Wii Sports is best-selling game of all time, according to VGChartz

by Griffin McElroy { Jan 4th 2009 at 5:30PM }

We're automatically skeptical of any reports coming out of an organization who uses the letter "Z" to pluralize, but we find it difficult not to believe in a recent finding from VGChartz (sigh), who claim that Wii Sports has surpassed Super Mario Bros. as the best-selling video game of all time. After compiling last week's software sales, they've concluded that Wii Sports has barely crept past the 40.24 million mark that kept SMB on top of the pile for a bajillion years.

Of course, its worth noting that both games were bundled with their respective platforms (except in Japan and South Korea, whose Wiis were Sports-less), greatly boosting their sales. We wouldn't be surprised if the report proves to be accurate -- nor would we be shocked if Nintendo is currently looking for the highest, broadest rooftop from which they can proclaim their latest sales triumph.

Tags: best-selling, nintendo, super-mario-bros, vgchartz, wii-sports

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)

mr mobius @ Jan 4th 2009 5:36PM

There were 40 million NES sold?

Is it cheating if the game is bundled with the console?

I bought the console for other games, not Wii Sports.

Wii Sports is still an awesome game and a highly played part of my collection, even to this day (though mainly not on my Wii anymore as other people have now got it and are obsessed with playing multiplayer).

SLSSNAKE @ Jan 4th 2009 5:48PM

I think the SMB numbers are so high because it was also bundled with a console, so it makes sense that the only game to top its sales since is a pack-in game, as well.

Moptimus Slime @ Jan 4th 2009 6:56PM

Think of it this way:

In 1990, the ratio of NESs to American households was roughly 1:3. Now, lets say around 120,000,000 people lived in America back then. That leaves you with 40 million copies of SMB and Duck Hunt.

DCBlack @ Jan 5th 2009 12:56AM

So basically this just means pretty much that the Wii has outsold the NES? Not that big a deal, given the differences in eras and the shift in Nintendo's demographic.

Shenorock @ Jan 5th 2009 2:02AM

cept there were about 250 million people living in america in 1990, and many nintendos were sold outside of america.

SimbaDogg @ Jan 5th 2009 10:04PM

40 million sold? i wonder how the attachment rates are. cuz thats a huge base to work off of. but then again, a lot of people i know have bought Wiis, and ONLY use wii sports, and wii fit. not good for the long run.

teenagertc @ Jan 4th 2009 5:37PM

Stupid Question alert!!:

40+ million Wii's have been sold worldwide?!

If so, that's an amazing number!!

teenagertc @ Jan 4th 2009 5:40PM

I do love myself some WiiSports! It's the ultimate trash talking / friendly wager game! Get a couple of friends of any age together, and just go at it for hours! Doesn't everyone feel that they are the masters of Wii Tennis? I do!!

jorojoserojas @ Jan 4th 2009 6:29PM

Dude, when I'm on my game, I'm nearly unstoppable in Wii Tennis!

Foetoid @ Jan 4th 2009 7:40PM

VGChartz lists the Wii as topping 45 million sold (thanks to christmas). 5 more million and it surpasses the SNES in sales (omg). It passed the N64 and GC long ago. Once it hits 50 million to pass the SNES, it's another 12 million to pass the NES.

sam @ Jan 4th 2009 7:59PM

VGChartz (since that's what we're talking about...) says 45m Wii.

(Compared to 27m 360, 19m PS3 - meaning Wii still has 1m fewer users than the combined PS3/60 platform most developers work on.)

severian00 @ Jan 4th 2009 10:51PM

Yeah that's what I was thinking.

Wiinterfang @ Jan 4th 2009 5:42PM

The game deserves it, one of the best if not the best wii game so far.

Erik Stroud @ Jan 4th 2009 5:54PM

Metroid Prime 3 is the best, so it deserves it.

Wiinterfang @ Jan 4th 2009 5:55PM

Metroid Prime? ew.

Shadow El @ Jan 4th 2009 6:01PM

Metroid Prime 3: Second greatest game out on Wii.

Super Mario Galaxy deserves to have almost as many copies sold already, though. It's that amazing, everyone deserves to own it.

Superstar90 @ Jan 4th 2009 6:04PM

You are the worst NDF member ever.

TWiNKiE @ Jan 4th 2009 6:43PM

They are all really good games, but Brawl is WAAAAAY better than all of those games. That game deserves to be decorated with pure gold.

Moofree @ Jan 4th 2009 6:47PM

In my opinion, most of the best games on the Wii are for the Gamecube (still).

Wiinterfang @ Jan 4th 2009 6:49PM

The gamecube is filled with Gems.

Magetto @ Jan 4th 2009 10:55PM

Wii Sports is terrible. It's novelty wore off on me shortly after I started playing it.

Josh @ Jan 4th 2009 5:46PM

IMO, it doesn't count. A pack-in game is an enticement to buy the hardware. People aren't buying the game, they are buying the package.

If people want to dub Wii Sports the best selling game ever, might as well say it's the best selling highest priced game ever, since it costs $250.

Wiinterfang @ Jan 4th 2009 5:50PM

I wonder if the Sales of the Xbox 360 boost the sales of Lego Indiana Jones, Kung fu panda and Sega superstar Tennis.

