Nintendo Wii U - sequel to the smash hit Wii | No trolling

[vickybat]

Exactly How Bad is the Nintendo Situation?
Today’s financial results reveal Wii U sales below even the most pessimistic expectations. But should we be worried about Nintendo?

Nintendo’s first-quarter financial results reveal that 160,000 Wii U consoles were sold in the entire world between the start of April and the end of June this year. I don’t think anyone was expecting a sudden resurgence after the grimace-worthy figures of the final three months of last financial year, but that is below even the most pessimistic expectations. It’s more shocking when you break it down by territory; of that paltry number, 90,000 were sold in Japan, 60,000 in the Americas, and just 10,000 in Europe, Australia and the rest of the world.

Less than 10,000 consoles in the whole of Europe in 3 months. That’s almost unbelievable. The older-gen consoles sell far more than that weekly. Software sales of just a touch over 1 million hardly ameliorate the situation. The Wii U launch was strong - 3 million in its first few months - but although it was widely known that sales had fallen right off a cliff since then, nobody knew it was this dire.

This is bad news. But how bad is it, exactly? Do we need to be seriously worried about Nintendo’s future?

Nice and straightforward article. Nintendo is far from getting bankrupt though.

 

[vickybat]

Nintendo continues to sell Wii U hardware at a loss

Nintendo rep confirms company is still losing money on every console sold.

Nintendo Needs to Pimp Out the Wii U

Nice article.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]dONco32sHxo[/YOUTUBE]

 

[CommanderShawnzer]

Nintendo President on PS4, Xbox One Launch Lineups: 'Meh' - IGN

It’s all about the games. The competitive systems have announced their launch lineups. I’m allowed to say ‘Meh,’” Fils-Aime said. “I look at our lineup of titles and I feel good about our lineup. We’ve got Zelda. We’ve got Mario. We’ve got Donkey Kong. In addition to great titles like Pikmin 3 and Wonderful 101,

Flamebait

 

[cyborg47]

Apply cold water on the burned area, dear Reggie.
and brace yourselves, the nintendo defenders are...I mean defender is coming!

 

[vickybat]

Wii U Price to Drop $50 in September

No matter what Satoru Iwata said in the past, eventually this decision was inevitable. Now some good games are needed.

 

[cyborg47]

*d24w6bsrhbeh9d.cloudfront.net/photo/axNVXLL_460s_v2.jpg

 

[T!M3]

Sales article Wii U has yet to launch in several Asian country and sales report is still very high

 

[vickybat]

Wii U hardware sales soar by 685% following Zelda HD launch

It seems these old franchises even in their rehash avatars, still have the potential of being system sellers.

 

[Extreme Gamer]

Wii U hardware sales soar by 685% following Zelda HD launch

It seems these old franchises even in their rehash avatars, still have the potential of being system sellers.

Zelda has a lot of fans who haven't played prev-gen games, you know.

Also, look at Nintendo's sales history. Their remasters have almost always done well.

The game is certainly not rehashed either. It isn't like Half Life: Source.

 

[vickybat]

What if the Wii U launched this month?

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

What about the Wii U?

The worst news yet for Wii U

Spoiler

All year long the bad news about Wii U sales has been offset to some extent by the hope that the next big Mario title would turn around the console’s fortunes. As it happened, Nintendo crafted a fairly majestic new title in “Super Mario 3D World,” which has been garnering rave reviews in recent days. This makes it all the more disappointing that the game sold just 99,600 copies during its debut week in Japan. “Super Mario Galaxy” sold 256,000 units in its debut week, and “Super Mario Galaxy 2″ shifted 337,000 units back in the day.

Of course, the installed base of Wii U is relatively weak, but the new Mario game boosted console sales from 16,000 a week ago to just 21,000 during its launch week. This 5,000 unit bump generated by what was expected to be the biggest Wii U game of the year is shockingly tepid. Particularly considering that the PlayStation 4 still won’t launch for several months in Japan.

It looks like Japanese consumers have started giving up on Wii U even before the new PlayStation arrives. This may be a fatal blow for Nintendo’s home console future; Wii U sales in North America and Europe are so weak that a big Wii U sales rebound in Nintendo’s home market is absolutely necessary to keep the console alive.

