Nintendo says 14 million Wii sold by March '08
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Apr 28th 2007 at 2:00AM }
It's no secret that the Nintendo DS and Wii have been printing money for the company, while Microsoft's Xbox profits and PS3's traction haven't kept pace. Sales continue to rise at Nintendo along with the stock price. Today Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said they're developing 45 games for the Wii and 79 new DS titles. Now, before anybody gets excited, the key word there is "developing," not "producing." The next batch of games according to Iwata will be introduced this "summer." There is no word yet when Nintendo will release their Q3 games list or what's on it. Iwata, in probably the boldest statement, said that Nintendo plans to sell 14 million Wii during this fiscal year, that's three times the number sold in the last five months. Guess they really are planning to ramp up production. The Wii hardware drought better end soon if Nintendo expects to make their ambitious mark.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
E.J. @ Apr 28th 2007 2:29AM
Their prediction is probably based on having released Smash Bros before March 08.
Cuja @ Apr 28th 2007 2:41AM
They better get hot again because I've seen eight units still setting thru out the day at a Walmart. With only a hand full of good titles, this is the scenario that Nintendo doesn't want.
Purple Haze @ Apr 28th 2007 2:43AM
So long as they can get them to stores quickly that sounds pretty likely.
mksolo @ Apr 28th 2007 1:04PM
I think they can do it. If they do this, they can basically sell just as much Wii's units as they did gamecube units but in just over a year while the gamecube took like 5 years.
Ken @ Apr 28th 2007 2:44AM
Man Cuja, you've seen them in the wild?!
How are they...? I mean, did you touch one?
samfish @ Apr 28th 2007 3:13AM
"They better get hot again because I've seen eight units still setting thru out the day at a Walmart. With only a hand full of good titles, this is the scenario that Nintendo doesn't want."
lol.
You keep telling yourself that.
cmr @ Apr 28th 2007 3:18AM
I don't know about the rest of you, but I would not hesitate to buy one if I saw it in a store, even though I probably shouldn't spend the dough. I don't even think I'd really be able to find any time to play the damn thing, but I've wanted one forever. Its been such a long time that I've stopped even looking... Its going to be a bizarre experience when I finally buy one.
I imagine that if tomorrow there was magically a million units sitting in Walmarts and Targets across the country, Nintendo could easily sell em in 24 hours.
John Doe @ Apr 28th 2007 3:26AM
Unless certain regions are getting more Wiis then others I call bullshit on Cuja. Minnesota doesn't have dick for Wiis. there are NONE anywhere in a 50 mile radius at Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, Toys R Us, Gamestop, or Microcenter.
I've been looking to buy my GF a Wii for her birthday in July. They are all being sold off the same day they arrive here. I know WI is no different, nor is Chicago. (I've got several friends looking for them.)
Cuja you are full of shit or are looking at empty boxes. I know Target had 3 lining the base of their case. All demo boxes.
anonymous @ Apr 28th 2007 3:50AM
Best scam ever!!! And they said you couldn't make money selling Flash quality games to people...
FlaD @ Apr 28th 2007 3:59AM
In response to this guy up here...^^^
As a Flash game developer, I resent that comment... If anything I would say that your not giving flash games a fair shake, and that most flash games are of higher quality then most Wii games.
I recently played through the new Paper Mario game, and I have to say, it was absolutely sub-flash game quality. Does Nintendo really expect us to buy this CRAP?!?!?
(Don't even get me started on the crappy production values of Twilight Princess, I mean, Gee-Zhusss!)
Slaziman @ Apr 28th 2007 4:10AM
^^ I was gonna get angry at you but my sarcasm detector is tingling
BPM @ Apr 28th 2007 4:53AM
I have to agree with FlaD. TP had horrendous production values. Easily, even the most inexperienced of Flash designers could design something better than that dreck.
