Wii U lifetime global sales forecast lowered to 25 million by market analysis firm

By Stephany Nunneley

DFC Intelligence, which provides worldwide market forecasts for the videogame industry, has lowered its Wii U lifetime global sales forecast to 25 million.

Speaking with GI International ahead of its forecast report which releases on December 3, analyst David Cole believes Wii U’s total sales at the end of its liftetime will only be a quarter of Wii’s over 100 million units.

“We are once again lowering our outlook for the Wii U,” he said. “Right now it is looking to do about what the GameCube (22 million) did during its lifespan which is mainly be another system for Nintendo first party product.

“I think Nintendo is carving out a different audience. I think that being said it is the right strategy. The audience they are going after is not the ones that Sony and Microsoft are going after. Right now they need to go after Nintendo fans first. They should have done that last year but better late than never. It is the right approach, but really, Nintendo now is just trying to do as well as the GameCube so they have a base to sell first party software.”

Billy Pidgeon, and independent analyst, agreed and felt Nintendo launching three titles at once on November 22 – The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Party Island Tour – was a “smart move” despite the release of Xbox One hitting retail on the same day.

“Yes, Xbox One also launches on November 22nd, but major game retail events can energize consumers to buy more games and hardware,” said Pidgeon. “There’s an audience waiting for these Nintendo titles, and Mario and Zelda have system-selling potential.

“It’s a good move to get these games out before the holiday season kicks in on Black Friday, a tactic that Sony and Microsoft are employing for their eight generation console launches. Wii U hardware sales need a boost, and Super Mario 3D World will help. Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. releases in 2014 will also help, as will more value added bundles and hardware price cuts.”

Xbox One launches tomorrow and PS4 launches in Europe on November 29.