seems to be that the European market is becoming as important as the US market, while Japan is increasingly insignificant (every new generation sells less in Japan)

why did i get downvoted for asking a legitimate and relevant question to this thread? I'll never understand you HNers...

Yes, but how many of those 360 sales were actually repeat sales because the owner's previous 360 decided to red-ring?

answer: At least one.

Not sure how that makes much of a difference, other than the fact that they still chose to purchase a 360 over the PS3 or Wii U after such a hardware failure.

It does make a difference, since the person is already locked-in by owning games for the 360.

The 360 has the highest games-to-console attach rate of any system ever. If repeat buyers are a significant portion of 360 sales then the 360's attach rate would be absolutely insane. Therefore it's easy to reason that broken consoles make up a very small percentage of total units sold.

I don't follow the video game industry at all, so forgive my ignorance. After looking up 'attach rate', I'm not sure I agree with you, though I do believe I follow your logic.

Playing devils advocate they are locked-in to a 7+ year old platform. A fact I've heard being lamented a lot lately.

I would imagine there would be a lot of gamers that like the idea of newer tech / concepts and would get the Wii U.

That said, the Wii U controls are just... odd.

I wonder how much of that is the stupid, stupid name. Or the DRM. Probably not much I guess, but there is a good chance this is the first Nintendo console I'll sit out since ever, and those are the sole reasons in roughly equal measure.

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