Before 2008, no video game system had ever been purchased by ten million
Americans in a single year. But according to independent sales data
released today by the NPD Group, the Wii™ console from
Nintendo did just that, even during these economic times, with 2008 unit
sales of 10.17 million. The Nintendo DS™ portable handheld
system came in a close second, with 2008 unit sales of 9.95 million.
Each of them broke the previous yearly unit sales record set in 2007 by
Nintendo DS with sales of 8.52 million.
Consequently, Wii represented 55% of all next generation home console
sales in 2008, while Nintendo DS claimed 72% of all portable system
sales in 2008.
“Our type of entertainment has now moved to the point where there is no
longer a question that if you offer consumers an expanded definition of
what a video game can be, and deliver that idea with quality and
affordability in mind, millions of new people will start playing video
games,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice
president of Sales & Marketing. “Concepts like Wii Fit, Guitar
Hero, and Rock Band never would have seemed feasible just a
few years ago, and now they’re driving growth for our the entire
industry.”
NPD data released for December and all of 2008 also included the
following:
-
The industry’s top 4 selling games of 2008 were: Wii Play™
at No. 1, Mario Kart™ Wii at No. 2, Wii Fit™
at No.3, and Super Smash Brothers™ Brawl, at
No. 4.
-
Industry annual revenues jumped 19% in 2008 over 2007, and Nintendo
products were responsible for 99% of those additional retail dollars.
-
Nintendo DS set another industry record for system sales in
any month, with 3.04 million units sold in December.
-
Wii broke its own monthly record, set in December 2007, by selling
2.14 million units last month.
-
In December, Nintendo titles filled 20 of the top 30 spots on the
best-seller list. Six games made for Nintendo systems placed in the
top 10, including Wii Music™ for Wii (No. 9), which
has now sold 865,000 units following its launch in October 2008, and Mario
Kart DS for the Nintendo DS (No. 7), which has sold a total of 4.3
million units 38 months after launch.
-
Activision’s Guitar Hero® III: Legends of Rock and Guitar
Hero® World Tour, and MTV Games/EA’s* Rock Band Special Edition
Bundle all sold more units on Nintendo platforms than any other
platforms in 2008.
-
More 3rd party units were sold for Wii than any other home
consoles in December for the 2nd consecutive month.
-
For the year, more than 132 million games were sold in America for
play on Nintendo systems.
For more information about Nintendo, visit www.Nintendo.com.
About Nintendo: The worldwide pioneer in the creation of
interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan,
manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii™
and Nintendo DS™ systems. Since 1983, when it launched the
Nintendo Entertainment System™, Nintendo has sold nearly 2.8
billion video games and more than 480 million hardware units globally,
including the current-generation Wii and Nintendo DS, as well as the
Game Boy™, Game Boy Advance, Super NES™, Nintendo
64™ and Nintendo GameCube™. It has also created
industry icons that have become well-known, household names such as Mario™,
Donkey Kong™, Metroid™, Zelda™ and
Pokémon™. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America
Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s
operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about
Nintendo, visit the company’s Web site at www.nintendo.com.
Note to editors: Nintendo press materials are available at
press.nintendo.com, a password-protected site. To obtain a login, please
contact Danny Beardsworth at 213-438-8835 or dbeardsworth@golinharris.com.
Users can receive instant Nintendo information by subscribing to the
site’s RSS feed. B-roll is available at www.thenewsmarket.com/Nintendo.
*Rock Band is published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts serves as
the distributor
