NPD: some data for June 2016, Wii U sales, Super Smash Bros. (Wii U / 3DS), more

Usually, the NPD reveals new data for the American market on the second Friday of the month, but starting with June 2016, data is going to be “delayed” until the third Friday of the month. This is due to the NPD finally integrating digital sales, though those will not include those from certain publishers and platform holders (which includes Nintendo, unfortunately).

But today, we still got some proper data, courtesy of Aquamarine (from Gamrconnect). Thanks to her hard word, we have concrete sales data for the Wii U (and other home consoles for the 8th generation).

As usual, Wii U sales were anemic with only ~34 600 units sold: that’s a 50.7% drop compared to June 2015 (which already saw a 50% drop Year on Year). Revenue-wise, the Wii U generated $10.22 million, which is a 50.1% drop Year on Year.

Those sales come as no surprise, since Wii U sales have always been pretty poor. Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE wasn’t really going to change anything (same for the retail version of Minecraft, already available on more popular platforms), especially with Nintendo announcing that the NX platform would launch in March 2017… not to mention the desperately empty line-up for the rest of 2016.

Since launch, the Wii U has launched 5.27 million units, which is a massive drop compared to the Wii.

Nintendo sent a statement to GameInformer, revealing additional data. First, we have the Nintendo 3DS, with +39% in June 2016 (however, it’s not clear if this is Year on Year, or compared to May 2016). Two games performed pretty well:

• Kirby: Planet Robobot (#4 in the NPD retail charts)
• Rhythm Heaven: Megamix (#1 of sales on the Nintendo eShop for most of the month)

Finally, Nintendo revealed that Super Smash Bros. for Wii U had sold over 2 million units on Wii U, and 3 million units on Nintendo 3DS.