Wii Sports approaches 50 million copies sold
In a supplement to Nintendo’s earnings statement yesterday, the company released some sales numbers for top-selling games in the last quarter. Four Nintendo products sold over one million copies between April and July, only one of which was a new release anywhere in the world during that time.
Pokemon Platinum on DS, which came out in North America in March, right before the quarter started, moved 1.91 million copies in Q1, for a life-to-date total of 5.66 million worldwide.
It was an even better quarter for the Wii’s evergreens. Wii Fit sold an additional 3.6 million copies, bringing its LTD to 21.82. Mario Kart Wii sold 2 million, making its total 17.39 million. And Wii Sports sold an additional 1.91 million copies, bringing its total sales number to a ridiculous 47.62 million, including copies sold in hardware bundles.
And that’s why there’s a sequel.
Source (PDF)
Wii Sports approaches 50 million copies sold originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Nintendo’s Q1 fiscal results show sales slump
Nintendo released its latest financial earnings report for the period ending June 30 (Q2 to us, but fiscal Q1 to those business types at the house Mario built) … and it could’ve been better. Don’t be fooled: Nintendo still managed to make profits across the board, but compared to the same period last year, profits weren’t nearly as dramatic.
First, let’s talk DS. Nintendo revealed lifetime sales of the DS has reached a whopping 107.75 million units and that the new DSi has managed to reach a respectable 6.68 million. Hardware sales for this quarter were lower than last year, however, as Nintendo revealed it only sold 5.97 million handhelds compared to the 6.94 million sold in 2008’s fiscal first quarter. Even software was down quite a bit, with a mere 29.09 million units of DS software flying off store shelves this quarter compared to the more impressive 36.69 million of last year.
On the Wii side, Nintendo revealed lifetime sales have reached 52.62 million units, but that 2009 console sales were down as well. Nintendo reported that during this year’s fiscal first quarter, the company could only unload 2.23 million Wiis compared to the 5.17 million it sold during this same time period last year. Software on the platform also took a hit, as Nintendo recorded only 31.07 million units managed to find consumer’s homes compared to the 40.41 million of last year. It’s important to note that last year’s sales were significantly boosted by the releases of Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit.
So, as one can guess, Nintendo saw its massive profits shaved down quite a bit this past quarter. With all of the dips in hardware and software sales, Nintendo saw its net sales drop a staggering 40 percent to ¥253.4 billion ($2.65 billion) compared to last year’s ¥423.38 billion ($4.43 billion). Nintendo also saw a drop in its operating income, which fell from last year’s ¥119.19 billion to ¥40.4 billion ($1.25 billion to $422.5 million), a decline of 60.61 percent. So … who do you call when your money-printing machine is on the fritz?
Nintendo’s Q1 fiscal results show sales slump originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Mario, meet Sonic (at the Winter Olympics)
Listen — not every game at E3 is a winner. The Joystiq heavyweights get to go play all the big games and interview all of the developer hotshots, and that’s the stuff you love reading about. But some of us are down in the trenches, doing all of the demos that no one else wants to do, checking out all the games whose names are read around the schedule planning table, and answered only with the silence of bloggers who have better games to play.
That’s not to say that Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympics is a bad game — its audience will probably enjoy it. Just like the previous Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, it offers multiple Olympic sports-based minigames featuring popular Nintendo and Sega characters, controlled by various Wii and DS motions. People who like buying that kind of thing (parents wandering a videogame store looking for wholesome family entertainment) will probably enjoy it. But even though most of the Joystiq staff passed on this demo (and your faithful blogger bravely attended it), it was one of the more surreal things we’ve seen this week. Our strange experiences, let us show you them.
Continue reading Mario, meet Sonic (at the Winter Olympics)
Mario, meet Sonic (at the Winter Olympics) originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 04 Jun 2009 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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High schoolers learn life-saving lesson from Mario Kart Wii
How do you keep kids from getting distracted? One school thinks Mario Kart is the answer. In order to teach kids about the dangers of texting while driving, Colorado’s Vail Christian High School has introduced the “distracted and drowsy driving program,” in which kids play Mario Kart Wii while answering and sending text messages, in order to see how phone use adversely affects driving skill. As a bonus, the program teaches awareness of hazards like banana peels and turtle shells.
