Wii sales hit 30 million in US

By Ellie Gibson Published 11 August, 2010

Plus: top ten software titles revealed.

Nintendo has announced that 30 million Wii consoles have now been sold in the US.

Not bad considering it's been on sale there for less than four years.

Topping the first-party software chart is remote-bundled title Wii Play. Other big hitters include Mario Kart, Wii Fit and New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

The most popular third-party game is Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, followed by Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. Just Dance only makes it to seventh placet. Travesty.

Sales and marketing vice president Cammie Dunaway said something about how marvellous it all is using words like "expanded" and "audiences".

Here are those top ten first-party games in full:

  1. Wii Play
  2. Mario Kart Wii
  3. Wii Fit (with Balance Board)
  4. New Super Mario Bros. Wii
  5. Wii Sports Resort
  6. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
  7. Super Mario Galaxy
  8. Wii Fit Plus (with Balance Board)
  9. Mario Party 8
  10. Link's Crossbow Training

Top third-party Wii titles:

  1. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Activision)
  2. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (SEGA)
  3. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (LucasArts)
  4. Carnival Games (Take-Two)
  5. Game Party (Midway)
  6. EA Sports Active (EA)
  7. Just Dance (Ubisoft)
  8. Rayman Raving Rabbids (Ubisoft)
  9. DECA Sports (Hudson)
  10. Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games (Sega)
Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (44) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Kinkster #1 2 years ago

    Oh I really hope the above post is witty sarcasm...

  • telboy007 #2 2 years ago

    I don't play on my wii any more, have two games still not even opened for it. The only thing that'll get me back playing again is Metroid M. I've had enough of the motion controls, really have.

  • Ignatius_Cheese #3 2 years ago

    Who said crap peripherals don't sell games?

    Link's Crossbow Training at #10??

    Kinect could clean up after all ;o)

  • Diogo_Ribeiro #4 2 years ago

    Just like the PC, the Wii is dying! /hatemongers

  • originaljohn #5 2 years ago

    I think the wii will still be the best selling system come christmas time.

  • miiiguel #6 2 years ago

    The Wii is a dying console

    But you have to admit Nintendo is throwing a heck of a funeral party, they invited Sony and MS - bring your new toys they said, we show you how to make a buck.

  • mfnick #7 2 years ago

    Apart from the couple of decent Mario games, thats one of the most depressing sales lists ive ever seen.

  • coolbritannia #8 2 years ago

    Wii is just rubbish. Vote me down, come back with clever argument aplenty, but deep down, you know it's true.

  • miiiguel #9 2 years ago

    Hardly the point, your opinion (or mine), comercialy it's a huge success, and Move and even Kinect wants to pick a slice of that success. It's well known, for what wer see here, that Nintendo users don't come to site like EG to bitch about rubishness and pixel counting, so I guess maybe they're realy busy buying and playing games. Or having a life.
    Edited by miiiguel at 11/08/10 @ 09:38

  • Goodfella #10 2 years ago

    @coolbritania

    Totally agree, everyone I know with one (including myself) either never plays it or sold it on.

    Credit to Nintendo for fooling millions of people into buying a naff toy.

  • FogHeart #11 2 years ago

    Wii....slim?

    If it lost any more weight you'd rush it to hospital!

    So surely that was a sarcastic post (although it set the tone for the rest of the comments) - I'd suggest that you avoid ambiguity in future by using the obligatory '/sarcasm' footnote.

    Unless of course you meant it, and can suggest how you can slim down a console barely bigger than a DVD-ROM drive.

  • LazyDan #12 2 years ago

    THIS CONSOLE IS CLEARLY RUBBISH BECAUSE IT IS NOT MY CHOICE OF CONSOLE. I MUST RE-ITERATE THIS ANYTIME I SENSE A POSITIVE DISCUSSION ABOUT SAID CONSOLE.

    THIS CONSOLE MAKES ME SO ANGRY THAT I NEED TO GO AND WATCH RICKY GERVAIS MOVIES ON HD-DVD TO CALM DOWN.

  • Goodfella #13 2 years ago

    @LazyDan

    It's rubbish because it doesn't do a fat lot, it can't even play DVD's. It never delivered on what Nintendo promised and it's online capabilities are woeful, as are most of the games.

