Wii U surpasses Xbox 360 in lifetime sales in Japan

It took a little longer than a year, but the Wii U has finally surpassed the Xbox 360 in lifetime sales in Nintendo's home country of Japan. According to latest Media Create figures, the Wii U sold 8,407 units last week, pushing its lifetime sales total in Japan to 1,643,095. That's just ahead of the Xbox 360's lifetime total of 1,641,528.

Looking ahead, it appears the gap between the two will only continue to grow, but that's to be expected given the age of the Xbox 360 and the territory we're comparing them in. Nintendo should really have its eyes set on Sony's PS4 which moved over 300,000 units at launch this past weekend. The Xbox One is expected to arrive in Japan later this year, but Microsoft has yet to offer a specific date.

In January, Nintendo slashed its financial forecasts for the current fiscal year and lowered its Wii U sales predictions from the original 9 million unit estimate to just 2.8 million units. With sales appearing to pick up of late, and the impending launch of Mario Kart 8 — one of Japan's "most-wanted games," things could turn around for Nintendo's Wii U.