Godmil @ Apr 28th 2007 5:30AM
I read somewhere that they're increasing production so that they'll be able to produce 14 million units a year. So I guess that prediction is simply based on them continuing to sell out all year. Which is more than possible (*cough* DS) From my exprience only a quarter of the people who I know that wont a Wii have one, so there's no signs of slowing down yet.
WHYGETAWII @ Apr 28th 2007 7:01AM
That's because your all Wii-Tarted!!!
Rubang B @ Apr 28th 2007 7:26AM
FLASH! Ah-haaaaa, savior of the universe!
Loki @ Apr 29th 2007 12:07AM
The wii will hit the ceiling in 08. No matter what Nintendo will end up in third place.
The system is so weak and limited...
Korova @ Apr 28th 2007 8:42AM
Most of the time when I play flash games with girls they scream and run away. I even got arrested once.
Wii is much more fun, and makes girls happy
Maybe I dont know about this "designer" flash? Hmm
Alex @ Apr 28th 2007 10:02AM
If Metroid Prime 3, Mario Galaxy and especially Super Smash Bros Brawl are released even in Japan and America alone before 08, they could easily meet those expectations.
John @ Apr 28th 2007 10:03AM
Notice that the people pushing Flash offer no links to these supposedly superior games so that we can see them or play them. Also notice that their comments about design quality of the stated games do not offer any actual criticisms, or comparisons to how the flash games are supposedly better. Not sure why these people posted their comments.
noname @ Apr 28th 2007 10:26AM
^^^^^ are you an idiot?
or really very un funny
AJ @ Apr 28th 2007 11:08AM
Isn't that more than half of what the GC sold in its entire run? Go nintendo.
Benjamin Heckendorn @ Apr 28th 2007 11:57AM
I saw one at a Wal-Mart when I was buying videotapes. It was Stoughton, WI for those of you who care. Sadly I thought about buying it even though I am not a fan of the system.
I can't speak for everyone, but if the Wii did become #1 I think it could be bad for gaming. Aside from the triple AAA first-party titles (that themselves are just the latest rehashes of franchises Nintendo has been milking for decades) most of the stuff is in fact web browser mini-game stuff or PS2 shovelware ports.
I have nothing against Nintendo winning, but I have a lot against a 5-year old out of date system with a very overrated controller doing it.
Triforceowner @ Apr 28th 2007 12:16PM
My predictions (by March 08):
360: 20-25 million total
Wii: 15-20 million total
PS3: 10-15 million total
How I came to that:
The 360 has sold ten million units in its first year, and I expect the sales to grow exponentially. That would mean we add more than ten million units to the 360 for its March 08 sales.
The Wii has already sold 6 million units in its first six months. The 360 took seven or eight months to reach that, so I expect the Wii to be in between 15 and 20 million units.
I expect the PS3 to do just as well as the 360 in its first year, and with more casual gamers starting to pick up systems, I expect them to do just a bit better.
Ken @ Apr 28th 2007 12:22PM
@ Benjamin Heckendorn
I'm also against people buying videotapes in this day and age. Seriously, get with the digital age. ;)
ac @ Apr 28th 2007 12:36PM
@ Benjamin Heckendorn
It's videotape buying dinosaurs like you that I hope become instinct when this new revolution of gaming takes over. Whether you like it or not, Wii is going to win this gen and usher a new era of gaming where video games finally become a respected medium and played by all. Nintendo is going to have the most diverse lineup of games and not just cater to this special group of dinosaurs like yourself. I'm very interested to know, if the Wii wins this gen, what will you turn to? PC gaming, or movies on video tapes?
peko @ Apr 28th 2007 2:17PM
@ Triforceowner
We are still unsure if Microsoft sold 10 million, because the figure you saw were shipped units.
And X360 can only sell 12 million till july (in 18 months), because thats all Microsoft will ship. And we know they won't sell out that fast...
How can you expect it double its sales in half of that time?
