Nintendo’s Wii worldwide sales have passed those of Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Wii sales currently stand at 10.57 million units, compared with Xbox 360’s lifetime sales of 10.51 million units, making Nintendo the new market leader in both the home and handheld videogame console business, according to Vgchartz.

Vgchartz tracks consoles sold at the consumer level and not at retailers and other outlets, where Microsoft’s Xbox 360 lifetime shipments may be slightly higher than the shipments of Nintendo’s Wii.

The data from Vgchartz shows that Wii outsold Xbox 360 by a margin of 2.3:1 worldwide on average each week since its release, selling at an even faster rate than the most successful console ever created, Sony’s PlayStation 2, which is still being sold out in most major markets.

Vgchartz pointed out that Wii’s broad appeal across all age groups, demographics and countries has helped the console gain popularity so quickly.

According to Gamepro, Nintendo has done an excellent job of telling of marketing the Wii.

“Perception is everything, and Nintendo owns it at the moment. Because of this, people continue to gobble up Wiis, and third-party publishers have more exclusive games forthcoming for the system than both the Xbox 360 and PS3 as a result”.

But for Nintendo to solidify its market leadership, it must deliver a steady influx of audience engaging games, not only for casual gamers but for hardcore gamers as well. In addition, the company should aim to release a high-definition Wii successor as soon as possible.

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Entry was posted on Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007 at 7:13 pm under Uncategorized.

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