Wii Play tops 10 million sales in US

After another month of dominating the sales charts, Nintendo has another feather it can put in its cap--Wii Play's US sales have topped ten million units!

Wii Play, the $50 game that comes packaged with a Wii Remote, has joined fellow hardware pack-in Wii Sports as the only games from this hardware generation to sell more than ten million copies in the US. Wii Play, which was last year's top selling game despite the fact that it came out in early 2007, only costs ten dollars more than a standalone Wii Remote, which has likely been the impetus for many a purchase.

While the game has received quite a drubbing from critics, including a 2/5 score in our review, the game's casual style has made it easily accessible to less experienced gamers. Alicia Ashby from OMGNintendo explains the phenomenon succinctly in her blog post on the subject (which can be read here), saying "The simple games appear to be great fun if you have kids and grandmas playing frequently and the controller and game package gets two controllers into a lot of houses that might have otherwise have stopped at one (and made their Wii experience a lot less fun)."

Wii Play tops 10 million sales in US

I kick ass at this one.

Nintendo's press release is below.

Nintendo's Wii Play Surpasses 10 Million Units Sold in the United States

Wii Play(tm), a collection of nine mini-games, has now sold more than 10 million units in the United States alone since its debut in February 2007, according to figures released today by the independent NPD Group, which tracks video game sales in the United States. Wii Play, now the top-selling software on all consoles and portable systems in the United States, comes packaged with a Wii Remote(tm) controller.

"Wii Play mini-games are fun and they get people playing together," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "Even if you believe people are buying Wii Play solely for the controller, that indicates that there are now more than 10 million people who have an extra Wii Remote controller in their homes. When added to the 12.7 million Wii Remote controllers that have sold separately, this reinforces the growing 'social gaming' trend we have been seeing where friends and family use their Wii games as a social hub - both in person and online."

Wii(tm) system sales were up about 74 percent over February 2008, and Wii and Nintendo DS(tm) finished February as the top-selling hardware systems. Wii sold nearly 753,000, bringing its lifetime U.S. sales to nearly 19 million, while Nintendo DS sold nearly 588,000 for a lifetime U.S. total of nearly 29 million.

Nintendo DS(tm) demonstrated continued strength, as "evergreen" games like Mario Kart(tm) DS (launched November 2005) and New Super Mario Bros.(tm) (launched May 2006) again placed among the top sellers for February. The strong showing for Nintendo DS hardware and software demonstrates continued consumer interest in the portable system as the United States preps for the April 5 launch of the Nintendo DSi(tm) system, the third iteration of the hardware.

Five games made for Nintendo systems finished in the top 10 best-sellers of February. These include Wii Fit(tm) at No. 1 with nearly 644,000 sold, Wii Play at No. 2 with nearly 386,000 sold, Mario Kart(tm) Wii at No. 6 with nearly 263,000 sold, Mario Kart DS at No. 8 with nearly 145,000 sold and New Super Mario Bros. at No. 9 with more than 144,000 sold.

THE VERDICT by Dave Rudden Dave Rudden's Avatar

Some editors here despise this game, but I'm pretty ambivalent. Granted, I'll never sit down and play Wii Plau for hours, but this is one of the few games I can play against both my neighbor and her six year old son. For a ten-dollar game, that's a pretty good deal.

Comments [11]

post a comment

Toneman

I really enjoy the neon hockey... I think that game alone was worth the 10$. The cow racing is also pretty fun, for like 2 minutes. The rest kinda sucks.

TripleO

Toneman wrote:

I really enjoy the neon hockey... I think that game alone was worth the 10$. The cow racing is also pretty fun, for like 2 minutes. The rest kinda sucks.

Agreed. Oh, btw. Thanks for giving it to the Habs last night.

patsfan365

no shit it has so many sales, it comes with a remote! I think that it sucked but at least i got a free remote outta it.

26C

Toneman wrote:

I really enjoy the neon hockey... I think that game alone was worth the 10$. The cow racing is also pretty fun, for like 2 minutes. The rest kinda sucks.

Agreed. Neon hockey is the better of the games. I liked duck hunt but realized after 2 times of playing it that it wasn't random so things that popped up were easy to figure out there placement.

patsfan365

26C wrote:

Toneman wrote:

I really enjoy the neon hockey... I think that game alone was worth the 10$. The cow racing is also pretty fun, for like 2 minutes. The rest kinda sucks.

Agreed. Neon hockey is the better of the games. I liked duck hunt but realized after 2 times of playing it that it wasn't random so things that popped up were easy to figure out there placement.

really? I didnt know that. Probably because i only played it once. But that's laziness.

masterchief247

How about giving a controller with a good game like SSBB. This was a dirty play.

EvenSteven

Man if they would have powered this thing like the PS3 and the 360, they would have 100 million in console sales easy. Personally I love the Wii. I just wish they would have put a bit more HP under the hood.
I hope they are working on a super charged console, they have to strike while the iron is hot.

patsfan365

EvenSteven wrote:

Man if they would have powered this thing like the PS3 and the 360, they would have 100 million in console sales easy. Personally I love the Wii. I just wish they would have put a bit more HP under the hood.
I hope they are working on a super charged console, they have to strike while the iron is hot.

I agree. I like the wii also, but i never play it. I consider myself a hardcore gamer, i have a wii and a ps3. I bought a wii first because it looked innovative, which it was, for a while. They never make good use of the wii remote. I am a big fan of mario and nintendo. I started playing SNES and super mario world on it. Then i got the N64, which i loved. Then the gamecube, which i still loved. Then the wii, which i loved for a while. I cant wait for the wii motion plus. That should spark my interest in the wii.

Post a Comment