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Nintendo Claims Another Month of Sales Victory in April

May 17, 2007, 4:51 pm EDT
Total comments: 27

Japan isn't the only territory where Nintendo is cleaning up. DS, Wii, Pokemon, and Mario top the charts in this first peek at the April NPD numbers.

NINTENDO NEWS: NINTENDO RUNS THE TABLE IN APRIL SALES

May 17, 2007

Already riding a streak as America's No. 1 seller of video game consoles, No. 1 seller of portable game systems and No. 1 publisher of video games, Nintendo added more chips to its pile in April-with not just one, but the country's four best-selling games.

According to independent sales data gathered by the NPD Group, the two best-selling games in April were Pokémon® Diamond and Pokémon® Pearl, exclusively for the Nintendo DS™ hand-held game system, followed by Super Paper Mario™ and Wii Play™ for the Wii™ home video game system. Combined sales for the two related Pokémon titles exceeded 1.75 million units in just 14 days of availability during the reporting period.

The DS remained the most popular game system of any kind in April, with projected sales of more than 470,000 units. At the same time, the Wii from Nintendo, despite nearly universal sold-out status, was still purchased by twice as many consumers as any other home game console, according to the NPD data. Unit sales of 360,000 Wii systems in April bring the console's installed base in America to nearly 2.5 million in less than six months on the market.

"Nothing is more valuable in the entertainment world than an evergreen franchise," says Reggie Fils-Aime, president and COO, Nintendo of America. "These new Pokémon titles have cemented their place alongside the most enduring intellectual properties of the book, music and movie industries. And that appeal will expand even further with the introduction of Pokémon® Battle Revolution to our Wii home console next month."

Talkback

NinGurl69 *hugglesMay 17, 2007

Don't believe the numbers and hype. Nintendo will lose its steam in just a matter of days (when everyone finds out SSBB has broekn onrine play).

that Baby guyMay 17, 2007

Defnitely. PSTRIPLEEE for lives.

Nintendo got lucky this month, but the PS2 might actually outsell the Wii next month, like it did in March.

They didn't get lucky. Nintendo shipped a major new game in April and did a better job of supplying retail. I don't think Mario Party 8 will be as big as SPM, but look for another huge month in June with Pokemon.

BranDonk KongMay 17, 2007

Nice job outselling PS3 (83k sold) by 4.5:1, also nice job of the GBA (84k sold) outselling the PS3. I'm also extremely impress by Nintendo having #1-4 in software sales. What's funny is how Sony has been saying how they can produce way more PS3s than before, and they've shipped nearly 6 million systems, which means there's probably more than 3 million consoles sitting on shelves or in warehouses.

Shift KeyMay 17, 2007

Nintendo didn't win this month, the rabid Pokeman fans did.

that Baby guyMay 17, 2007

Speaking of Pokemon, why won't you pm me back, Shift Key?

Shift KeyMay 17, 2007

Quote

Originally posted by: thatguy
Speaking of Pokemon, why won't you pm me back, Shift Key?


I got a headache from your message. Especially this part:

Quote

I"M ON RIGHT NOW WE SHOULD TRRADE DO YOU LIK ME CHECK YES OR NO


seriously deep stuff there

that Baby guyMay 17, 2007

Well, I figured I would try to camouflage it to all the random people sending PM's out about Pokemon. It looks like it's pretty authentic, does it not?

Sorta understated. The first time I read through that I though that they'd completely forgotten the Wii... where was the boasting? the crowing? the snide remarks about competition?

NWR_pap64Pedro Hernandez, Contributing WriterMay 17, 2007

Quote

Originally posted by: Kairon
Sorta understated. The first time I read through that I though that they'd completely forgotten the Wii... where was the boasting? the crowing? the snide remarks about competition?


Nintendo just wants to be humble in victory...That and the millions coming their way should be more than enough insult for the competition. face-icon-small-smile.gif

GoldenPhoenixMay 17, 2007

I think Mario Party 8 will be a big seller, the game is what Wii is all about, playing with others. Not sure how it will compare to Super Paper Mario, but I'm quite certain it will be a sizable hit.

Yeah. But I don't expect Big Brain Academy to do anything special though. Even the GBA game sorta underperformed compared to expectations.

GoldenPhoenixMay 17, 2007

Quote

Originally posted by: Kairon
Yeah. But I don't expect Big Brain Academy to do anything special though. Even the GBA game sorta underperformed compared to expectations.


Big Brain Academy should be interesting to watch, maybe now that the Wii is expanding the market and is being noticed for expanding it, a game like Big Brain Academy COULD sell decently. We'll have to wait and see, if it does sell well that is a very positive sign for Nintendo.

TrueNerdMay 17, 2007

My favorite stat is that the PSP had a $30 price drop and only managed to sell 3,000 more units then it did the previous month.

Jonny - You were wrong about Super Paper Mario being doomed in terms of sales due to its console shuffling/delay. I still love you though.

