Wii Reaches A Million In The UK News

The Nintendo Wii has reached the one million console sales mark in record time according to Chart Track, the UK's leading analysts of sales figures for the games industry. It passed this milestone in 38 weeks, which compares favourably for Nintendo with the PlayStation 2 (the biggest selling console of all time) taking 50 weeks, and the Xbox 360 not reaching that number of unit sales for 60 weeks.

Nintendo's resurgence is not only present in Europe as similar successes are being reported in territories across the globe. Recent sales figures from Japanese firm Media Create and American figures from market research company NPD, show similar trends with both the Nintendo Wii and DS considerably outselling their rivals.

"The non-stop demand for Wii even in the traditionally slow sales periods for video games in the UK is clearly behind this record breaking achievement," said David Yarnton, General Manager, Nintendo UK. "The performance of both systems appears to indicate that unprecedented interactive entertainment experiences, provided by a combination of the revolutionary nature of DS and Wii with the increasing number of unique software titles for the system from Nintendo and third parties, are being enjoyed by both avid and new gamers of all ages.

"With more great games such as Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3 and Endless Ocean launching in 2007, Wii, together with Nintendo DS, will continue to be the main driving forces behind the expansion of the video game market this year."

Much of Nintendo's success with their DS and Wii consoles is down to the fact that they have shifted their market strategy to focus on the largely untapped casual gaming market. Titles such as Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training on the DS and Wii Sports on the Nintendo Wii, are prime examples of titles which appeal to a much wider audience than the traditional hardcore market.