100,000 Wiis sold down under, but the PS3 is not far behind
By John Pospisil
Nintendo’s Wii next-generation gaming console has broken yet another record, this time in Australia, having sold more than 100,000 units in the six months since its launch. This makes the Wii the fastest selling console to reach 100,000 unit sales, according to market research company GfK.
The Wii also holds the Australian record for the biggest launch of a video game.
By comparison, the PS3 has sold around 45,000 units in Australia since its release three months ago in late March.
“We are pleased that Wii has achieved this benchmark, but we are ecstatic that it attained this whilst also reaching new audiences and expanding the scope of our entire industry” said Rose Lappin, Director of Sales and Marketing at Nintendo of Australia.
“We promised we would bring gaming to the masses; I think this is proof that we are heading in the right direction”.
In Australia the Wii retails for AUS$399.95 (about US$338), and the Wii package includes one wireless Wii Remote controller, one Nunchuk controller and the five different Wii Sports games on one disc.
“Wii Sports is still performing very well as a primary vehicle to encourage non-gamers towards trying out the Wii experience” said Lappin.
While this latest Wii sales record may seem like another slap in the face for PS3 fans, the PS3 has sold a respectable 45,000 units in Australia in the three months since its launch. If you take into account that the Wii has been available for six months, it’s obvious that the PS3 is not far behind.
If the Sony can keep up the momentum, it should be able to sell 80,000 to 90,000 units within six months of launch. Not a bad effort for a console that has been written off by many so-called experts.
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June 22nd, 2007
Yeah sounds impressive, those figures it really makes it sound like the ps3 in crawling back. But they don’t give the whole story here.
Like the fact that the wii sold around 32000 units in the first 3 days of launch and the ps3 sold around 28000 in the fisrt 10 days.
When you start breaking this down.
The PS3 has sold 17000 additional units in the three months since launch after the initial sales.
The Wii has sold 68000 additional units in the six months since launch.
PS3 - 5600 a month
Wii - 11,000 a month
The Wii is selling double the PS3. I honestly think the ps3 will be smashed at christmas if they don’t drop the price and get some killer games by because very few parrents are going to want to spend $1000 + $100 for a game on a PS3 compared to what is now a popular Wii for $400 including a free game (plus three highly anticipated games Metroid 3, Super Smash Bros Brawl and Mario Galaxy will most likely be out and their bound to sell a crapload of consoles).
June 22nd, 2007
The Wii is a last gen console, with last gen graphics, and gimmick gameplay, compare it to PS2 sales only.
The only reason the Wii needs to exist is to provide ports to the PSP, seeing as they both have similar processing power.
June 22nd, 2007
Wayne, Are you on drugs?
When were you in charged of defining last gen?
without Exact figures of wii’s graphics released by nintendo, how do you know they aint holding back power? ( besides using some inductive argument)
Gimmick Gameplay? only time will tell.
How on earth are you meant to compare something 6 months old to 5years+ ? you have a insane difference in game libary.
PSP and wii, similar processing power? lol…..ROFL AAHAHAH.
June 22nd, 2007
D:
Have you even checked the Wii’s specs? Wayne is right in saying that even a PS2 can beat it interms of graphics & CPU power. Wii just uses its gimicks to sell the console (yes it’s fun, but you just get bored of it soon).
June 22nd, 2007
the Wii will top out around 08 sometime……then either the 360 or ps3 will take over, the control system on the Wii while initially fun, grows old after a while…then you’re left wanting more…
My prediction, Wii will top out late 07 or mid 08.
360 and ps3 will be neck and neck after that.
June 22nd, 2007
I thought the old contoles for the ps1 got old a long time ago and guss what their still the same why not change them. All these arguments where said when the psp came out and look what happened to that. The wii is also more powerful then the xbox look it up
June 22nd, 2007
I don’t get it, why does everybody say that “Wii controls will get boring soon”? How come we don’t get bored pressing the same buttons over and over again??
June 23rd, 2007
to odys.
