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Nintendo Sets U.S. Retail Records

by Neal Ronaghan - January 15, 2010, 3:32 pm EST
Total comments: 12 Source: Nintendo

In America, Nintendo plays you.

It's an understatement to say that Nintendo had an excellent 2009. On the heels of the recent NPD December sales report, the company has announced several records set during the holidays.

The Wii continued its torrid sales pace, shifting more than 3.8 million units in December to set a new all-time single-month U.S. system sales record. The Nintendo DS platform (i.e. the DS and DSi) sold a combined 3.3 million, which also happens to be the second-highest all-time tally for U.S. system sales in a single month.

Nintendo also set the all-time U.S. calendar-year record for systems sold by moving a staggering 11.2 million Nintendo DS units in 2009. The Wii was no slouch either, moving 9.6 million units in America for the year. Another neat Wii factoid: nearly one-fifth (18.7 percent) of all Wii consoles sold since its launch were sold during November and December 2009.

Lifetime U.S. sales data for the two systems was also released. The Wii has sold more than 27.2 million units, while the Nintendo DS family has moved past 38.8 million (surpassing the lifetime sales of the GameBoy Advance series of handhelds).

In what can only be considered as a not-so-subtle response to recent Wii skepticism voiced by Sega and Capcom, Cammie Dunaway stated that, "This remarkable hardware sales surge presents a tremendous software opportunity for Nintendo and its third-party partners as we head into 2010."

NINTENDO FINISHES 2009 WITH MULTIPLE SALES RECORDS

Wii Has the Best Month in Video Game History, Nintendo DS Has the Best Calendar Year of All Time

Jan. 14, 2010

A holiday shopping frenzy helped both of Nintendo's video game systems make history: Nintendo's Wii™ home system sold more than 3.8 million units in December, a new all-time single-month U.S. sales record. The Nintendo DS™ Lite and Nintendo DSi™ hand-held systems combined to sell more than 3.3 million, the second biggest month in U.S. history.

Those strong December numbers helped propel the Nintendo DS franchise to more than 11.2 million sold in 2009, a new U.S. calendar-year sales record for any video game system – ever. The Wii console finished 2009 with 9.6 million sold. Of all the Wii consoles ever sold in the United States since its November 2006 launch, nearly one-fifth (18.7 percent) were sold during November and December 2009.

"Wii, Nintendo DS Lite and Nintendo DSi combined to sell more than 7 million units in the month of December alone," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "Clearly there is overwhelming consumer demand for fun games, motion controls and value. This remarkable hardware sales surge presents a tremendous software opportunity for Nintendo and its third-party partners as we head into 2010."

Lifetime U.S. sales for Wii have now surpassed 27.2 million units. No other home console has ever sold so many so quickly. Lifetime U.S. sales for the Nintendo DS franchise have topped 38.8 million units, surpassing lifetime sales of the Game Boy™ Advance franchise.

As always, great software drives hardware sales. In December alone, consumers placed six Nintendo games in the top 10 best-sellers of the month. These include New Super Mario Bros.™ Wii at No. 1 with more than 2.8 million sold, Wii Sports Resort™ at No. 2 with more than 1.7 million sold, Wii Fit™ Plus with the Wii Balance Board™ accessory at No. 3 with more than 1.7 million sold, Wii Play™ at No. 6 with more than 1.0 million sold, Mario Kart™ Wii at No. 7 with more than 936,000 sold and Mario & Luigi™: Bowser's Inside Story for Nintendo DS Lite and Nintendo DSi at No. 10 with more than 656,000 sold.

For all of 2009, Nintendo finished with seven of the top 10 best-selling games of the year. These include New Super Mario Bros. Wii at No. 2 with more than 4.2 million sold, Wii Sports Resort at No. 3 with more than 4.2 million sold, Wii Fit™ at No. 4 with more than 3.5 million sold, Mario Kart Wii at No. 5 with nearly 3.1 million sold, Wii Play at No. 6 with more than 3.1 million sold, Wii Fit Plus™ at No. 8 with more than 2.4 million sold and Pokémon™ Platinum Version at No. 10 with more than 2.0 million sold.

All numbers contained in this document are according to the NPD Group, which tracks U.S. video game sales.

Talkback

Chozo GhostJanuary 15, 2010

In complete contrast to this, the HD-obsessed 3rd parties are laying off employees and struggling. I laugh at them.

NWR_LindyJon Lindemann, Associate EditorJanuary 15, 2010

Have you ever been laid off?  It's not fun.

