Nintendo Wii Sales Hit 30 Million In US

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Aug 11, 5:44AM EDT · Published Aug 10, 5:58PM EDT

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Nintendo Wii sales have not been particularly spectacular recently. The console is aged and the Sony (NYSE SNE) PS3 and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Xbox 360 have new features and have sharply cut retail prices.

The Nintendo public relations staff could not contain itself and put out data on the total sales of the Wii which are no longer relevant now that the platform is struggling for sales.

For those who care:

NINTENDO’S WII VIDEO GAME SYSTEM REACHES 30 MILLION SALES MILESTONE

Aug. 10, 2010

Nintendo’s internal sales figures show that the Wii™ video game system has now sold 30 million units in the United States alone. This significant milestone was reached in just 45 months. This further establishes Wii as the fastest-selling console in the history of the industry, reaching this milestone 15 months faster than the next best-selling console.

Wii launched in November 2006 and ushered in a new era of video games. The built-in motion controls of the iconic Wii Remote™ controller drew millions of new players to the world of video games. Kids started playing with their parents and grandparents, people got up off the couch and got active, and seniors and baby boomers formed virtual bowling leagues.

“More than any other video game system in history, Wii has expanded the world of video games to new audiences,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “This milestone is another reminder that people want fun games they can play with others – all at a value-minded price.”

To continue building on this foundation, Wii has a strong slate of games on the way for the fall. These include Metroid™: Other M on Aug. 31, Samurai Warriors™ 3 on Sept. 27, Kirby’s Epic Yarn™ and Wii Party™ this fall, and Donkey Kong Country™ Returns, FlingSmash™ and PokéPark™ Wii: Pikachu’s Adventure for the holidays. That’s in addition to New Carnival Games® from 2K Play in September, NBA JAM from EA Sports in October, GoldenEye 007™ from Activision and Just Dance® 2 from Ubisoft this fall, and Disney Epic Mickey from Disney Interactive Studios and Sonic Colors™ from SEGA during the holidays.

The Wii video game system is now available in either black or white at a suggested retail price of $199.99. That price offers a great value to consumers, as it includes two engaging games, Wii Sports™ and Wii Sports Resort™, as well as the Wii Remote™ and Nunchuk™ controllers and a Wii MotionPlus™ accessory, which brings additional precision to specially designed games.

The 30 million milestone is a good time to look back at all the fun Wii games and experiences that are just not possible on any other system. One of the unique features of the Wii platform is that many games follow an evergreen sales trend that keep them selling over long periods of time.

According to the independent NPD Group, the top 10 best-selling Nintendo-published Wii games in the United States (through the end of June) are:

1. Wii Play™
2. Mario Kart™ Wii
3. Wii Fit™ (with Wii Balance Board™ accessory)
4. New Super Mario Bros.™ Wii
5. Wii Sports Resort
6. Super Smash Bros.™ Brawl
7. Super Mario Galaxy™
8. Wii Fit™ Plus (with Wii Balance Board™ accessory)
9. Mario Party™ 8
10. Link’s Crossbow Training

According to the independent NPD Group, the top 10 best-selling Wii games from third-party publishers in the United States (through the end of June) are:

1. Guitar Hero® III: Legends of Rock from Activision
2. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games™ from SEGA
3. LEGO® Star Wars™: The Complete Saga from LucasArts
4. Carnival Games™ from Take-Two Interactive
5. Game Party from Midway
6. EA Sports Active™ from Electronic Arts
7. Just Dance™ from Ubisoft
8. Rayman Raving Rabbids™ from Ubisoft
9. DECA SPORTS™ from Hudson Entertainment
10. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games™ from SEGA

Douglas A. McIntyre

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.