DailyTech - Wii Becomes Fastest Selling Console in UK

Submit News

Gadgets Wii Becomes Fastest Selling Console in UK
Marcus Yam (Blog) - August 31, 2007 8:50 AM

E-mail

del.icio.us

11 comment(s) - last by afkrotch.. on Sep 1 at 7:01 PM

Wii hits one million sales milestone 11 weeks faster than PlayStation 2

There’s really no argument from any side of the console war that Nintendo is selling boatloads of Wii consoles in any and every territory where it is available. The fine chaps in Britain appear to be taking to it particularly well, however, as the Wii is now officially the fastest-selling games console in the UK.

Citing independent tracking company Chart Track, the Telegraph reports that the Wii has sold more than one million units just 38 weeks after going on sale, 11 weeks faster than the PlayStation 2 took to reach this target, and 22 weeks faster than the Xbox 360.

“The non-stop demand for Wii, even in the traditionally slow sales period for video games in the UK, is clearly behind this record-breaking achievement,” said David Yarnton, general manager of Nintendo UK. “With the increasing number of unique software titles for the system from Nintendo and third parties, [the Wii] is being enjoyed by both avid and new gamers of all ages.”

The stellar performance of the Wii is also mirrored in other parts of the world. In the U.S., the Wii consistently tops the console hardware sales charts. The latest numbers from NPD Group place Nintendo at the top by selling 425,000 units in July – more than double that of the Xbox 360 or PS3.

The Wii is also well accepted in Japan, where it outsells the PS3 by a margin of 6-to-1 in June, helping Nintendo overtake Sony in market value. In fact, Nintendo’s recent success has put it ahead of both NTT and Honda, making it the fifth largest company in Japan.

Comments

Threshold

Username
Password
remember me

This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled

By h0kiez on 8/31/2007 9:37:51 AM , Rating: 2

So are they supply limited in the UK, or are shelves pretty well stocked at this point?

RE: .

By Locutus465 on 8/31/2007 9:56:48 AM , Rating: 4

Supply is limited everywhere it seems. Here in the US stores like best buy still have "mini-launch" events every time Wii's come in to stock, i.e. people linking up at the door every morning that they come into stock, they have speacial staff to deal with the customers looking for Wii's specifically and all that other fun stuff. Just last Sunday I went to go buy Overlord for 360 and I saw them handing out tickets to people that wanted Wii's.

Parent

RE: .

By omnicronx on 8/31/2007 10:23:22 AM , Rating: 2

Ya its like that pretty much everywhere, where i live they still have to have the consoles caged up at bestbuy, meanwhile ps3's and 360s are lining the floor. Not only that, i had trouble buying another wiimote yesterday. I went to 6 stores and got the last one, but thats just probably my area because i had no problem buying my second one.

Parent

RE: .

By Locutus465 on 8/31/2007 10:43:08 AM , Rating: 2

wow, here in the Raleigh area we're not having any real trouble with peripherals/games... Just finding the actual consoles.

Parent

RE: .

By Kougar on 8/31/2007 7:17:54 PM , Rating: 2

Both Sam's Club and Costco have been selling Wii consoles for a couple weeks now and do not appear to have any supply issues keeping up with demand.

I just walked into a Costco today and there was a pallet of Nintendo Wii consoles sitting on the floor bundled with Mario Party and an extra Wiimote for $330. They were selling well but not getting cleaned out of them.

Parent

RE: .

By Zurtex on 8/31/2007 10:19:02 AM , Rating: 2

We were very supply limited for several months in the U.K (I mean literally there were a couple of months when a friend was trying hard to get one and couldn't find them anywhere at all).

But now you can pick one up if you try, most shops changed their sign from PS3 in stock, to Wii in stock not too long after the PS3 was launched (remember that wasn't till the end of March over here).

Parent

Supply

By jadeskye on 8/31/2007 11:39:20 AM , Rating: 2

I'm an assistant manager in game, a supplier of video games in the uk. and we usually have between 2 and 6 in stock at any time. occassionally they do sell out and it takes several days to get them back.

basically they're available but you might be out of luck from time to time.

RE: Supply

By afkrotch on 9/1/2007 7:01:52 PM , Rating: 2

Best way to keep hype is to keep supplies low or limited. You can't tell me that after almost a full year, Nintendo never fixed their supply lines.

Parent

Wii in South Africa

By gatso1 on 8/31/2007 9:10:39 AM , Rating: 3

I hope the wii also gets launched in SA. Its still cheap to import but it would be nicer if we had a proper local games catalogue

Note to MS and Sony...

By Locutus465 on 8/31/2007 10:01:29 AM , Rating: 3

Price does matter after all :P

*I do own a 360, but then again I'm single, have a good job and a roommate.

Wii in South Africa

By Chevron on 8/31/2007 9:21:45 AM , Rating: 2

The wii is getting released in SA. It seems as though it's gonna released at rage this year(www.rageexpo.co.za).

Check out www.ninty.co.za and www.nag.co.za for more info.