Wii Sports approaches 50 million copies sold

by JC Fletcher on Jul 31st 2009 3:45PM

In a supplement to Nintendo's earnings statement yesterday, the company released some sales numbers for top-selling games in the last quarter. Four Nintendo products sold over one million copies between April and July, only one of which was a new release anywhere in the world during that time.

Pokemon Platinum on DS, which came out in North America in March, right before the quarter started, moved 1.91 million copies in Q1, for a life-to-date total of 5.66 million worldwide.

It was an even better quarter for the Wii's evergreens. Wii Fit sold an additional 3.6 million copies, bringing its LTD to 21.82. Mario Kart Wii sold 2 million, making its total 17.39 million. And Wii Sports sold an additional 1.91 million copies, bringing its total sales number to a ridiculous 47.62 million, including copies sold in hardware bundles.

And that's why there's a sequel.

Source (PDF)

Tags: DS, earnings-report, mario-kart-wii, Nintendo, pokemon-platinum, sales, Wii, wii-fit, wii-sports

Reader Comments (98)

Oh, more money.....that's nice.....

I almost crapped my pants. Thought they were talking about "Resort".

I thought the same thing at first glance...

Curse these casual games! They stifle the hopefully inevitable releases of Star Fox, and F-Zero, and other neglected Nintendo properties I await!

It's never going to happen. Nintendo hates you, and all your nerdy friends.

Sad but true...why release a F-Zero while a quick minigame compilation can sell millions?

F-Zero they seem to simply have dropped by the wayside. Not sure what will happen with that franchise. Despite the anime (and its crappy tie-in games), F-Zero's popularity never really got up there. But Nintendo has proven quite dedicated to other franchises that have remained niche (like Starfy and Fire Emblem), so it's not strictly a question of lack of popularity.

It is a question of development capacity, perhaps. I mean, they outsourced the last console F-Zero, and the team that did it was later destroyed in a SEGA corporate restructuring (after the Sammy buyout, i think).

As for StarFox, i think that one definitely is due to their lack of development capacity. The EAD guys have ideas, but clearly don't have the time.

Im still waiting for F-Zero too...*sigh*

While this is a stunning achievement, so were the sales of the "Pet Rock" in 1975.

Yes, I am putting Wii Sports in the same category as Pet Rocks. And don't tell me they are different products, that's like telling me Kevin Bacon was in Footloose.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJJA1vvMc4I

$50 Pet Rocks during a global recession? Damn, they must have made a killing.

But Wii Sports has changed everything. Pet Rock can't make that claim.

I beg to differ Mr Khan. I believe the Pet Rock was the beginning of the "Petz" craze that later branched into Nintendogs and the Ubisoft series just to name a few.

What has wii sports changed? All I've noticed is the endless amounts of shovelware it has inspired.

Wii Sports was what drove the success of Wii, this is largely undisputed. And Wii's success has forced the change in strategy of Sony and Microsoft, leading to the Wand and Natal.

No other game this generation has had so much impact. Not any single one, anyway.

No Khan, while the Wii is primarily a "waggle" system, Microsoft and Sony haven't changed their strategy in any way. The wand and Natal are obvious additions to each respective console and they are not required by each system for basic gameplay. Where as the Wii forces you to waggle and jump and scream when you're playing whatever piece of shovelware is in the disc tray.

captain planet, you're still ignoring the fact that the Wand and Natal would probably not even exist at all if not for the wii and wii sports. At least, there wouldn't be such a rush by Sony and Microsoft to get them out so quickly. Wii Sports is a game that literally kicked the hardcore gamers and developers in the teeth.

While Microsoft was busy with Gears of War and Halo, and Sony with their Killzones and Resistance, Nintendo puts out a simple sports compilation that took the world by storm. Now look at E3 this year. They showed off TWO halo games, and nobody really cared. But Hot dang if people weren't all over Natal. That's cause of the wii.

does the editor mean wii sports resort? wii sports is a wii bundled game

only in america! [/donking]

according to wikipedia, every region except japan.

Look at this map, sir. Two countries - America and Japan. Also the world is a timecube and revolves around a giant baby *scuttles back into cave*

Well... I really don't count Wii Sports numbers, because almost 80% of those numbers are from bundled copies...

Now... I'm really surprised about Mario Kart Wii... I mean, 18 million copies sold, and that game is still full price (never had a price cut)... thats impressive. That's more than any title from previous generations. And it was achieved in just a year.

Yeah, I find MKW's numbers more impressive than Wii Sports too.

Mario Kart's numbers are quite beastly, especially when you consider that the Gamecube Mario Kart only sold about 6 million copies lifetime. MKW tripled it in just a year.

Wii Fit's numbers are insane too, for a game that's only been out about a year.

Hurray for counting "sales" of a free game that comes with every system!

That's actually what I was thinking. It's pretty unfair when you think about it.

Well, I kinda agree with you, but again, Sony and MS does that too... for example, almost a million copies of MGS4 were from bundled games, and Sony and Konami include those numbers in the total sales.

Yeah but those bundles usually come at slightly higher prices than normal. The Wii never left the $250 point.

True. My 360 came with Lego Indiana Jones and Kung Fu Panda. I bet Microsoft benefited a lot from that, or at least, the publishers and developers did.

The MGS4, GT5:P, Uncharted bundles were the same price. Basically, the games were included for free.

C'mon, you are a Sony fanboy... you should knwo your facts better.

Sorry, once I buy a system I barely pay attention to price cuts or bundles.

And still with the sony fanboy thing huh. It's like 2008 all over again.

That's silly to include the copies of Wii Sports included in the bundles.

I forget, did Europe get the same bundle as North America? Or was their bundle like Japan's?

I don't think Japan got a bundle.

Ah that's what I meant. Poorly worded on my part.

Was the Wii released by itself in Europe, like it was in Japan?
Better. :)

Haha, that makes more since.

Yeah, Europe got the bundle.

nice 50 million, been enjoying wii sports resort lately im sure it will see great to :)

Counting the bundled copies of Wii Sports as individual game sales is as stupid as counting Wiimotes bundled with the Wii as individual perphieral sales

in 2026, gamers will speak of this like we speak of Super Mario Bros. today.

Holy crap. It's almost a 1:1 ratio of Wii consoles to Wii Sports.

Could that be because it comes with the system?

DON'T TALK SUCH MADNESS BOY.

It is obviously what everyone above me has stated.

The impressive part is almost everyone who didn't buy the bundled system also bought Wii Sports by itself. At the same time, it is also interesting to note that the game doesn't seem to be going into the secondary market.

Edit: The game doesn't seem to be entering the secondary market yet.

The question is: how *could* it enter the secondary market en masse? There isn't much of a used game market in Japan, or so i've heard, and it's sold with every system in the West. The only possibility would be people who sold their Wiis and their Wii Software separately, but that has to be a small group of people. The other possibility would be damaged/destroyed discs, but that doesn't make much sense either.

lol....

The new wii sports and the wii fit are awesome. There are many many games in both and they're all a lot of fun. I actually play wii more than Civilization 4 since I got them (and that's saying a lot!!!)

(disregards wii fit and wii sports entirely)
So I guess Mario kart outsold GTA4 and COD4 huh?...

Previous 50 Comments

Wii Sports approaches 50 million copies sold

Reader Comments (98)

Posted: Jul 31st 2009 3:51PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 31st 2009 3:57PM Shadowbender said

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