GDC09: Nintendo has shipped 50 million Wii consoles
by David Hinkle 
{ Mar 25th 2009 at 12:19PM } 
As many of you NPD followers know, the Wii sold a whopping 753,000 units in February, and 679,000 in January, making for a total of 1,432,000 consoles sold in North America so far this year. In Japan, the console has sold 354,367 units so far in 2009 (counting the last few days of December), and Nintendo revealed 45 million Wiis had been shipped worldwide back in January. Add AMD's 50 millionth GPU, and you can see where this is going. We fully expect Nintendo's next move will be to purchase Japan and rename it Kirbyland.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
LeChuck @ Mar 25th 2009 12:25PM
Why not MarioLand, or WarioLand. Or better yet change Japan to Yoshi's Island.
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Mar 25th 2009 12:28PM
Undoubtedly it will hit 65 Million by E3
Sexualchocolate @ Mar 25th 2009 12:38PM
Just how many potential Wii owners are there in the world?
I think we'll only know when the sales stop, when everyone who could possibly want one already has one. (Or in my case had one, got a PS3 and gave it away after gathering dust for a year or so)
How long do we think? I'd say sales will slow in 3/4 years, i reckon abgout 100Mil and it'll be well and truely saturated.
Sexualchocolate @ Mar 25th 2009 12:39PM
The Wii that is, would NEVER give away my PS3! Couldn't go a day without it!
Rob @ Mar 25th 2009 12:53PM
You sound a little too dependent on the PS3. Have you considered a patch or something, like what smokers do.
Alex @ Mar 25th 2009 1:37PM
I did the opposite. I had a Wii for about 6 days and got rid of it. Bought a HDTV for my gawjuss HD 360 with the money.
Sexualchocolate @ Mar 26th 2009 5:15AM
My PS3 is the TV (PlayTV), music, Gaming, internet, films, EVERYTHING that goes on in my living room! So Yeah, I'm pretty dependant on it! Plus my Socom addiction!
I didn't go for the 360, because from what i hear, I would melt one in a week! My PS3 spends more time on than off and is still running perfectly after 2 years.
Not sure why i was voted down, because i mentioned the PS3? I think it's a common thought that Nintendo are on their way to saturating the casual gamer market.
plyx @ Mar 25th 2009 12:52PM
I have a feeling those Wii sales are about to start slipping dramatically. The units are becoming much easier to find in stores. Hell, we had one in our store that sat for over 2 weeks before some guy came in and traded 2 ds lites and a bunch of games for it.
Quix @ Mar 25th 2009 1:14PM
Excellent! This news should throw the Nintendo haters (and the Microsoft PR department) into full-blown hate spew mode.
Pass the popcorn!
TracerBullet @ Mar 25th 2009 1:10PM
Actually, with the new storage capacity and the motionplus coming, I can see a new impulse on Wii sales.
wud_e @ Mar 25th 2009 2:05PM
LMAO @ Kirbyland!
Alphathon @ Mar 25th 2009 2:55PM
It still has a long way to go until it surpasses the total global PS2 sales (which are still rising) which has almost three times that number (140mil as of July '08) but considering that the PS2 has been out since 2000, I have no doubt the Wii will surpass it at some point. Of course current availability trends seem to show sales plateuing some time soon (it may be the fastest selling, but it may also be the fastest to saturate it's market).
DeChunk @ Mar 26th 2009 12:33AM
I would love to see that happen. We could finally all go to Mushroom Kingdom and figure out why those mushrooms make Mario bigger...
Zach S @ Mar 27th 2009 3:44AM
It's pretty amazing how many people who would traditionally be labeled "non-gamers" have picked up and enjoyed the Wii. The last few times I've been to Gamestop, I've seen old ladies, mothers talking with their daughters about Wii Fit, and even a young corporate higher-up who said she played Wii with her CEO girlfriends and their husbands! My parents have even been talking about getting a Wii and they haven't touched a game since Pac-Man and Pong!!
Nintendo has basically created a whole new market with their system, and obviously that new market is still going strong!
Alex_Salem @ Mar 27th 2009 2:47PM
Thank God Nintendo has choosed a different path than Sony and Microsoft.
Please read this article:
http://alexandresalem.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/now-loading/