Of course, it is possible that a future Zelda title might revive Wii U — but the PS4 juggernaut is now starting to loom in the horizon. The relatively late launch date for Sony’s home console in Japan means that it will arrive with a formidable range of titles out of the gate. Of course, Nintendo is still triumphing in the portable console market — 3DS moved a fantastic 84,000 units in Japan in the latest week.

The problem is people are starting to get over that mario image. No matter how good the games may turn out to be, the series has lost its charm.
Its really alarming from a home console point of view for Nintendo.

 

[srkmish]

While i loved my wii, i think Nintendo should give up making hardware and concentrate solely on their game franchise releasing games on other 3 platforms (ms, sony, pc). Imagine a full hd zelda game - How awesome that would be

 

[bssunilreddy]

*d24w6bsrhbeh9d.cloudfront.net/photo/axNVXLL_460s_v2.jpg

Its just hilarious.

 

[vickybat]

Reggie-fils-aime-why-to-choose-wii-u-this-holiday-season

I don't find his statements convincing at all. Only a path-breaking new IP can do Nintendo some good. No matter how good a mario game turns out to be, it won't do Nintendo any good.
Super Mario 3d world for example, sold less than Knack. The former had received rave reviews, but couldn't translate that in sales.

Play Wii U for free at six airports this month

Nintendo Seen Missing Target as Sony-Microsoft Dwarf Wii U

Here's Why I Just Bought A Wii U Instead Of The PS4 Or Xbox One

Former Sony UK Dev on Knack Outselling Mario: “Releasing It The Same Day As PS4 In UK/EU Wasn’t Wise”

It was definitely a bad decision. They should have released it a month earlier. Releasing it on the same day as PS4 spelled doom.

Is this the end for the Wii U?

 

[vickybat]

Sony in Talks to Purchase Factory That Manufactures the Embedded DRAM “Heart” of the Wii U

Spoiler

One of the most important components of Nintendo’s Wii U is its embedded DRAM chip, that is considered the “heart” or the “life stone” of the console. That chip is manufactured at the state-of-the-art Renesas Electronics plant of Tsuruoka, in the Yamagata Prefecture, Japan.
Back in August we reported Renesas’ plans to close the factory due to the sluggish sales of the console, that caused a decline in production of the chip, that was responsible for more than half of the manufacturing load of the plant, but things may yet go differently.
Today several Japanese sources, starting with the morning edition of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper and followed by several reputable business sources like Toyo Keizai, Nikkei, Reuters, Sankei Digital, Mainichi and Asahi Digital, reported that Sony is currently in talks with Renesas for the acquisition of the Tsuruoka plant.
The process for the acquisition may start as early as next week, as Sony is said to plan using the well known expertise of the staff at the plant at Tsuruoka to bolster its production of CMOS sensors for smartphones, for which the company is already market leader worldwide.
A successful acquisition would bring hope for the 900 workers at the factory, that until today thought they were destined to lose their jobs in 2-3 years.
On the other hand, the effect of such an operation on the production of the embedded DRAM for the Wii U is unknown, even if Nintendo is said to have considerable stocks of the component, so the console shouldn’t suffer in the short term even if production of the chip at Tsuruoka were to be completely halted.

Dunno what's gonna happen to Nintendo after Sony takes over Renesa Electronics. This is where Nintendo's eDRAM chip is made.
The chip acts as a buffer between main memory and cpu, effectively increasing memory bandwidth. Its an essential component of the wii u.

Sony after taking over, is planning to build CMOS chips for its smartphones, worldwide. This might come as a boon for workers there, who don't have to fear of going jobless.
But it puts a big question mark on wii u's future. Where will the dram chip be manufactured after this? Or is Nintendo axing the wii u all together?

 

[Extreme Gamer]

*d24w6bsrhbeh9d.cloudfront.net/photo/axNVXLL_460s_v2.jpg

They've done it before, don't see why it can't happen now.

What if the Wii U launched this month?

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

What about the Wii U?

The worst news yet for Wii U


The problem is people are starting to get over that mario image. No matter how good the games may turn out to be, the series has lost its charm.
Its really alarming from a home console point of view for Nintendo.

I don't think it will be a fatal blow, that's for sure.

Reggie-fils-aime-why-to-choose-wii-u-this-holiday-season

I don't find his statements convincing at all. Only a path-breaking new IP can do Nintendo some good. No matter how good a mario game turns out to be, it won't do Nintendo any good.
Super Mario 3d world for example, sold less than Knack. The former had received rave reviews, but couldn't translate that in sales.