    Apart from that, yeah brilliant.

  • FogHeart #14 2 years ago

    I turn it on, I play games that I enjoy (and get high EG scores, is EG always wrong then, in which case why are you here) then I turn it off. Never really gave a shit about anything else other people label as a shortcoming.

  • LazyDan #15 2 years ago

    @GoodFella

    "I think it's rubbish because I think it doesn't do a fat lot, it can't even play DVD's which I personally find important in a console, but appreciate that others might not - in the same way that people might see the 360 as inadequate for not being able to play blu-rays, or the PS3 for not being able to play PS2/PS1 games from disc. It pretty accurately delivered on what Nintendo promised and I think its online capabilities are woeful but I should probably elaborate with some examples of other online systems which I enjoy, as are, in my opinion, most of the games.

    Apart from that, I'm a numpty and don't know the meaning of the word 'objective.' "

    I've had a good go at fixing that for you, now it looks much less twatty.
    Edited by LazyDan at 11/08/10 @ 10:25

  • varsas #16 2 years ago

    @coolbritannia: Clearly you should be negged since you haven't come up with a cleaver argument for your side either.

  • Goodfella #17 2 years ago

    I could apply the exact same attempt at fixing your fix to make it less twatty, but that would be pointless, as was your unfunny response.

    I know very well what objective means, it doesn't change the fact that I and many others bought a console that didn't deliver on it's promises, am I not entitled, as a customer (or was) to air my disatisfaction at what a poor machine it is, just as you would with any other product?

  • chasejamie #18 2 years ago

    I like the Wii. In fact I love it. Your all miserable bastards. It's (or was) something different, unique, experimental, and has changed gaming forever, be it for good or bad depending on your views. Kudos to Nintendo for having the balls to try it. It has more than enough great games to justify owning one. In fact one might find it strange that I actually have more Wii games on my shelf than the 360 and PS3. Looking forward to the Wii's successor. What can I say? I just fucking love gaming and the Wii just like the other consoles, has given me a lot of enjoyment. Strokes his little Wii that could.
    Edited by chasejamie at 11/08/10 @ 11:08

  • Darren #19 2 years ago

    A pretty depressing list IMHO considering I'd only say that four of those 20 games are excellent games and must-haves but that ratio pretty much sums up the Wii as a gaming platform in my eyes, i.e. it's not really that great bar the odd stand-out title like the recent sublime Super Mario Galaxy 2.

  • Boomerang #20 2 years ago

    All you idiots saying the Wii is shit:

    One massive point i'd make is, what are Sony and Microsoft currently about to release? Motion control. The defence rests.

  • Goodfella #21 2 years ago

    It's not the motion control that bothers me so much (although it is poor compared to what you see the Move can do) it's just the hardware and games in general, and it really isn't that cheap either.

    I haven't seen a rush of facts to prove how great it is, anyone? Popularity does not equate to greatness.
    Edited by Goodfella at 11/08/10 @ 11:40

  • ignatiusjreilly #22 2 years ago

    One massive point i'd make is, what are Sony and Microsoft currently about to release? Motion control. The defence rests.

    All that proves is that the Wii made Nintendo lots of money. Heavy sales does not indicate quality, as carnival games quite clearly proves.

  • cawley1 #23 2 years ago

    Just because the bulk of tosspots that frequent videogame forums are hooked on FPS and shite like that (bring on the negs!), then the Wii with it's family and casual based games must be shit.

    Sorry guys, look at the worldwide sales figures (which Nintendo has made a profit on each unit from day one), and the 360 in one version or another has been cheaper than at various times in it's lifespan, yet not managed to keep up with it.

    There is an ocean of crap on the Wii, but also some true classics, so stop the bitching and spend more time doing what you enjoy, you might find life more fulfilling.

  • macmurphy #24 2 years ago

    @cawley. You're a bit angry but I think generally spot on. The truth is I have an Xbox and a Wii and if I'm on my own I'll nearly always play the Xbox.