Wii has sold 5.8 million in 5 months. Its easy to see it doing more than 1 million a month. (if you count holidays it can do even better)
So by march there should really be 20 million wii sold. (taking the lead over x360)
And i don't even get me start talking about PS3 sales with no system-seller software for $600 pricetag.
Lord Chako @ Apr 28th 2007 2:21PM
@ac
I think you meant "extinct", not instinct.
Of course that doesn't really surprise me, look at all the people that type "looser" instead of loser.
Lord Chako @ Apr 28th 2007 2:28PM
"We are still unsure if Microsoft sold 10 million, because the figure you saw were shipped units."
Stores have to sell consoles, before they will ship more to them. It's not like there are millions of 360's sitting on store shelves, not being bought.
Unless microsoft is lying to it's shareholders, I find it hard to believe otherwise.
"How can you expect it double its sales in half of that time?"
Halo 3.
And maybe a price cut.
Those two things will do wonders for 360 sales.
Mr Khan @ Apr 28th 2007 3:21PM
I could see Halo 3 and a price drop putting up holiday sales 50% for the 360 from last year (which i think was either 1.1 or 1.8 million, that would put it up to 1.65 or 2.7 million for the holiday season, and that second figure sounds a little outrageous)
Of course, the three titles that will probably come out for the Wii (between what Iwata and Kojima said, Brawl in 07 is looking better), IF nintendo meets demand, sales could easily hit 1.5 to 2 million in the US across the holiday season, and just as high in Japan...
idioteraser @ Apr 28th 2007 4:05PM
Ahem considering that Microsoft last quarter admitted to only shipping 500,000 xbox 360s we can see they didn't actually sell that many the preceding quarters. They overflowed the store shelves and store warehouses.
Sony did the same with the PSP. Why do you think they only shipped 10,000 units to North America during the fourth quarter of the year which is the November/December months? It was because stores were overflowing with unsold psps and sony knew that stores were getting enraged at having these shelves full of unsold units.
Sony and Microsoft both use some tactics to cloud reality from their shareholders plus guess what said shareholders are really angry at Sony because their shares/stock has drastically decreased in value compared to a few years ago.
Microsoft only makes money due to it's Operating Systems it licenses for pc use. If they lose on that end the whole company goes under. Xbox 360 is a huge money pit for Microsoft. So is the Zune.
Sony, Microsoft game divisions are not healthy for their respective companies now.
Luke @ Apr 28th 2007 4:54PM
If they sell 14 million by march 08' that would be amazing for Nintendo, Being that the GameCube only sold about 14 million at the end of its life cycle. Good job Nintendo.
Rubang B @ Apr 28th 2007 5:15PM
The Wii will sell 14 million MORE, which will make it about 20 million, which is about how many the GC sold in its lifetime.
Rubang B @ Apr 29th 2007 6:40AM
No way Loki!
Paviel @ Apr 29th 2007 4:59PM
In order for Nintendo to come off third in this race, not only must the Wii hit the ceiling by 2008, but the PS3 needs more interest and more demand as well. Nintendo could fail to sell any Wiis at all from tomorrow on*, but the PS3's sales would take a long time to catch up to the Wii's at this rate.
*I find it incredibly unlikely, given that the supply of Wiis doesn't seem to have even come close to meeting the demand, but it could happen. Though I don't know much about economics, I suspect that when the supply of an item comes close to meeting the demand, the item tends to stay on store shelves longer than a day or two before being sold. As far as I know, Wiis are regularly being sold the day they go up for sale.
Rubang B @ Apr 29th 2007 5:38PM
The second Nintendo senses a problem, they can cut $50 off the price and make their lead even stronger. Nintendo is the only company that can afford a price cut right now, but they don't need to yet. And I'm sure that in their secret underground labs, Nintendo is at this moment working on a new Nintendogs for Wii and DS (that can communicate with each other) that has Wi-Fi playdates and races and such.