Face it! Nintendo doesn't sell the Wii, they sell Wii Sports

Mike Bantick
Tuesday, 28 April 2009 08:43

Opinion and Analysis

This generation of gaming consoles, nothing has been more successful, and yes, surprising than the Nintendo Wii.  Dismissed initially by all the “experts”, the little white box has gone on to dominate sales charts around the world.  But is this because of the little white box, or the Wii Sports game it comes with?

It is undisputed that Nintendo is winning the console sales race during the current generation technology.  Even if we ignore the success of the Nintendo DS (and more recently, DSi) hand-held gaming device, the Wii has topped sales charts the world over, though it has been struggling in its Japanese homeland of late, dropping down almost to the unpopular Xbox 360 in monthly sales.

So there are 50 million Wii’s in homes around the world, what are they being used for?

Well the continued big seller, and even more so as we head into the retail week that is the lead up to Mothers Day, is Wii Fit. 

The balance board packed personal training software continues to dominate “game” charts.  Just recently using the UK market as an example , the Wii Fit “game” secured its 13th consecutive week at number 1.

The game sales chart reveals the other Nintendo main-stays, being Wii Play (essentially a mini-game packed with a necessary second Wii-Mote controller) and Mario Kart Wii (also packed with the wheel shaped piece of plastic).

All three of these titles have been top sellers around the world since released. 

Yet, disappointingly more so for third party software producers than Nintendo, not much else seems to sell for the Wii console.

The Wii’s attach ratio for software to consoles, is the lowest for the current generation.  Though this data is purely based on U.S. figures, and the Xbox 360 has had a year head start on the PS3 and Wii, it shows that Microsoft and Sony console owners are more willing to shell out for games than their Nintendo brethren.

The Xbox 360 sits at an attach rate of just over eight games per console, the PS3 has people buying around 6.5 titles each and the Wii (which does not include the imbedded Wii Sports – but does include Wii Play) hovers at around 6.

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