Wii soars past 5 million in Japan

By Robert Purchese Published 23 January, 2008

Play and Sports with 2m apiece.

Nintendo is happy because its Wii console has shifted a meaty 5 million on home turf in Japan, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

Word came by way Famitsu publisher Enterbrain (and was translated by IGN), picking out Wii Play and Wii Sports as the best performers - each with over two million copies sold.

Elsewhere both Mario Party 8 and Wii Fit clambered over the one-million figure, while Eurogamer favourite Super Mario Galaxy is sat at around 850,000 and climbing.

But what does it all mean? Well, the Wii took 60 weeks to reach the milestone, which is behind the DS at 56 but ahead of the PS2 at 66. Faster than the SNES, N64 and GameCube, too.

GamesIndustry.biz stuffs lifeless fiction with fact and hangs it on its news wall.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (17) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • ArcMonkey #1 4 years ago

    Faster than the SNES, N64 and GameCube, too.
    that's news????

    Faster than the PS2 however IS rather impressive...

  • erp #2 4 years ago

    But Wii Play is terrible. Awful awful awful. What on earth is going on?

  • Santino #3 4 years ago

    i think it has outsold the gamecubes lifetime sales already in japan, pretty crazy.

    Also, sorry if i'm mistaken but does anyone know if ApoIogie is actually Apologie? i just need to know so i can ignore or not.

  • DrDamn #4 4 years ago

    No. It's a pss take user. Funny the first couple of posts but wearing a bit thin now. Besides sometimes it's not so easy to distinguish between the two :).

  • Santino #5 4 years ago

    ah cheers. haha

  • Psiloc #6 4 years ago

    Wii Play is awesome just for Tanks. I had that little fanfare as my text message tone for a while.

  • superted1974 #7 4 years ago

    Arc Monkey wrote "Faster than the SNES, N64 and GameCube, too.
    that's news???? "



    It is news to me that the GC ever sold 5m in Japan

    Whoops I think Santino has explained it to me already!
    Edited by 2 at 23/01/08 @ 13:05

  • bad09 #8 4 years ago

    Pretty good figures an amazing achievement, but am I the only gamer who thinks the Wii is a pretty average console with games which are only enjoyable for a short time before getting boring?

    I got one for my girlfriend last year and to be honest I feel that most games on it are extremely average and childish mini game games. For me the motion sensor control adds absolutely nothing, except give your arms a good workout.

    Like erp said games like Wii Play are truly awful and personally I found SMG a complete bore to play. The only games I have enjoyed on it so far are Mario Olympics, PM2 and Wii sports (which comes with it anyway!) and even they get boring quickly.

    Some in the industry see it as a fad and having used the machine for a while I have to agree (although I'm sure MANY don't!). My girlfriend plays my 360 more than her Wii!

  • mossychops001 #9 4 years ago

    No.

  • DrDamn #10 4 years ago

    I kind of agree - at least I can see where you are coming from. The funky controller is wearing a little thin and there is a lot of dirge out there in terms of games, but the massive installed user base means that there is a lot of development going on and in amongst the dirge there will be some real gems. I've not bought much since launch, aside from SMG, though I'm tempted by Zack & Wikki.

  • BlueDot #11 4 years ago

    I don't know what the complains about Wii Play are all valid. It's brilliant for little kids, my 3 years old son loves it especially when he beat me at the 2 players modes. Tanks is great, brings tears for memory of the Atari 2600..sniffs.

  • bad09 #12 4 years ago

    @ MattDamon

    I do understand what your saying but for me the games just don't cut it. Yes some are fun but I just don't think these games stand up well to long term play and if I'm spending £30 I want something that lasts. I was hoping SMG would change my mind but for me (as a big mario fan) was a real big disappointment as a game. Also it didn't utilize the control other than a quick shake to spin or pointing to collect gems which offered no enjoyment whatsoever. I've never been a fan of Zelda or MP so I can't comment on them.

    Personally I think part of BlueDot statement sums the Wii up nicely....

    ".....It's brilliant for little kids....."

  • dllord #13 4 years ago

    ".....It's brilliant for little kids....."

    ....And Women!

  • jonsaan #14 4 years ago

    My 'little kid' doesn't like games that have stupid controls!

  • Muddtallica #15 4 years ago

    bad09 - You're confusing your point here in your attempt to mix objective observation with subjective opinion. It is a shame that you couldn't enjoy Galaxy, Zelda or Metroid, but the fact is that those ARE the premiere 20-hour+, core gamer's games for the Wii, and they're very acclaimed and popular ones at that; your suggestion that Wii is home only to short-lived kids' mini-games seems to imply that those games don't count/ don't exist because you personally don't like them.

    Still, I'm not saying the Wii library isn't lacking, because it is; there's far too much dross, and the gems are few and far between. It's been acceptable for a first year (just about), but it really needs to step up from this point if it's to justify its place as a market contender, let alone a market leader...

  • bad09 #16 4 years ago

    @ Muddtallica

    As I said before I can't comment on Zelda and MP as I've never been a fan of those two series. As for objective observation mixed with subjective opinion, I can only go on what I personally have seen for the Wii in terms of games if offers, and from what I see it doesn't offer much other than new control system that gets boring quickly, childish simple games and mini game games, even the great Mario has been dumbed down this gen for the "casual" market. Your right a lot of people think SMG is the best thing ever (especially reviewers) but me and my girlfriend, both fans of Mario for many years, thought it was a pile of poo and it got traded VERY quickly! Sorry, I thought it wasn't fun to play at all and can't see why it got such rave reviews!

    Obviously this is just one mans opinion but you sum up my feeling perfectly in the end of your post...

    "but it really needs to step up from this point if it's to justify its place as a market contender, let alone a market leader..."

  • knocker #17 4 years ago

    " but me and my girlfriend, both fans of Mario for many years, thought it was a pile of poo and it got traded VERY quickly! "

    Maybe that's the problem, I didn't thought the game was a bit too easy until I got to 50-something stars. You go reasonably quickly from getting 3-4 stars a session, to 1 ... if you're doing well. It's a shame you didn't persevere - cos some of the levels are not aimed at the casual gamer (unless I am a gaming wuss of course)