The program, which also includes deterrents like a chair that simulates a 5MPH collision and a golf cart that simulates drunk driving, is part of Vail Christian’s entry in a National Organization for Youth Safety contest. The school stands to win a $10,000 award if its program wins. Students who successfully demonstrate understanding of how dangerous texting while driving is will also earn college credit in Obvious Studies.
[Via GamePolitics]
High schoolers learn life-saving lesson from Mario Kart Wii originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 19 May 2009 12:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Analyst: Poor Wii Music, Animal Crossing sales stamina to blame for downturn
Wii sales have been the lowest they’ve ever been in Japan. Is the Japanese public losing interest? Screen Digest analyst Ed Barton told GameBizBlog that the Wii sales downturn is mostly due to the lack of staying power exhibited by Animal Crossing: City Folk and Wii Music.
Barton says that the continued success of Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii only back up his claim. “These are older games that obviously have shown tremendous stamina, but Nintendo always needs to bring out new ways to drive console sales forward, and we just didn’t see that with Wii Music and City Folk.” Even though both titles sold decently enough (Animal Crossing was one of the region’s top 10 selling games in 2008 and Wii Music debuted with 92,000 units sold in its first week), they lacked the necessary sales stamina of Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii.
He says that there isn’t much hope on the horizon either, despite the imminent release of Monster Hunter 3 on Wii. He warns that trying to transfer the user base from handheld to home console is risky and that the gamble may not pay off for Nintendo. Barton is of the mind that “it won’t have the same level of success that it had on the PSP.”
Analyst: Poor Wii Music, Animal Crossing sales stamina to blame for downturn originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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UK charts: Wii Fit, Call of Duty still on top, Professor Layton climbing
The week ending January 31st saw no movement at all in the top two spots on the UK sales charts. Wii Fit maintains its top spot on the UK sales charts for a third week, followed by previous champ Call of Duty: World at War. Skate 2, which debuted last week at #3, has dropped to #5 behind FIFA ‘09 and Professor Layton and the Curious Village, which, like Wii Fit, is experiencing increased sales due to long-awaited replenishment of stock.
Mario Kart Wii rose two positions to #6, leading us to wonder if, over the course of 2009, the top half of the charts will steadily fill with Nintendo hits from 2008.
[Via Edge]
UK charts: Wii Fit, Call of Duty still on top, Professor Layton climbing originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 03 Feb 2009 11:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Mario Kart Source: made by fans, for fans
Filed under: Fan stuff
If you’re a fan of PC games, then of course you’ve heard of the Source engine. It powers Half-Life 2, which is the bee’s knees. Well, an ambitious bunch has decided to use the Source engine to code a new Mario Kart racing game, Mario Kart Source. The best part about this project is that the team is looking at all of the previous games in the series and is attempting to take just the best bits for their new game. Our verdict? Awesome.
Sadly, Nintendo won’t likely be as excited to hear about the project, so we’re sure they’ll step in at some point or another and intervene.
[Via Go Nintendo]
![Joystiq [Nintendo]](http://wii.wowgoldit.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-o-matic/cache/16de9_feedlogo.gif "Mario Kart Source: made by fans, for fans")
Mario Kart Source: made by fans, for fans originally appeared on Joystiq [Nintendo] on Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Mario Kart Source: made by fans, for fans
Filed under: Fan stuff
If you’re a fan of PC games, then of course you’ve heard of the Source engine. It powers Half-Life 2, which is the bee’s knees. Well, an ambitious bunch has decided to use the Source engine to code a new Mario Kart racing game, Mario Kart Source. The best part about this project is that the team is looking at all of the previous games in the series and is attempting to take just the best bits for their new game. Our verdict? Awesome.
Sadly, Nintendo won’t likely be as excited to hear about the project, so we’re sure they’ll step in at some point or another and intervene.