    I am one of those FPS obsessed losers, but I've had some blinding times with friends and family playing Wii Sports, Mariokart, Smash Bros, Boom Blox, Wii Play, Mario and Sonic. The truth is the Wii has made a lot of families very happy and I think sales reflect this. My dad has a Wii he never uses on his own but he likes to know it's there when the grandkids come round - Nintendo have a made a lot of these sales because they have created such a desirable product. Its local multiplayer offerings are streets ahead of anything Sony and Microsoft can offer.

    And when all is said and done they have created massive new markets for fitness and family titles. When I played games as a kid it was always on my own in my room and now my whole family, including my technophobe dad, will stand around the TV and have a great time together. I'll always love Nintendo for taking a hobby that my parents could not understand into a pasttime they really enjoy. Everyone plays games now, and whilst we can track this change to well before the Wii (stand up Eyetoy)I think it's reasonable to say Wii has changed the market and demographics more than any other single product.

    A previous poster said derogatively that Nintendo had made a toy, and in many respects they have. Something simple everyone can play with - which is pretty much how games started out. It might not offer us the complexity and depth of the Xbox controller; the games may be simpler. But as it closes down difficulty and complexity it opens gaming up to a wider audience. The truth is that the Wii is in many ways a return to the origins of videogames - everyone could play pong and asteroids. It's easier to forgive the Wii if we consider its design as a return to first principles as opposed to simply a regression.

    I mainly have the Wii for the local multiplayer but it also gave me compelling single player experiences in Monster Hunter, Galaxy 1 and 2, Twighlight Princess, Resident Evil 4 and Metroid Prime. I've also loved rediscovering old classics and playing through the gamecube library. I've always treated it as a second machine because of my love of FPS's, but it's been a great one.

    But yeah, their online multiplayer is utterly pony; I'm never defending that.


    Edited by macmurphy at 11/08/10 @ 12:23

  • TonyHarrison #25 2 years ago

    The better the news for Nintendo, the louder the angry types get.

  • cawley1 #26 2 years ago

    @macmurphy: Yeah, sorry but I am just too long in the tooth these days for the fanboy crap that you read in most forums!

    I had a good blast on Thunder Force 2 on my Mega Drive this morning, in glorious RGB on my old Sony CRT TV - there was no 720p, or 1080p, so I got no screen tearing, the batteries on the controller did not run low as it is plugged into the console, there was no lag, and no tosser teenagers swearing down the speakers!

    Hard bastard, that 68000 AI though! Gaming bliss...

  • Old_Books #27 2 years ago

    @mickey

    The videogame industry is tech driven?? Why, then, has every 'winning' console since the NES, been the least technically capable machine of each gen? I'll give you the SNES but the Megadrive was hardly a failure was it. The PS3 and 360 have more variety than the Wii? Sorry, but variety is the one thing the Wii has in spades and is something the other two consoles, less so the PS3, are severely lacking in. And the old chestnut about the Wii ruining gaming; well the irony of that comment for me is that it seems to be made by the very same people who went out and bought a game like MW2 with its £55 price tag, non-existent SP campaign and overpriced DLC. I consider that to be a far greater 'threat' to gaming than Wii Fit will ever be.

    I use my 360 far more than the Wii but ignorance and rage some people direct towards the little white box beggars belief.

  • Goodfella #28 2 years ago

    For the record, I'm not 'one of those tosspots hooked on FPS and shite like that'.

    Where are all the classic games Nintendo (and third parties) used to make apart from yet another Mario game?

    I adored the Snes, mainly for it's amazing RPG's, the N64 had some classics and the Gamecube probably had a few of my all time favourite games (RE4, Metroid Prime, Wind Waker), but the Wii, nope sorry, nothing there does it for me apart from the admittedly superb Metroid Prime: Corruption.

  • gimo80 #29 2 years ago

    I actually think the Wii has had a great year so far - Monster Hunter Tri, Sin and Punishment 2, No More Heroes 2 and Mario Galaxy 2 are all games that have literally blown me away. I also think there are a fair few underrated gems on the console that people seem to forget about (namely Muramasa, Zack and Wiki, Little King's Story, Madworld, etc) - I agree that there aren't as many bloackbusters as I hoped, but there are still some quality titles for the system.

    Definitely looking forward to Metroid Other: M, Kirby and Donkey Kong too :) Here's hoping there's still plenty more life in the Wii!

