Topic: The Wii Declared 'Fastest-Selling Console in History' By Nintendo

[NWR_pap64]

According to Nintendo and the most recent NPD numbers, the Wii has sold over 20 million units in 31 months.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=18892

 In 31 months of release the Wii has sold over 20 million units in the United States, according to Nintendo. The most recent NPD numbers confirm this, leading Nintendo to declare the system as "the fastest-selling console in history."    

Despite the landmark, the Wii has seen a big sales drop in May's numbers. The Wii remained the top-selling console, but sales dropped in comparison to last year's May numbers. The system went from selling 675,100 units to just 289,500, creating a 57 percent fall. It is worth noting that last year's May numbers were bolstered by the recent release of games such as Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii, though.    

Software sales also proved to be very strong for Nintendo. Six of the top ten best-selling titles in May were from Nintendo, including the aforementioned Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii. However, EA Sports Active was the only third party game to break into the top ten.    

The DS still remained a strong seller thanks to the success of the DSi. Sales of the handheld grew over 40 percent for a total of 633,500 units, with 399,000 of them being DSi sales.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Maybe Wii Fit is the fastest selling bathroom scale.

[TJ Spyke]

For anybody who hasn't seen the NPD numbers, it's not just Wii that was down. Every system was down in May compared to last year.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

How do sales % of all system units sold compare to the previous month and year?

I DEMAND PIE CHARTS, E3 DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH PIE CHARTS

[KDR_11k]

I demand cake charts.

[BlackNMild2k1]

NPD May 2009

LTD:
PS2 - 44,147,818
DS - 30,876,658
PSP - 15,097,336
360 - 15,240,286
PS3 - 7,749,396
Wii - 20,203,081

YOY:
PS2 -11%
DS +40%
PSP -45%
360 -6%
PS3 -37%
Wii -57%

Comparison May 2008 - May 2009
DS 452.6K - 633.5K +40%
Wii 675.1K - 289.5K -57%
PS3 208.7K - 131K -37%
360 186.6K - 175K -6%
PSP 182.3K - 100.4K -45%

Salesbot did not post last month comparison nor pie/cake charts.

but here are some charts to satify your hunger: ChartGet.com

[Mop it up]

I guess Punch-Out!! wasn't a system seller, though I don't think it was expected to be.

The numbers for July should be interesting. I wonder if Wii Sports Resort will be a system-seller or if it appeals only to people who have played Wii Sports?

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

System sellers need real advertising.

[Peachylala]

So the **** load of ads Nintendo made doesn't count?

I guess their core audience doesn't know when to buy a good game then. We're full of fail it seems. Nintendo tries to advertise a game that's a sequal to a fifteen year old game, but no non-casuals BUY THE FUCKING GAME. except I bought meh copy hur hur

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Launching ads during Oprah, Ellen, and Friends re-runs is sufficient for casuals, Nintendo has shown.  Consistent continual advertising on Nickelodeon is sufficient for kiddie minigame collections, Carnival Games has shown.

If the ads aren't hitting Spike TV, USA, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel, History Channel, Fox, E, Tru TV, the WB and whatnot like the xbox/360 game commercials do, it's not real advertising designed to reach the non-casuals.

Word of mouth doesn't work for non-casual games anymore, ever since Wii invented casual gaming.  Since casual games do sell on Wii by word of mouth, the non-casual gamers will only buy games based on marketing, hype, and review scores to differentiate themselves as seasoned educated customers.

[Ian Sane]

I thought Nintendo didn't care about first month sales, so why are we?  Why declare Punch-Out!! not a system seller when it has only been out for a month?  For the month of May it was only out for about two weeks.  I just recently bought it in June (OH NOES) so my sale wouldn't have counted in these figures.  Someone doesn't have the cash at that exact time or is on vacation or still playing another game, they wait a few weeks, and they're not in the May sales figures.

Plus I question how important a system seller is when the Wii is the "fastest selling console EVAR!!111"  We seemed to look for the rare "system seller" on the Cube because we needed a game to carry the console on its back.  Not really needed here.

Regarding marketing, well Nintendo just went through a huge spell where they released Wii Music and a bunch of ports of Gamecube games.  A big chunk of the market for Punch-Out!! hadn't had a Wii game aimed at them in almost a year.  So how does Nintendo realistically expect this market to suddenly know "hey they made a game I might actually want to buy"?  Large segments of the core audience may have stopped paying attention to the Wii during a long drought where it appeared Nintendo had stopped paying attention to them.  This was a LONG drought, the sort of drought that hurts your momentum.  If they wanted Punch-Out!! to have big sales they needed to make it more of an event so that everyone that had written the Wii off as the casual console paid attention.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

I care about "good faith, honest effort" in the marketing of products.  Both Nintendo and its 3rd Excuse Partners are guilty of sending Wii games out to die.  Either mainstream visual ads are lacking, or focused supplemental information is lacking, or both.  Word of mouth is strong, but only occurs AFTER a person has acquired some knowledge/experience of the product (like... the game's title and existence).  There has to be a bridge between those initial word-mouthers and the product's existence.