[Via Go Nintendo]
Mario Kart Source: made by fans, for fans originally appeared on Nintendo Wii Fanboy on Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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December NPD: Slowdown
Filed under: News
It’s not surprising to see that hardware sales rose significantly in December, but what is surprising is the comparatively small progress made by the Wii — only a 5% increase from November, compared to some big gains for the competition. People who are paid a lot more than us predicted the Wii would smash the 3 million sales barrier, but nope. We’re putting this down to a lack of holiday season supply, or November’s figures simply being amazing.
On the other hand, selling 2.15 million of anything in a single month isn’t too shabby!
- DS: 3.04m 
1.47m (94%)
- Wii: 2.15m 110K (5%)
- Xbox 360: 1.44m 604K (72%)
- PSP: 1.02m 599K (142%)
- PS3: 726K 348K (92%)
- PS2: 410K 204K (99%)
December’s best-selling games are past the fold, along with 2008’s top sellers. Spoiler: Nintendo software kicked ass.
Top 10 games of December 2008
1. Wii Play — Wii — Nintendo — 1.46 million
2. Call of Duty: World at War — Xbox 360 — Activision — 1.33 million*
3. Wii Fit – Wii — Nintendo — 999K
4. Mario Kart Wii — Wii — Nintendo — 979K
5. Guitar Hero: World Tour — Wii — Activision — 850K*
6. Gears of War 2 — Xbox 360 — Microsoft — 745K*
7. Left 4 Dead — Xbox 360 — Electronic Arts — 629K
8. Mario Kart — DS — Nintendo — 540K
9. Call of Duty: World at War — PS3 — Activision — 533K
10. Animal Crossing: City Folk — Wii — Nintendo — 497K*
Top 10 games of 2008
1. Wii Play — Wii — Nintendo — 5.28 million
2. Mario Kart Wii — Wii — Nintendo — 5.00 million
3. Wii Fit — Wii — Nintendo — 4.53 million
4. Super Smash Bros. Brawl — Wii — Nintendo — 4.17 million
5. Grand Theft Auto IV — Xbox 360 — Take–Two — 3.29 million*
6. Call of Duty: World at War — Xbox 360 — Activision — 2.75 million*
7. Gears of War 2 — Xbox 360 — Microsoft — 2.31 million*
8. Grand Theft Auto IV — PS3 — Take–Two — 1.89 million*
9. Madden NFL ‘09 — Xbox 360 — Electronic Arts — 1.87 million*
10. Mario Kart — DS — Nintendo — 1.65 million
* Includes collector’s, limited, and bundled editions.
December NPD: Slowdown originally appeared on Nintendo Wii Fanboy on Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Nintendo dominates 2008 UK game sales
Filed under: News
Mario Kart Wii was a popular title for the Brits and their neighbors, as sales data shows it to be the best-selling game in the UK under the category of “individual SKU” during 2008, topping a list that is comprised mainly of games available only on Nintendo gaming systems. Considering how many amazing games released over the course of this year, we believe this to be quite the achievement
The Wii is just so darn popular over there. So popular, in fact, that the top 5 best-selling games for the year were all on Nintendo platforms. Coming in at the second spot was Wii Fit, followed by Wii Play, Brain Training on DS, and our favorite game to poke fun at, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. Full list is past the break.
Gallery: Mario Kart Wii
Top 10 “Individual SKUs” of 2008:
1. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) — Nintendo
2. Wii Fit (Wii) — Nintendo
3. Wii Play (Wii) — Nintendo
4. Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training (DS) — Nintendo
5. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii) — Sega
6. GTA IV (360) — Rockstar
7. GTA IV (PS3) — Rockstar
8. Call of Duty: World at War (360) — Activision
9. Carnival Funfair (Wii) — 2K
10. FIFA 09 (360) — EA
Top 10 “all formats” of 2008:
1. FIFA 09 — EA
2. Mario Kart Wii — Nintendo
3. GTA IV — Rockstar
4. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games — Sega
5. Wii Fit — Nintendo
6. Call of Duty: World at War — Activision
7. Wii Play — Nintendo
8. Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training — Nintendo
9. Lego Indiana Jones — LucasArts
10. Carnival Funfair — 2K
[Via Gamasutra]
Nintendo dominates 2008 UK game sales originally appeared on Nintendo Wii Fanboy on Mon, 12 Jan 2009 14:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Top 10 Best Selling Games
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