HardwareGeeks.com - Nintendo Sets Record with Wii and DS

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Posted by: Nina Pena on Fri, Jan 16th, 2009

Until the year 2008 no game console had sold 10 million units in one year in the US, that is until Nintendo did it with the Wii. Last year Nintendo sold 10.7 million Wii consoles were sold and 9.5 million DS units were sold in the US according to the NPD group..

The Wii console accounted for 55% of all game consoles sold last year and the DS accounted for 75% of all portable consoles sold.

“Our type of entertainment has now moved to the point where there is no longer a question that if you offer consumers an expanded definition of what a video game can be, and deliver that idea with quality and affordability in mind, millions of new people will start playing video games,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Concepts like Wii Fit, Guitar Hero, and Rock Band never would have seemed feasible just a few years ago, and now they’re driving growth for our the entire industry.”

NPD data released for December and all of 2008 also included the following:

The industry’s top 4 selling games of 2008 were: Wii Play™ at No. 1, Mario Kart™ Wii at No. 2, Wii Fit™ at No.3, and Super Smash Brothers™ Brawl, at No. 4.
Industry annual revenues jumped 19% in 2008 over 2007, and Nintendo products were responsible for 99% of those additional retail dollars.
Nintendo DS set another industry record for system sales in any month, with 3.04 million units sold in December.
Wii broke its own monthly record, set in December 2007, by selling 2.14 million units last month.
In December, Nintendo titles filled 20 of the top 30 spots on the best-seller list. Six games made for Nintendo systems placed in the top 10, including Wii Music™ for Wii (No. 9), which has now sold 865,000 units following its launch in October 2008, and Mario Kart DS for the Nintendo DS (No. 7), which has sold a total of 4.3 million units 38 months after launch.
Activision’s Guitar Hero® III: Legends of Rock and Guitar Hero® World Tour, and MTV Games/EA’s* Rock Band Special Edition Bundle all sold more units on Nintendo platforms than any other platforms in 2008.
More 3rd party units were sold for Wii than any other home consoles in December for the 2nd consecutive month.
For the year, more than 132 million games were sold in America for play on Nintendo systems.
For more information about Nintendo, visit http://www.Nintendo.com.