X-bit labs

Nintendo Wii Becomes Best-Selling New-Generation Console – Market Tracker.

Category: Multimedia

by Anton Shilov

[ 08/22/2007 | 11:55 PM ]

Without advanced graphics core, innovative central processing unit, high-definition video player and without the hefty price-point, Nintendo Wii has become the best selling new-generation game console, according to a market tracker.

Recently released figures from Video Game Chartz indicate that to date Microsoft Corp. has sold through 10.51 million of its Xbox 360 game machines, whereas Nintendo has succeeded in selling 10.57 million of Wii game consoles. Only 4.32 million Sony PlayStation 3 game consoles have been acquire by end-users so far, VG Chartz indicate.

“Two years ago, very few analysts would have predicted the Nintendo Wii would be market leader this generation against the established PlayStation and Xbox brands. But analysts can be in error: Vgchartz.com data, which is based on sample data from retailers all over the world indicates that the week ending August 23^rd Nintendo’s Wii passed Xbox 360 lifetime sales, making Nintendo the new market leader in both the home and handheld videogame console businesses,” a statement by the company reads.

As weekly data from vgchartz.com shows, the Nintendo Wii game console outsold Microsoft’s Xbox 360 by a margin of 2.3:1 worldwide on average each week since its release in November, 2006, selling at an even faster rate than the most successful console ever created, Sony’s PlayStation 2, despite still being sold out in most major markets.

Nintendo Wii is the least technically advanced new-generation game console. Its success is a direct result of its relatively low price as well as unique motion-sensitive control devices. The main target auditory for Wii are casual gamers, children and those new to video gaming.

Vgchartz.com projections are based on sampled retailer data from all over the world. The market tracking firm collects data from a carefully selected group of retailers and determines projected sales figures for entire regions with knowledge of market size, retailer market shares, retailer bias and so forth - the same methods used by larger and more established sales tracking firms.