In the competitive video game industry, companies like to be able to brag about the accomplishments they have achieved. Nintendo was able to proudly say that they have reached the milestone of selling 30 million units of the Nintendo Wii in North America alone. What does that mean? It means that even if you only took into effect a $200 price point, which a majority of Wii’s still sold at the original $250 price point, Nintendo has banked over $6 billion in sales. Just try to fathom that number. That is more than the GDP of many small nations.
The Wii also sets the record for being the fastest selling console to reach 30 million mark in only 45 months. The next fastest selling console took a full 60 months to reach that same number, over a year longer.
It’s quite an impressive milestone for a console that doesn’t appeal much to the hardcore market since they are often the ones spending the most on luxuries like video games during a down economy. It is also kind of shocking at of the top 10 First and Third Party games in terms of sales (shown below), most of the titles are geared at the casual market. While Microsoft and Sony battle back and forth over the hardcore audience, forcing them to split their funds picking one side over the other, Nintendo has the casual market all to itself.
Top 10 First Party Published Games
- Wii Play™
- Mario Kart™ Wii
- Wii Fit™ (with Wii Balance Board™ accessory)
- New Super Mario Bros.™ Wii
- Wii Sports Resort
- Super Smash Bros.™ Brawl
- Super Mario Galaxy™
- Wii Fit™ Plus (with Wii Balance Board™ accessory)
- Mario Party™ 8
- Link’s Crossbow Training
Top 10 Third Party Published Games
- Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock from Activision
- Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games from SEGA
- LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga from LucasArts
- Carnival Games from Take-Two Interactive
- Game Party from Midway
- EA Sports Active from Electronic Arts
- Just Dance from Ubisoft
- Rayman Raving Rabbids from Ubisoft
- Deca Sports from Hudson Entertainment
- Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games from SEGA
Congratulations to Nintendo for this milestone announcement. It is refreshing to see after the relative failure of the Gamecube during the last console cycle, they were not only able to rebound but utterly dominate the current console war.
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