Play Wii U for free at six airports this month

Nintendo Seen Missing Target as Sony-Microsoft Dwarf Wii U

Here's Why I Just Bought A Wii U Instead Of The PS4 Or Xbox One

Former Sony UK Dev on Knack Outselling Mario: “Releasing It The Same Day As PS4 In UK/EU Wasn’t Wise”

It was definitely a bad decision. They should have released it a month earlier. Releasing it on the same day as PS4 spelled doom.

Is this the end for the Wii U?

I'd say releasing it earlier meant less bugtesting. It was a damned if we do, damned if we don't situation.

Sony in Talks to Purchase Factory That Manufactures the Embedded DRAM “Heart” of the Wii U


Dunno what's gonna happen to Nintendo after Sony takes over Renesa Electronics. This is where Nintendo's eDRAM chip is made.
The chip acts as a buffer between main memory and cpu, effectively increasing memory bandwidth. Its an essential component of the wii u.

Sony after taking over, is planning to build CMOS chips for its smartphones, worldwide. This might come as a boon for workers there, who don't have to fear of going jobless.
But it puts a big question mark on wii u's future. Where will the dram chip be manufactured after this? Or is Nintendo axing the wii u all together?

Pretty sure this will ring antitrust alarmbells, if Nintendo by any means has a contract for more DRAM chips. Or they could find a new manufacturer.

 

[heidi2521]

I hate to interrupt your circlejerk, but let me just point out a few things.

Launching the Wii U this month would be suicidal. Unlike megacorporations not solely focused on gaming trying to use gaming as a spearhead into the living room, Nintendo cannot afford to enter a billion dollar marketing bloodbath. Nintendo admitted to being hit hard by the US Presidential election, even though they are not in direct competition at all. The elections jacked up prices for spots across all networks , even though many of them don't even feature political ads. Like Reggie said, right now the game sales are not based on quality as much as hype.

That link from BGR (the site that contended that Nintendo was doomed because the 3DS bought Japan) is utter BS because it completely neglected to mention that Mario sales are not frontloaded and that the game managed to sell between 40 - 60% of its shipment in the first week, according to Famitsu. In fact the Wii U sales continued to rise after the Super Mario 3D World release week even though platform sales typically fall after the spike due to a release of a major title. The site also ignores digital sales data that would bump up 3D World numbers.

The bloomberg link also is extrapolating UK data to ROTW, while we know that the PS4 hasn't outsold the Wii U in the Americas yet and isn't even out in the country where games are made. 1.1mn vs. ~2mn. They neglect to mention that the initial sales projection for the Wii U was made when it had only 3 bad months on the market and before it was known that 3rd parties would either half-ass their Wii U projects or straight up cancel it. It wasn't lowered in the H1 meet because it would send a poor signal to retail before their crucial holiday period. Most analysts see through this and firms like JP Morgan Chase are predicting that Nintendo will sharply lower their forecast in accordance with the holiday sales after the december shopping period is over.

????.com - ??????????? TOP30 (click 先週 in the 期間 menu for last week's sales data). The difference between Media-Create and Famitsu numbers can be attributed to the fact that Famitsu tracks POSA cards while MC doesn't.

It may come as a surprise, but the UK is not the center of the world and the president of NOA isn't responsible for what happens in that market. Comparing a front loaded launch title with forced bundling on a supply constrained console in Nintendo's weakest market in Nintendo's weakest major region is totally fair amirite? Lets just ignore that Mario outsold Knack in other european markets like Scandinavia and Germany.

And what do you presume would have happened if Nintendo left their holiday release slate blank to avoid launching against the Paywall Twins? They already had The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD to give what minimal sales momentum they could get out of the system in the UK in October. But nope, they should have loaded that even more and let the Wii U have absolutely blank slate for ROTY.

videogamer.com is also extrapolating UK data to ROTW and ignoring other markets for which we don't have data yet. The website also neglects to mention that ALBW's relatively low chart position was due to the fact that it was released against the Xbox One which inflated the chart numbers and that (unlike Japan) Zelda does better on consoles than on Handhelds in the west. We don't have American sales data yet, but in countries other than the UK where we do have sales data (Japan, mainland EU), Super Mario 3D World has helped the consoles sales momentum. It won't single handedly save the Wii U but the cries of it being a failure, especially this early in its life, are utter bullcrap.

