New figures illustrate Nintendo's rapidly improving position in historically difficult market: dominant hardware sales complemented by strong showings for casual and traditional games.
Nintendo Europe has divulged sales figures spotlighting the company's very strong performance across both of its platforms. Six million Wii consoles have been sold since launch, surpassing the GameCube's lifetime sales by a significant margin in some countries, setting records in the process. Nintendo DS has also radically expanded Nintendo's handheld market, racking up twenty million units sold since its launch in March 2005.
In terms of market share, Nintendo has made huge inroads into the console market compared to the GameCube. In Spain, Wiis account for 51% of all consoles sold since the Xbox 360's launch. Even in friendlier territory for Microsoft, such as the UK, Wii has surpassed its user base in half the time.
Nintendo's Touch Generations line of software has been a runaway success in Europe. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training has sold in excess of five million copies across the region; adding in the sales of More Brain Training brings the figure to 7.8 million. Even so, Nintendo's quest to keep minds sharp has been bested by the desire to warm hearts, as the combined sales of Nintendogs have surpassed the eight million mark.
While the dominance of Touch Generations software for the Nintendo DS closely mirrors the Japanese market, traditional software for Wii has performed appreciably better in Europe. Super Mario Galaxy has sold 1.3 million copies, whereas in Japan it continues to struggle towards 900k. Considering that Nintendo's past console sales are far less than those of Japan, it is impressive that a core franchise should be more successful. While there are now one million more Wii owners in Europe than Japan, in proportional terms Galaxy has still sold better in Europe, where more than 21% of Wii owners have purchased the game as opposed to around 18%.
A more stark contrast becomes visible with reference to another Nintendo million-seller, Mario Party 8. In Europe, Galaxy has outsold the party game by 300k, in Japan it trails by a similar amount. Also, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess has managed to reach 1.3 million copies sold, much different from its moribund showing in Japan. While not as impressive as Mario's more immediate impact, Zelda's European success perhaps better highlights the sales strength of traditional, core games for Wii in Europe.
Inevitably, Wii Play constitutes Nintendo's biggest "software" success to date on Wii, delivering 2.3 million extra remotes to European Wii owners over the console's life to date. At a million units clear of the next highest seller, Wii Play does much to inflate the Wii's modest European software attachment rate of 5.6. It is clear, however, that first party games are faring well in both the casual and core categories as phenomenal hardware sales continue to expand the market.