Chozo GhostJanuary 15, 2010

I'm not laughing at the employees (I pity them). But the 3rd parties made some serious blunders and have been betting on the wrong horse despite all the evidence to the contrary. When you ignore the demands of the market you can't cry when things blow up in your face. The 3rd parties have had since 2007 to get their act together, and it is now 2010. Why are they still crapping on the Wii?

NWR_LindyJon Lindemann, Associate EditorJanuary 16, 2010

Here is a great piece by NWR comrade Chris Kohler speaking exactly to that question:

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2010/01/npd-analysis-how-to-sell-a-wii-game/

BlackNMild2k1January 16, 2010

Quote from: NWR_Lindy

Here is a great piece by NWR comrade Chris Kohler speaking exactly to that question:

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2010/01/npd-analysis-how-to-sell-a-wii-game/

I saw this article yesterday, but htis was my favorite part(in the EEDAR report)

All too often the economy is blamed for the recent industry contraction. In reality, decreased sales in 2009 had more to do with a lack of innovation than economic recession. The growth of our industry now rests more on innovation than it ever has before, especially since non-traditional and casual markets consist of a larger share than in previous years. No longer can developers update a few maps, design some new weapons, add a few new characters, then throw a roman numeral at the end of the box and call it a “sequel”. That may work for core targeted games (Action, Shooters, and RPGs), but this strategy is not ideal for non-traditional and casual gamers.

Case in point: most sequels targeted to the mainstream and casual markets actually underperform in comparison to the original, which is the opposite to what has traditionally been the case for core targeted games. If you examine the Nintendo Wii and DS platforms (the current primary platform for this audience) Boom Blox outsold Boom Blox 2 (Wii); Brain Age outsold Brain Age 2 (DS); Guitar Hero III bested World Tour (Wii); The Bigs crushed The Bigs 2 (Wii); Mario & Sonic at the Olympics (Wii) is on track to outperform its Winter counterpart; Rayman Raving Rabbids (Wii) (2006) outsold its 2007 release; and lastly the original Cooking Mama(Wii, DS) (2006) has out sold all sequel versions combined.

EEDAR believes Nintendo understands the mindset of its consumers the best, which is why Nintendo rarely releases sequels within the same generation and, if they do, they are years apart. A good example of this is Mario Kart. Instead of releasing an annual Mario Kart title, Nintendo opts to only release one Mario Kart per hardware generation.

Chad SexingtonJanuary 16, 2010

Quote:

Another neat Wii factoid: nearly one-fifth (18.7 percent) of all Wii consoles sold since its launch were sold during November and December 2009.

Hm... 18.7% of the sales took place in 16.67% of the year?

Neat.

:P:

LouieturkeyJanuary 17, 2010

I liked those extra articles.  They made for some very interesting reading.

Chozo GhostJanuary 17, 2010

Quote from: Chad

Quote:

Another neat Wii factoid: nearly one-fifth (18.7 percent) of all Wii consoles sold since its launch were sold during November and December 2009.

Hm... 18.7% of the sales took place in 16.67% of the year?

Neat.

:P:

The last two months of the year SHOULD account for more than that, though. The last two months are the biggest shopping months because of the holidays.

NWR_insanolordJ.P. Corbran, Community ManagerJanuary 17, 2010

Quote from: Chozo

Quote from: Chad

Quote:

Another neat Wii factoid: nearly one-fifth (18.7 percent) of all Wii consoles sold since its launch were sold during November and December 2009.

Hm... 18.7% of the sales took place in 16.67% of the year?

Neat.

:P:

The last two months of the year SHOULD account for more than that, though. The last two months are the biggest shopping months because of the holidays.

Either I'm misunderstanding your reaction or you don't understand that statistic; it's not saying that 18.7 percent of 2009's Wii sales were in the last two months, it's saying that 18.7 percent of all the Wii systems Nintendo has ever sold in the United States were sold in the last two months. Maybe you got that already; even if you did, it's so staggering a feat that it bears repeating.

Chozo GhostJanuary 17, 2010

Right, and that definitely is an amazing feat. I was just responding to Chad's statement.

King of TwitchJanuary 18, 2010

Astounding, considering the Wii's first insane year. Makes me wonder where Ubisoft thinks the PS3 and 360's greater growth is going to come from?

Chad SexingtonJanuary 19, 2010

Quote from: insanolord

Either I'm misunderstanding your reaction or you don't understand that statistic; it's not saying that 18.7 percent of 2009's Wii sales were in the last two months, it's saying that 18.7 percent of all the Wii systems Nintendo has ever sold in the United States were sold in the last two months. Maybe you got that already; even if you did, it's so staggering a feat that it bears repeating.

Ah, misread.

Got it.

:)

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