  • ignatiusjreilly #30 2 years ago

    @Goodfella

    Indeed. I think the people most disappointed with the Wii are not the CoD-crazy teenagers, but people old enough to remember the awesome Nintendo of old.

  • Darren #31 2 years ago

    As a core gamer and a fan of Nintendo's games since the N64 and Super Mario 64 it breaks my heart to criticise the Wii the way I do.

    No, really it does because I had such high hopes for the machine and was very excited about it prior to it being released. While it has been a huge, huge success, thanks to clever marketing by Nintendo that focused on families having fun and not the games themselves, as a serious games machine I think the Wii is the worst console I've ever owned by a large margin. Sure, the Wii's best games are absolutely terrific without a shaow of a doubt but they're released so infrequently that my console has been pretty much unused for the majority of the time I've owned it. That's something that should never have happened. :(

  • makeamazing #32 2 years ago

    Does anyone have the combined first and third party chart? I think that could be a more interesting read.

    There is no doubt that the Wii has been a major success profit and sales wise for Nitendo, but the console market is a very fickle business and your not forever a success just because you have sold the most consoles (there are many factors to consider).

    The Wii was the first console of this generation that i purchased, i got it like many others because of the dream of accurate motion controlled gaming. I was extremely disappointed by that after a few months, but even more so when there were no games that i particularly found to my liking (no bioshock, Ac). Would i rush out and buy a Wii on day 1 next time... very unlikely.

    From a sales point of view it has been very successful, because it has sold to a wide range of users that would not normally buy a console, but if many of these users are not buying 3rd party games in any magnitude, then is it still a success? Also i think Nintendo are going to have to do something really special now that both Sony and MS are bringing in the casual motion control before Nintendo could release the Wii 2.

    The other thing i would say about people going on about sales figures, Sony has seen what happens if you dont do it right and struggled to begin with, there is no doubt that i really think Nitendo are not going to be able to reach the potential of the Wii in the next generation of consoles, and will then people will be saying their next console is a failure, as i said console business is a fickle business. On top today, maybe tomorrow. but for the next generation.. maybe not.

  • cawley1 #33 2 years ago

    @Goodfella: You do make a valid point here, although there have been some Nintendo crackers on the Wii, along with all the dross: Super Mario Galaxy 1&2, Super Paper Mario, Super Mario Kart Wii, Metroid Prime 3 and the (few) that I have missed.

    I think the problem is not creative, but the length of time it takes to make games these days... There were a load of great games on the SNES, but how many were actually Nintendo titles? You had a five year gap between Mario's (and Yoshi's Island passed a load of people by as they had moved to the 32-Bit's by then), only one Mario Kart, only one Zelda, only one F-Zero, three Donkey Kong Country (but as that was British there was a bit of a Tomb Raider update mentality going on there!)

    The difference is back in the 16-Bit days, as Nintendo still had a monopoly, all the other companies were releasing their games on the SNES (to the detrement in some ways of the Mega Drive) and many of these were crackers. Factor in the apparent decline of the Japanese software industry, and that is another factor in the lack of killer Wii titles.

    Imagine Sega in the Dreamcast era, with a Wii at their disposal, would have been amazing...

  • Goodfella #34 2 years ago

    @cawley

    As I briefly mentioned, where is the third party support? That's the problem, in my view.

  • Charlie_Miso #35 2 years ago

    Local co-op and 2D platformers.

    Wii rocks.

  • Basoy #36 2 years ago

    On par with PS2 according to VGChartz.

  • Old_Books #37 2 years ago

    @Goodfella

    I completely agree about third party support. Do you not think that has been Nintys problem since the SNES, though? It's not a Wii specific issue. I think what is unique to the console is that the problem appears to be more a complete lack of effort and application during the development process by said third parties rather than them not bothering with the machine at all.

  • FogHeart #38 2 years ago

    I've always treated it as a second machine because of my love of FPS's, but it's been a great one.

    For the love of God, man, why aren't you playijng Red Steel 2 then??? The following cut n pasted from my entry in the thread for this game:-

    Finished yesterday.....when you've bought all the hidden strikes and upgraded powers a bit, its combat is as satisfying as God of War or Devil May Cry - maybe more so. If you can memorise and use all the strikes in the parts late in the game when up to twelve enemies pop up, you finish feeling godlike.