Dualshockers is blowing the whole DRAM thing out of proportion too, as this article: (Sony Considering Purchase of Factory That Manufactured Wii U eDRAM - Wii U News @ Nintendo Life) points out.

Bearing all of that in mind, and the fact that Renesas initially began to discuss closure and selling the facility back in August, it's highly unlikely this will be an issue for Wii U manufacturing. It's notable that not one of the Japanese industry sources reporting on this potential Sony acquisition (that we were able to translate) mention Nintendo in any way, reinforcing that this is a standard part of manufacturing business.

But whatever floats your boat, man.

Now excuse me while I enjoy gaming in rock solid 60 FPS without a single frame drop and having to deal with paywalls and microtransactions.

Edit: Week 49 German Charts:

Spoiler

01 (NE) PS3 GRAN TURISMO 6 (SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT)
02 (09) PS3 CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTS (ACTIVISION BLIZZARD)
03 (11) PS3 FIFA 14 (ELECTRONIC ARTS)
04 (15) WII JUST DANCE 2014 (UBISOFT)
05 (10) PS3 ASSASSIN'S CREED IV - BLACK FLAG (UBISOFT)
06 (08) PS3 GRAND THEFT AUTO V (TAKE - TWO INTERACTIVE)
07 (04) WIU SUPER MARIO 3D WORLD (NINTENDO)
08 (24) WII SKYLANDERS: SWAP FORCE - STARTER PACK (ACTIVISION BLIZZARD)
09 (18) PS3 BATTLEFIELD 4 (ELECTRONIC ARTS)
10 (13) 3DS PROFESSOR LAYTON UND DAS VERMÄCHTNIS VON ASLANT (NINTENDO)
11 (20) 3DS ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW LEAF (NINTENDO)
12 (12) 3DS THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: A LINK BETWEEN WORLDS (NINTENDO)
13 (03) PS4 FIFA 14 (ELECTRONIC ARTS)
14 (17) PS3 NEED FOR SPEED: RIVALS (ELECTRONIC ARTS)
15 (19) 3DS POKÉMON Y (NINTENDO)
16 (22) 3DS POKÉMON X (NINTENDO)
17 (16) PC ASSASSIN'S CREED IV - BLACK FLAG (UBISOFT)
18 (32) 3DS MARIO KART 7 (NINTENDO)
19 (33) 3DS NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. 2 (NINTENDO)
20 (06) PS4 ASSASSIN'S CREED IV - BLACK FLAG (UBISOFT)
21 (21) PC BATTLEFIELD 4 (ELECTRONIC ARTS)
22 (36) 360 FIFA 14 (ELECTRONIC ARTS)
23 (35) 3DS LUIGI'S MANSION 2 (NINTENDO)
24 (NE) 3DS BRAVELY DEFAULT (NINTENDO)
25 (45) PS3 SKYLANDERS: SWAP FORCE - STARTER PACK (ACTIVISION BLIZZARD)
26 (01) PS4 BATTLEFIELD 4 (ELECTRONIC ARTS)
27 (25) 360 ASSASSIN'S CREED IV - BLACK FLAG (UBISOFT)
28 (43) 3DS LEGO CITY UNDERCOVER: THE CHASE BEGINS (NINTENDO)
29 (28) 360 GRAND THEFT AUTO V (TAKE - TWO INTERACTIVE)
30 (27) 360 CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTS (ACTIVISION BLIZZARD)
31 (41) WIU WII PARTY U (NINTENDO)
32 (42) WII FIFA 14 - LEGACY EDITION (ELECTRONIC ARTS)
33 (07) PS4 CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTS (ACTIVISION BLIZZARD)
34 (23) 3DS PROFESSOR LAYTON UND DIE MASKE DER WUNDER (NINTENDO)
35 (29) PC CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTS (ACTIVISION BLIZZARD)
36 (57) 3DS SUPER MARIO 3D LAND (NINTENDO)
37 (47) 360 MINECRAFT - XBOX 360 EDITION (AK TRONIC)
38 (39) XBO FORZA MOTORSPORT 5 (MICROSOFT)
39 (38) PS3 DIABLO III (ACTIVISION BLIZZARD)
40 (34) XBO BATTLEFIELD 4 (ELECTRONIC ARTS)
41 (40) PC NEED FOR SPEED: RIVALS (ELECTRONIC ARTS)
42 (52) PC LANDWIRTSCHAFTS-SIMULATOR 2013 (ASTRAGON))
43 (54) 360 BATTLEFIELD 4 (ELECTRONIC ARTS)
44 (14) PS4 NEED FOR SPEED: RIVALS (ELECTRONIC ARTS)
45 (02) PS4 KILLZONE: SHADOW FALL (SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT)
46 (44) XBO RYSE - SON OF ROME (MICROSOFT)
47 (26) PS3 BEYOND: TWO SOULS (SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT)
48 (59) WII MARIO KART WII INKL. LENKRAD (NINTENDO)
49 (65) WII THE VOICE OF GERMANY (NINTENDO)
50 (68) WII NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. WII (NINTENDO)

