Wii is now the No. 1 console
Posted on June 18th, 2008 – 8:20 AMBy Randy A. Salas
Nintendo’s Wii has surpassed Microsoft’s Xbox 360 as the most popular video-game console in U.S. homes. We just don’t know yet when it happened exactly.
Every month, the industry-tracking NPD Group releases video-game sales data for the previous month. Last week’s June report once again showed the Wii outselling the 360 by a significant margin in May, nearly half a million units (675,100 to 186,600). That gap has been holding steady for the past several months. (In fact, even the once-sputtering PlayStation 3 is now consistently outselling the 360.)
So I asked NPD what the installed user base — the total number of systems in U.S. homes — was for the Wii and 360 as of May. These data are not part of the monthly report. The response from NPD spokesman David Riley: 10.2 million units for the Wii and 10.3 million units for the 360. (The PS3 is a distant 4.5 million.) With the Wii’s recent performance, it doesn’t take much to extrapolate that the Wii has already made up that 100,000-unit gap in the first few weeks of this month and is now the top console, not just in monthly sales but also in total sales to date.
The Wii has done this even though it came out a year after the 360 — and it’s still hard to find in stores. It has succeeded based on its agreeable $249 price and buzz over its unique motion-controlled games. Casual gamers of all ages have flocked to the Wii.
We’ll know for sure when NPD releases the June figures in mid-July that the Wii is No. 1. But consider this an early heads up.
16 Responses to "Wii is now the No. 1 console"
How come Wii’s are so hard to find??? I’ve been looking for one for awhile, now.
Randy, a number of things here…First, if you’re going by NPD sales figures, the Wii has ALWAYS out-sold both the 360 and PS3 by a wide margain since it debuted in late 2006. But the Wii shortages have very little to do with the number of sales, because Nintendo (wisely, it would appear) purposefully “creates” these shortages so that they can extend their profits over a longer period of time. Otherwise, the Wii would’ve sold upwards of a million units per month (as opposed to hundreds of thousands), but would’ve have appeared to “regress” afterwards. Finally, to say that any one console is “the most popular” based on sales is somewhat misleading. Even though more people have Wii’s, software sales are larger for the 360, and it ain’t even close. In other words, hordes of casual gamers see the Wii itself as a “toy”, rather than a console they need to continually buy new software for. Genuine console gamers extend the life of their 360’s and PS3’s by supporting their investment with new software every other month or so. Meanwhile, the average Wii user owns WiiPlay, WiiSports, and maybe WiiFit or a few others, and then the Wii goes back in the closet for a rainy day when they have guests over.
TheTruth: Yes, games are a whole other story. But the bestselling console is still the most popular console, no matter how many games have been sold per system. Numbers are numbers. That having been said, yes, the 360 has sold more games per system than the PS3 or the Wii. But the Wii has sold more games per system than the PS3, so your theory about casual gaming doesn’t really hold. The truth is that many things affect attach rate, not just whether its owner is a hard-core gamer. (For that matter, many Wii owners *are* hard-core gamers who also own other systems.) For example, the 360’s longer shelf life probably helps its attach rate. It also has more titles available for it. According to NPD, as of April, the number of games sold per Xbox 360 was 7.5, per Wii was 5.3 and per PS3 was 4.6. You can read more here:
http://gamer.blorge.com/2008/04/27/xbox-360-leads-software-attach-rate-even-the-wii-beats-ps3/
I’d like to see some numbers to substantiate the above comment. Software sales are very fickle, based on release schedules, but, looking at the last few months, both Nintendo and MS have had good sales. Looking at March, Wii games outsold 360 games by almost a 2 to 1 margin and had the top title. In April, the 360 came out on top, of course, with the release of GTA4. However, looking at the rest of the top ten titles for April, Nintendo software took 5 of the top 10 slots.
How is this “not even close”? It would appear very much that Nintendo is selling software and as of late, doing very well in this regard.
