It's widely agreed upon that the Nintendo Switch is more successful when compare to the Wii U. That opinion is backed up by data when we look at console sales numbers.

Note: For simplicity, this thread will be focusing on each console in North America. Data presented (sales, game lists, etc) will be regarding North America, although the overall trend discussed does appear world-wide.

The Wii U launched November 18th, 2012. From that date through the end of December 2013, there were 2.61 million units sold in NA during that time. Thirteen months.

The Nintendo Switch launched March 3rd, 2017. From that date through the end of December 2017, there were over 4.8 million units sold in NA. Ten months.

So in three less months, the Switch sold 2.19 million more units than the Wii U.

While the complete reasoning as to why the Switch has done far better than the Wii U has many aspects to it, a common one seen in discussion is that Nintendo supported the Switch better in the first year in terms of first party support.

Below is every first party title released on each console. I've expanded the charts to also include second party titles.

Chart Legend:

First Party - Developers are wholly owned by Nintendo.

Second Party - Developers are partially owned by or directly contracted to Nintendo.

Days Since - Days since the last first or second party title, not including the day of release.

Exclusivity - A console exclusive is available only on that console. A Nintendo exclusive is available on multiple Nintendo consoles. No exclusivity means available on multiple consoles in general.

Wii U

Nintendo Switch

Note: Not included was Snipperclips Plus, which released November 10th, 2017. Didn't think that basically the same title should be counted twice on the same console.

Analysis

• On release, both consoles have the exact same amount of first and second party titles (2 and 1).

• What's really interesting to see is that overall, the Wii U actually has the highest number of first and second party titles during its first year, although it's close (14 vs 11).

• When it comes to strictly first party titles, the Switch barely edges out (7 vs 6).

• Despite both consoles having nearly identical first and second party support, the Switch is felt to have far superior support by Nintendo.

• Of note is that a lot of Switch's first and second party party titles were already available on the Wii U (4).

A significant difference in the way Nintendo handled the first year support of the Switch is the frequency of first and second party releases. The Switch Wii U had a staggering gap of 120 days between launch and the next title, which was a second party title by technicality (Nintendo SPD helped with the development) and wasn't even an exclusive. The gap between launch and New Super Luigi U would be 215 days. Switch's gap between launch and new first/second party title was a much more manageable 56 days.

Wii U had frequent and large gaps between first and second party titles, especially at the beginning where a strong launch is very important for the adoption of a console. Meanwhile, Switch's titles were spaced throughout the year, with the largest gap being 63 days.

This assertion is more subjective, but I'd even go as far to say that the Wii U severely lacked major IPs in the first year, whereas the Switch brought out a lot of major titles throughout the year.

Conclusion

A big part of why the Switch was more successful in the first year of release than the Wii U is due to:

• Spacing out first and second party titles evenly through the year

• Attracting users with big IPs in the first year

Do keep in mind that the scope of this thread is limited. It only talks about the trend of each console within NA as opposed to the world at large. Additionally, it does not include the many other factors which likely contributed to each console's relative success or failure (marketing, pricing, availability, culture, etc).