    Here they come....charge up, bear attack, dazed 3 enemies...rush finisher on this one, shot finisher on the other two. Here comes a ninja, somersaulting with a charged strike. Tiger deflects it. Send him back up with an eagle, follow him up, slash at him a couple of times. He's on the ground. Guillotine him. Z flashing - enemy sneaking up behind - use the storm to reverse stab him. Katakari swordsman blocking. Use the ram to break the guard, then some heavy strikes to break the armour. Matador to strike his back, another shot finisher. Two Katagari machine gunners. Block the bullets, then cobra to give them a taste of their own medicine. Finally, a lengthly duel with a jackal with a bladed staff. Lots of tiger deflecting, a rush to finish him off.

    Go to bathroom and clean trousers.
    Edited by FogHeart at 11/08/10 @ 13:47

  • macmurphy #39 2 years ago

    @fogheart

    Thanks for the tip mate. It's on my to buy list along with Little King's Story, Madworld, Sin and Punishment 2, Cave Story, Metroid: Other M, Zack and Wiki, No More Heroes, Dead Space Extraction, Art of Balance and Endless Ocean. I'll definitely be picking up Red Steel 2 as it's so cheap and looks pretty good.

    It just goes to show how many appealing games the Wii has - I also wanted to play through the Prime Trilogy and Okami is still sealed.

    I agree with everyone that the release schedule is sporadic, but if you buy a Wii now you probably have 20 top notch games to hammer through. If you never had a gamecube you can make that 40. I'd be a bit pissed if the Wii was my only console - I would hate to miss stuff like GTA, Forza, Battlefield and Red Dead.

    But surely it works both ways. There's an awful lot of quality on the Wii, if you're lucky enough to be able to afford 2 consoles I don't see why you wouldn't have one.

  • des #40 2 years ago

    Wii sux...what else is new?
    lol

  • Acrid #41 2 years ago

    I bought a Wii on launch day and it's delivered on every promise Nintendo have ever made to me, The games are fun, engaging and provide me with entertainment,and that's all I want from them, If I wanted to watch DVD's I'd buy a DVD Player, I bought my Wii to play games with the new-fangled-wand-ma-bob and that's what it does.

    Nintendo aren't responsible for the bilge put out by 3rd party developers, much in the same way as Sony wern't responisble for the crap that was on PS2 but you never hear anyone bitching about that.

  • hy4000uk #42 2 years ago

    Goodfella. do you might shutting the fuck you up you retard?

    we get it. you don't like the Wii. Some people do which isn't surprising as it's had some pretty great retail games this year as well as some excellent downloadable ones. It also has a great back catalogue and is fully compatible with gamecube games

    take your console wars bullshit somewhere else you dumb cunt

  • vizzini #43 2 years ago

    Comparing those 30 million sales in the US (just under 4 years) against (last-gen's results) the PS2 sales in the US (over 8 years) of 50 Million is quite interesting.

    The questions I'm interested in; is how successful will the Wii be over this entire generation?

    If we assume the Wii sales are just levelling off (and not declining like they are in Japan); maintaining the average of 8 million sales per year in the US, then the question about the console's success sort of changes.

    How many years can a standard definition Wii continue to sell at that rate; when all new TVs in the world are HD and soon to be 3D ready? 1Year? 2Years? 3Years?

    Realistically the sales hype for the Wii peaked last Christmas and Nintendo have maybe got at most a year or two before they need to release a new console when sales fall off a cliff.

    Even assuming they have three more amazing years of sales, they'd still just only pass the 50 million figure; even though 15-20 million sales were probably to casuals in an expanded market from last-gen.

    By all accounts the Wii has done very well so far; but I think it is still more likely that the PS3 (or even maybe the 360) is going to sell 60 million units in the US this generation if they can mimic any of Wii's success with Move (or Kinect).
    Edited by vizzini at 12/08/10 @ 01:15

  • Goodfella #44 2 years ago

    Goodfella. do you might shutting the fuck you up you retard?

    take your console wars bullshit somewhere else you dumb cunt

    I'm the dumb cunt? LOL.