We can clearly see that Knack is selling so much that MediaBiz decided to take it off the charts while Super Mario 3D World declines to No. 7.

 

[vickybat]

Nintendo Has To Sell 2 Million Wii Us Per Month To Reach Its Goal

Spoiler

A source close to NPD has confirmed to IGN that 222,700 Wii U consoles were sold in the United States in November.

The last official Wii U sales number reported by Nintendo was 3.91 million worldwide as of late October. Combined with this new 222,000 and weekly sales in Japan and Europe since the beginning of November, we estimate that Nintendo has sold approximately 4.3 million Wii U consoles worldwide to date.

Nintendo previously announced that it's aiming to sell 9 million Wii Us worldwide during its 2014 fiscal year (which concludes on March 31, 2014). Nintendo sold 160,000 systems in the first quarter and 300,000 units in the second quarter. Added to this new 222,000, this means Nintendo would need to sell an additional 8.3 million Wii Us before the end of March in order to reach its goal, or between 2.0-2.1 million consoles per month in December, January, February and March.

Earlier this month, analysts predicted that Nintendo "will likely miss" its profit goals for Wii U. Market research firm DFC Intelligence also recently predicted that Wii U will sell 25 percent as well as Wii.

In response to yesterday’s NPD report, Nintendo simply said that “sales of Wii U hardware increased by more than 340 percent over sales in October,” but declined to provide specific sales figures officially. Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America executive vice president of sales and marketing, commented on NPD results by noting that, “in looking at these results, two things are indisputable: Our hardware is gaining momentum at the exact right time and our software catalog is stronger than ever.”

IGN spoke with Jesse Divnich, VP of Insights at EEDAR, about Wii U's current fortunes. Given potential supply limitations for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, we asked if Nintendo could see a boost this holiday season. "Even with the hardware constraints of the new hardware, Nintendo has their own battles to contend with but certainly they are not operating under favorable conditions with all the visibility and marketing the new platforms are getting," Divnich said.

When asked if a hardware price drop could be a potential solution, Divnich commented, "Hardware price drops should always be a last resort. They are permanent and have considerable impacts on the bottom line. That being said, price drops do increase hardware sales and both retailers and consumers will always pressure for lower price points, but it may not always be conducive to a healthy bottom line. I believe if Nintendo could drop the price without negatively impacting their bottom-line they would have. Once conditions are right, they are likely to drop the price again."

Wii U launched in November 2012 in North America and Europe, followed by a December 2012 launch in Japan. PlayStation 4, which launched on November 15, 2013 in the U.S., has sold 2.1 million units globally as of the beginning of this month, and Xbox One, which launched worldwide a week later, sold 2 million consoles globally in 18 days.

It’s worth noting that some of Nintendo’s biggest franchises will come in the first quarter of 2014, including Mario Kart 8 in Spring 2014 and Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze on February 21. Additional Wii U titles on the horizon include the next Super Smash Bros. as well as a new Zelda, which is expected to debut at E3 2014.

"We should anticipate a small uptick in hardware sales as Nintendo’s first party software has shown the ability to increase hardware sales," Divnich commented.

We’ve reached out to Nintendo regarding Wii U’s sales to date and whether or not the target of nine million is expected to be revised. We’ll update this story with any comment we receive.

The 12 Best Games For The Wii U

Wii U 2013 Gift Buyer's Guide

 

[cyborg47]

Poor Nintendo.

 

[vickybat]

No one is playing Super Mario 3D World – a historical look at Mario series sales figures

Spoiler

It’s not shocking that Super Mario 3D World is performing below expecations given the meager install base of the Wii U, plus new consoles from Microsoft and Sony releasing in the same time frame. Despite the doom and gloom that’s been surrounding Nintendo in the media, Nintendo is not in bad shape as whole. The 3DS is performing well and 2013 has proved to be one of the best years ever for a Nintendo platform. All in all, Nintendo is still a profitable company.