“pressing the same buttons over and over” does not get boring because its NOT what DEFINES the gameplay experience….. no body said “wow the ps2 was awesome.. it had an awesome dual shock controller”. there is no denying in the fact the wii controller does enhances the experience but it doesn’t do it any different from using specialized peripherals with their perspective games. the wheel controller will get easily boring when we play an outdated GT or Forza. using the arcade analog stick for VF5 wont be that fun if VF5 is a crappy piece of $hit. i can go on in my analogy with the gun controller for TIME CRISIS….
my point is …whether u play these games with “pressing the same buttons over and over” or with ” THE ULTIMATE SUPER WII-MOTE”, the gameplay will definately gets boring when u have a game based on 6 year old technology and a software library that lacks any depth in design and it consists of little next to nothing of intellectual property IP
we (most of us) all came to love PS2 for its MGS, TEKKEN, GT, GTA series + many other gr8 franchises. As of now, the wii is suffering in that department and with the exception of Zelda TP, the wii lacks any new significant IP (rest of its library are bunch of cheap ports of old gen games)…i dont wana buy a console just to be stuck with my childhood games of the VC….these games were popular in a time when every kid i knew wished he would go to MJ neverland and guess what!! the popularity of the wii will soon suffer the same fate of MJ (of course im not equating mj with the wii).
next gen war will be won by true next gen consoles (360 or ps3)…my prediction is they would split territories with 360 winning north America and ps3 winning Europe and japan.
June 23rd, 2007
hardcore gamer: The Wii opens up videogame technology moreso than the PS3 or the 360. The latter two only enhances visuals and provides some very unnecessary services that don’t improve games. The former open up the possibility that new ideas can be formed and old ones refined.
It says a lot when ordinary people are flocking to the Wii and easily buying it off the shelves. When the technology has become accessible and available where its software evolves traditional games into more interactive iterations. When completely new ideas can take form into things that were previously impossible.
Even in its early life, the Wii has been able to transform how people are looking at games. We see the continued sales of Wii Sports and Wii Play, while at the same time having more “traditional” games still sell incredibly well, including Twilight Princess and Super Paper Mario.
You’re completely mistaken about how the age of technology will limit gameplay. The 360 has been out for more than a year, and aside from two popular games, has it really “revolutionized” the industry? Has it outsold motherloads of games? Does everyone have it in their home? Most importantly, have the games become better?
The largest problem for the 360 and PS3 is that the games haven’t changed. They haven’t improved aside from the aesthetics. Ironically, the “lack of depth in design” that you have complained about the Wii’s current library is really an even larger problem with these super-computer consoles.
People are looking forward to what? Halo? Bioshock? Final Fantasy? Metal Gear Solid? They’re looking ahead to sequels and new IPs that are renditions of old ideas with little, if any, improvements aside from looking and sounding really good. Enhanced aesthics don’t mean more “depth,” just means more superficiality. It’s just that people, probably including yourself, are too easily duped into this kind of one-dimensional thinking.
Don’t believe me? Why is it that PS2 games still outsell 360 and PS3 games? If the hardware is supposed to be so much better with such depth that the games have improved, why haven’t people bought the new systems? Truth is, the games haven’t changed, and most people (i.e. consumers who aren’t caught up in the tech wars) realize that the difference between the PS2 and PS3 or the XBox and the 360 is only skin deep, and that they’re not willing to pay $400 to $600 for something that merely looks better.
As opposed to the Wii, where the average consumer actually sees the difference, the possibilities, the usefulness of such a device.
The Wii still needs titles and ideas, most definitely. But it has been only six months, and even then the ideas are starting to emerge. Nintendo merely has shown the supplies; whether game developers are able to capitalize on the hardware, we’ll have to see.
June 25th, 2007
all those people who say the wii is last gen think again, just because lazy developers create so called crappy ports it doesn’t mean that the wii is bad, It’s not the wiis fault. And anyway only like a quarter of its libary is full of useless ports. some developers like ea games with the godfather have used the extra grunt of the wii to make it betta then what it was when it came out sometime ago. Another thing is that I’v heard people buy a wii play wii sports then sell it straight off ebay, you’ll be very sorry when mario galaxy and metroid and all the other games to look foward to come out and you won’t be able to find a wii. well i don’t give a crap about wii haters they can go to hell I love my wii and I might get a 360 but only time will tell
June 25th, 2007
@ Dave Park
You make an interesting argument, yet your points have two very weak foundations:
1) opinion
2) the presupposition that sales numbers define the quality of a product
You applaud games like Wii Play and downplay the quality of future releases like Final Fantasy XIII and Halo 3. I’m not one to pay attention to hype, but I find this next to offensive. Would you seriously rather sit down after work and wiggle your wrist with Wii Play as opposed to an intense match on Halo or a deeply moving experience with Final Fantasy? Don’t you, at SOME point, get tired of repetive waggle and want some real gaming substance?