Moptimus Slime @ Jan 4th 2009 6:58PM

oh yeah, cause those Wiis dont cost a thing if you buy it without Wii Sports

Wiinterfang @ Jan 4th 2009 7:01PM

No Kung fu Panda love here?

ill trooper @ Jan 4th 2009 10:46PM

"oh yeah, cause those Wiis dont cost a thing if you buy it without Wii Sports..."

Oh, so you understood exactly what Josh was saying, that the two are inextricably related, and that looking at only half the equation sounds ridiculous! Cool.

zuburi @ Jan 4th 2009 5:46PM

How can something that's free be the "best-selling?" Is the USB cable in the ipod box the best-selling USB cable ever?

mr mobius @ Jan 4th 2009 5:51PM

If more of it has been sold than any other, then yes it is.

When you buy the Wii, you are in theory also paying to buy Wii Sports. Just because they come as a bundle doesn't mean that you aren't paying for the game. Unless it explicitly mentions that it is free, but I don't think it does.

Snowblind @ Jan 4th 2009 6:01PM

I don't think it says it's "free" but I don't think anybody is buying the Wii specifically for that game, and I don't think it would be anywhere close to those sales if it weren't bundled with the Wii.

It's not like you have the choice not to get it.

mr nimblewick @ Jan 4th 2009 6:29PM

"I don't think anybody is buying the Wii specifically for that game"

You are very wrong on that account.

Jacksons @ Jan 4th 2009 6:53PM

Yeah, definitely agreeing with Nimblewick. We used to get an article a week on some retirement home or rehabilitation center or school or whatever else busting out the Wii Sports.

I'll spare you the "I have an aunt..." anecdotes, but let's just say I've got a few.

Rudolphe @ Jan 4th 2009 7:47PM

"I don't think anybody is buying the Wii specifically for that game"

Speak for yourself, I bought the Wii only after my daughter had tons of fun playing Wii Sports at a friends house... so yes I and i'm sure a lot of others bought the wii specifically for that game.

Premature ejaculation man @ Jan 4th 2009 10:11PM

Don't give Apple a bigger ego!

t_m @ Jan 5th 2009 4:14AM

@snowblind:
Nintendo's problem has mostly been the opposite... everyone bought it ONLY to play that game.. ;-)

David @ Jan 4th 2009 5:52PM

nooooooooooooooo! what a sad moment in gaming history. :(

@zuburi: LOL! you are absolutely right...great comment.

Joe @ Jan 4th 2009 5:54PM

If bundled in games count, then solitaire on the PC would be on top by millions...

Corrin Avatan @ Jan 4th 2009 6:12PM

Someone brought up a good point: how come Solitaire for the PC isn't on the list? I'm willing to say more than 40 million computers have been sold since 1995.

Comparing a bundled game to non-bundled games is very misleading. Nintendo has been, for all purposes, giving away a game when they sell the Wii. Anyone wit a Wii has it, because it came with it.

Sales charts should nod instead to the best selling game that people CHOOSE to buy. If I wanted a Wii, I would have no choice except to get Wii sports; does that mean I wanted to buy the game? No, it means it was included in the price of getting the wii.

I don't mean to disparage the Wii or Wii Sports, but saying a game that people cannot choose to buy in order to get the Wii is a best seller is misleading, when there is no choice involved in getting the game. (And please, don't try to point out that you can choose not to get the console: the point is that if you have a Wii, you get a Wii play disc in your hands at the same time, with no effort by nintendo to actually sell the game by itself.

Bluebrake @ Jan 4th 2009 7:09PM

Joystiq missed a key bit of the announcement here, which is "console" game. There are different PC titles that dwarf this figure.

Anyway, bundled games shouldn't be excluded from sales charts, but we need to keep in mind that they were bundled. It wouldn't be right to write off Wii Sports' sales, because it was the only reason a whole pile of people bought the Wii to begin with. Similarly, we shouldn't ignore something like MGS4's sales just because it was bundled for a little while.

This is why most sites that keep track of these things seem to separate (or at least make note of) bundled games from non-bundled.

Foetoid @ Jan 5th 2009 3:43AM

Wrong Bluebrake:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_games#PC

The Sims (16 million shipped)
Lineage 2 (14 million customers)
The Sims 2 (13 million)

Not even close, not even HALF WAY.

Vincent @ Jan 4th 2009 5:55PM

Wii Sports is a Demo Disc,

So Congrats on selling over 40 Million Demo's...

Superstar90 @ Jan 4th 2009 6:05PM

Well, it's like 5 demos...

So they sold 200 million demos.

JerJer @ Jan 4th 2009 6:09PM

holy SHIT

j.howlett @ Jan 4th 2009 6:53PM

i'd say some of the sports are full games, like bowling and boxing. i'd call baseball a demo

Moptimus Slime @ Jan 4th 2009 7:04PM

dont forget Golf! Why does everybody forget golf? Also, tennis is pretty much a real game.

commen-cents @ Jan 4th 2009 6:12PM

even if it wasent bundled the sales would still be just as high, everyone wants to know if i have "bowling" or "tennis" when they come by and see that i have a wii. they dont know it comes with the wii. my uncles family was over two days ago and thats what he asked me. those are the defining games of the system. demo disc or not, bundled or not, its a game that is the first thing that comes to mind when the wii is brought up, not mario, not metroid, not zelda... everyone just wants to bowl.