Still, to see a flagship Mario title end up a commercial flop is hard to stomach. It’s never happened before, at least not in terms of traditional releases (I’ve not accounted for re-releases). Take a look at the sales chart below which tracks sales of every core game in the Mario series starting from the original game on the NES:

*i.imgur.com/Y8B9oLa.gif

Thanks to hardware bundles, Super Mario Bros. U managed to garner over two million in sales. Standing on its own, 3D World has moved less than half a million units worldwide since its release nearly a month ago. It’s very possible that Nintendo could announce a significant price drop on the Wii U and include 3D World as part of a bundle, which would undoubtedly generate a spike in sales. As it stands, and as someone who has been playing Mario games since the days of the NES, it’s a bit alarming to see a Mario game going mostly unnoticed within the wider community.

There are plenty of people calling for Nintendo to exit the hardware business (at least console hardware, not necessarily portables) and focus solely on developing games. Even though I hated the Wii last generation, I was never behind the “exit” argument because I still felt that there was a place in the world for a Nintendo console. I love that Nintendo’s underlying philosophy is about making games that anyone, regardless of what demographic they’re a part of, can enjoy and have fun with.

But looking at the numbers, it’s plain to see that things are different now. Even though the Nintendo 64 got its ass kicked by the PlayStation, and the GameCube got trounced by the Xbox and PS2, people still flocked to the new Mario games in droves. In the case of Super Mario 3D World, the industry is the largest its ever been, with millions of new people playing video games compared to just five years ago, and yet it’s the worst selling game in the series (again, things may pick up if Nintendo uses a hardware price drop/bundle strategy).

I want more people to play Super Mario 3D World. It’s a brilliant, imaginative game that deserves to be experienced by the masses. The question is, what will it take to make that happen?

 

[Extreme Gamer]

Wii U Sales increase 340%, Pass 4 million SKU install base.

“Oh, the Wii U is failing... it's failing I tell you! It's Jimmies are rustled out! You can't revive Nintendo! Nintendo is doomed! The Wii U is dead! The world is over, the world is over!” that's what it sounds like in most core circles whenever Nintendo and the Wii U are brought into the discussion. Doomsday talk that would make most apocalyptic Mayan fanboys scoff in dismay.

Wii U sales rise 340 percent over October

No one is playing Super Mario 3D World – a historical look at Mario series sales figures

They don't reveal their source for their figures and they forget to mention that these are sales figures in the US only. I tried posting in their comments section but the only option I can use doesn't work.

EDIT: I'm also going to call out the shenanigans of this graph, which at first glance is very misleading:

*gamingtrend.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/mario-chart-620x375.gif
First of all, it's talking about a declining trend, which cannot be stated with such a bullshit chart where the domain is different from what is being looked at. Instead of comparing sales along a certain period of time, it is comparing total probable sales for different games in their lifetimes. This is ridiculous.

After that, it rearranges the titles not according to their release dates, but according to their sales figures. Obviously needed to support gloom and doom bullshit.

Also, New Super Mario Bros. U sold 2.15mn in March 2013.

According to Gamestop (article linked above),

On the software side, Super Mario 3D World sold more than 215,000 combined digital and physical units. Notably, the game launched on November 22, so this figure only includes eight days' worth of sales.

Not quite the 50,000 unit mark that that article, which has no credibility, states. Even Nintendo in it's press release states that the game sold 215k units in North America.

In Japan alone, the cumulative sales figures are 18万5571本, which means 185571units. The 万 literally means 10,000 and you multiply the number before it and add what is after. Much more condensed than 十八万五千五百七十一 (font size decreased). These figures only include download vouchers and physical copies. They don't include direct online sales. Still goes to show you can't trust everything online at face value.

Also, Mario games sell forever. So that comparison is utter rubbish in this context.

Digital Foundry vs. Super Mario 3D World

Regarded by many as one of the finest games of 2013, Super Mario 3D World serves to remind us of a day when console games were released as complete, polished products free of day-one patches and DLC. It also marks Nintendo's first full 3D Mario outing on an HD console, finally allowing the series aesthetic to break free of its standard-definition shackles. We already know the game itself lives up to expectations, but the technology behind 3D World plays a critical role in that success.