I have a Wii and I haven’t turned the thing on in almost two months, and I have a feeling that alot of other Wii owners are experiencing the same thing.
You say that the features of the PS3 and 360 are “unnecessary,” yet I use my PS3 for non-gaming functions every single day. Not to mention that the Wii has some very nifty non-gaming features as well. If your console CAN do much more than play games, why is that a “weakness?” Here I was thinking that having one toy that can do lots of cool things was a good thing. Silly me.
You say that sales mean a lot, and yet you don’t seem to see the problem with a game like Mario Party 8 being a top-seller. Try playing that game. It’s uninspired and shameful and gets completely old after a week, even for non-gamers. Yet Wii owners are so starved for new games that they’ll run out and buy it anyways. Sales numbers mean nothing when it comes to the quality of a game.
You’re under the impression that the 360 and PS3 offer only graphical improvements to gaming, and to some extent this is true, with games like Gears of War being impressive solely on its graphical prowess. However, try sitting down and playing Oblivion on either the PS3 or 360. A game of this size and spec is simply impossible to acheive on the Wii. Now I ask you, if the Wii is honestly bringing the only significant improvements to gaming industry, why can’t a game like Oblivion be done on it?
Think long and hard… have you come up with an answer? It’s really obvious: because the Wii is not about games, it’s about controls. The Wii will never bring anybody a truly amazing gaming experience, because nobody sits down in front of a game and thinks “I can’t wait to experience the controls!”
It’s a conversation piece at parties. Nothing more. I was excited about the Wii when I got mine. But I see no future for it beyond light party games and a handful of Nintendo 1st-parties IPs.
June 25th, 2007
Wii is very amazing they have very good games. Play far cry the way it moves, the xbox & playstation offer the same games in different paint. Really get over it i pefer to play my snes which has amazing game play, Sony are now trying to desing controls like the wii - really everyone knows the wii will be the master. Wait for 1 year when all these amazing games come out. Dont you remember when all these cool gun games come out, now the wii has heaps of them. You poin the controller & shoot the screen & you move around the nun chuck. You dont have to press a or b like sony to change modes. It is perfect the design. You make good points we lack games like gta & other stuff but being honest i get on my pc. Is it far to pay thousands of dollars to play games. $1000 for a game console is so extreme i pefer to buy a pc which does so much more.
June 25th, 2007
Your so right TGH because my brother brought a playstation 3 & spent $2700 AU. Now with that money he could of brought a pc and a blue raid player. The wii is very different to any console designed, they say the playstation is for hardcore games but what is a hardcore gamer?
I love games & play them all the time since i was young, i believe everyone is shocked because i am a nintendo fans for years & no one believes they could pull it off. Look at them now they over took Sony & Xbox. Everyone now says it wont last because of its hardcore graphics - An example is the psp & nds. The psp stop making moves & is doing very poorley. The problem is Xbox & Sony want everyone to pay top dollar for there products & forcing blue raid & high def technology on us. I am happy with dvd it does the same thing but looks better ohhhh i am going to upgrade & pay thousands of dollars. I pefer to sit back & let others pay this & when its very cheap i pick one up. If we support this high price, the next console will be $2000 and so on. I refuse to support it, look around this whole world is getting more expensive, no one can afford it, if the xbox & sony were sooo amazing i would buy it, i pefer to play my dreamcast. Dont get me wrong i know Sony & Xbox are great consoles in there own way but they are trying to make us pay thousands of dollars. $1000 for a ps3 than 5 games at $130, a second controller for $70 for challenges than another $100 for the blue raid controller, than another $100 for hdmi cable. wow give us a break guys your better off with a pc.
June 29th, 2007
[…] the PS3 has moved 50,000 units in Australia since March 23 is quite impressive. The Wii has sold 100,000 units since December 7th of last year. That means there are more Wiis in Australian homes but the PS3 is […]