And why is Wii Play STILL selling? The performance of that game almost makes me wonder if it would have been smarter for Nintendo to package Wii Sports separately and drop the Wii's price to $199. Everyone would have bought (the vastly superior) Wii Sports anyways, apparently.

*shrug* That's what's happening in Japan, Wii Sports has about a 60% attach rate there and can constantly be used to predict hardware sales.

But I think Nintendo was smart to pack-in Wii sports. They had the room for a higher price, they could recall nostalgic memories of the NES and SNES' pack-ins, and American hard core gamers really needed to be convinced of the Wiimote. Force them to buy it, and not only will they realize that they're loving this game they were planning on NOT buying otherwise, and then they could look to the left and right and realize that they had inadvertently aided Nintendo's viral marketting approach by playing it with their friends, their neighbors, their parents, and their grandparents.

GoldenPhoenixMay 17, 2007

Quote

Originally posted by: Kairon
*shrug* That's what's happening in Japan, Wii Sports has about a 60% attach rate there and can constantly be used to predict hardware sales.

But I think Nintendo was smart to pack-in Wii sports. They had the room for a higher price, they could recall nostalgic memories of the NES and SNES' pack-ins, and American hard core gamers really needed to be convinced of the Wiimote. Force them to buy it, and not only will they realize that they're loving this game they were planning on NOT buying otherwise, and then they could look to the left and right and realize that they had inadvertently aided Nintendo's viral marketting approach by playing it with their friends, their neighbors, their parents, and their grandparents.


Kairon is right, I think Wii sports was a smart pack in for Wii. The game became a gateway for people to try the Wii without having to buy something extra. Japan is more willing to buy quirky or new styled games than America has been, so Nintendo about had to include Wii sports to get people addicted to the machine who may have otherwise viewed Wii sports in the same mindset as every other video game on the shelf.

And it's not like the $250 dollar has hurt them or anything. Sold out, ya know?

GoldenPhoenixMay 17, 2007

Quote

Originally posted by: Kairon
And it's not like the $250 dollar has hurt them or anything. Sold out, ya know?


I still wonder if Sony priced PS3 around 300-400$, would Nintendo have dropped the price to 200$?

Hmm... good question. Maybe...

TrueNerdMay 18, 2007

Don't get me wrong, I definitely see the upside to packing in Wii Sports, but if they sold it separately for $30 and dropped the Wii to $199, I'd bet it would sell a ridiculous amount of copies. Of course, then Nintendo would be leaving money on the table and that would be dumb from their perspective.

And to argue against my first point some more, packing in Wii Sports has created a Touch Generations-esque brand that all Wii owners recognize, and that's huge. All the future games Wii-branded (Wii Health, Wii Music, Wii Whatever, etc.) will likely have ridiculous sell thru numbers like Wii Play is currently enjoying.

In conclusion, packing in Wii Sports could turn out to be one of the best things Nintendo does this generation. I'm just playing devil's advocate.

that Baby guyMay 18, 2007

I think it was the best idea game-wise they could make. I also think that they shouldn't pack it out, either, though. Everyone with a Wii probably wants it, and they should wait to take it out until Wii demand goes down. Once it does, they can pack it out, sell it for a reduced price, and sell the Wii separately. They need to wait though, economically, because there is no reason to reduce the price of an item that is selling out. Once demand goes down, they can use different pricing options they probably have already planned out, but if it isn't broken, what is there to fix?

Edit: Also, I just realized that at some point, Nintendo started making an increasing profit on Wii's, mostly because they've definitely made enough to negate the price of development for Wii Sports. Now, rather than ten or so dollars being profit from the $50 mark-up Wii Sports probably provided, they make all fifty bucks from it, so there is definitely tons of room for a price drop. Knowing this, as long as Nintendo is able to compute a strategic price point that allows the system to not look "cheap" for consumers, but instead, seem like a great value, I see no way that Nintendo could lose this generation to any competitor.

GoldenPhoenixMay 18, 2007

Well for the first time in years Nintendo is in control of its destiny, this generation is theirs to lose!

trip1eXMay 19, 2007

Quote

Originally posted by: Jonnyboy117
They didn't get lucky. Nintendo shipped a major new game in April and did a better job of supplying retail. I don't think Mario Party 8 will be as big as SPM, but look for another huge month in June with Pokemon.


Actually I think Mario Party will be bigger than SPM.

I also think Big Brain Academy could do quite well. I'm picking that one up. The mp stuff looked like fun and if they price it right and market it then it could do quite well.

that Baby guyMay 19, 2007

Mario Party will be bigger. They're advertising it already, and it is even more everyone-friendly than SPM.

Hmm... so do you guys think that Big Brain Academy might be bargain-priced like BBA was on the DS? $40? $35 even?!?! That WOULD be very impressive.

NinGurl69 *hugglesMay 19, 2007

It only took $10 plus a cheeseburger to make.

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