Everyone's wondering whether the PS4 or Xbox One is winning. Well, wonder no more. The answer is clear: the Wii U is winning.
The latest sales stats have been released, indicating that the Wii U's sales surge of 340% has helped put Nintendo's latest generation console past the 4 million SKU mark for their install base. This means that the Wii U is winning eighth generation gaming when it comes to market share.
The Wii U also has more games available, both first-party and third-party. The Wii U, in fact, as listed on Nintendo's own site, has more than 204 retail and digital games available for purchase. The Xbox One and PS4, meanwhile, each only have about a couple dozen titles in their respective libraries.
PS4 and Xbox One's small software libraries don't stack up well against the Wii U's offering, either. The Wii U launched with higher rated titles than the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One. The Xbox One and PS4 fare even worse in the software match-up when you factor in recent Wii U releases like Super Mario 3D World and Edge.
To top it all off, the Wii U is cheaper than the rival consoles. You can get the Wii U and a free game for $299.99. That's a hundred bucks cheaper than the PS4 and two hundred bucks cheaper than the Xbox One. The Wii U is also the only next-gen console with free multiplayer so even more affordable in the long run.
I'll admit that many of these advantages stem from the Wii U's year-long head start. The Wii U's had time to accumulate sales and games while its two primary competitors weren't even on the market yet. Both the PS4 and Xbox One had strong launches and it's not inconceivable that they'll catch up to the Wii U in sales eventually. We don't know anything for certain yet, though.
What really matters is what console is best for you right now. The answer is clearly the Wii U. It's cheaper, it has a larger software library and its games are better.
This argument seems like common sense but you won't hear it very often. We gaming journalists tend to get fixated on what's shiny and new. So, we focus on the PS4 and Xbox One. They're easy to line up: two consoles arriving within a month of each other that are successors to rivals from last generation. They both target the core audience and many of their best games are shared between both systems. And so, we compare. We compare the two console's prices, their launch titles, and their specs. We take constant stock of which console is winning.
It's not a two-way race, though. It's a three-way competition and right now the PS4 and Xbox One are both losing to the Wii U.