It would seem to me that, contrary to some of what was posted above, the supposed disparity doesn’t exist. For the record, I do not own any of the aforementioned products. I’m simply looking at the numbers.
The “above” comment being TheTruth’s, not Randy’s. Sorry.
Attach rate higher for MS? Total software numbers higher as well? I’m sure it would be - they had a year head start, as well as a potentially more hardcore user base.
I just don’t agree with the idea that Wii hardware sales aren’t translating into software as well. To think you can sell 10 million and not a similarly large share of software as well is misled.
TheTony: Part of the problem is comparing monthly figures to life-of-system numbers. The other part is that even if Wii games outsell 360 games 2 to 1 in a given month, if the Wii system outsells the 360 system by a nearly 3 to 1 rate in the same month, the Wii has sold fewer games per system (for that month). But even that isn’t really right, because those game sales are for all systems not just the one sold that month. Basically, as I noted above, there are many things that affect the game-attach rate. It’s not as simple as TheTruth presents it. What can’t be argued is that more Wii systems have sold than 360s to date.
I finally found a Wii. Now to find Wii Fit.
To represent all Wii owners as casual sometime gamers who keep it around for parties is pretty to the console and to the owners. I liked the party game aspect since the N64 and always will, but I’ll always invest a little into titles that require some time and sweat, like the Zelda series or the rapidly improving Mario RPGs. I just don’t buy more than one or two a year because I don’t want to spend my entire life with a controller in my hand.
It would be helpful if “TheTruth” was more accurate than the information that he tries to rebut. First, 360 did outsell Wii the month that Halo 3 came out, so ALWAYS is not correct.
Second, looking at Nintendo’s financial records, they were not planning for the Wii to be as popular as it is and did not “create” shortage. Nintendo had to rework most of its supplier contracts after it realized that the Wii had become such a big deal and have been adding production lines to keep up with demand. There have been mini-shortages created as Nintendo pushes Wiis to different regions of the world for major launches. The US got more than its normal share for the launch of WiiFit.
Third, in May’s software sales, Wii software had 5 of the top 10 spots, including 4 of the top 6. While 360 and PS3 had as many as the PS2, one. Nintendo DS had the other two.
Finally, according to the Nielsen ratings, the average Wii is used about 20 days per month, and twice per day its used, which is hardly being “in the closet”.
I meant “pretty unfair”. Wish there was an edit button on these damn things.
I found Wii’s at Wal-mart (Even though I hate shopping there!!!), the one on Nicollet and 494 had about 10 of them this morning.
A couple factors I’m aware of- Nintendo can’t (or won’t) keep up production to meet the current demand; and also the US isn’t getting as many consoles shipped as they normally would because the weakened dollar/rising costs to manufacture & ship cuts in to the profits- they can earn more elsewhere where the currencies haven’t dropped so much in the year and a half since the release.
well, that was a response to the first post in the thread- I stepped away from my computer for a bit. Should’ve refreshed.
I think one of the coolest things about the Wii is that it appeals to non-traditional gamers. You have people that weren’t interested in video games lining up around the block to buy Wii’s. I hadn’t played a video game in over 10 years and now I play one of my 15 or so Wii games at least once a week…my mom even loves it. Thank you Nintendo for reminding me how awesome Mario games are and for introducing such a wonderful console!
BTW, NPD has advised me that it provides attach-rate data only every quarter. So those April figures are the most recent until the July report comes out.
If you want to get a new Wii, keep your eyes open and friends informed…they pop up all the time. I was in Walmart last Saturday and they had 4 on the shelf - no waiting, no lines. Best Buy had 55 Wii’s in stock last weekend with 25 WiiFits in stock. Ask employees when they expect their next shipment; arrive 30 minutes before the store opens that day, and you’ll get one. Good Luck….and thank goodness the games are $50 or less, not $70 to $80 like the XBOX & PS3.
Game stop gets Wii’s and had one doing nothing on a random day I went in for a used DS game. I was more interested in the white PS3.
