Wii’s Remarkable 2008: $60 Mil in US alone? 360 Paints Black Friday Green
December 2nd, 2008 | Written by Jacob Stutsman | Topic: Industry News, Wii, Xbox 360
The economy might now be rooted in a kind of corporate malaise, preceded first by a retroactive recession, but the daily din of incorrigible news is not all holiday doom and gloom for some.
For Nintendo, the rich keep getting richer. After a series of record breaking months, Forbes reports that Nintendo is set to shatter the Playstation 2’s best selling year of 2003. The Wii, with over 6 million units sold so far this year, could sell as many as nine or ten million consoles this year in the US alone.
Unlike Microsoft and Sony, Nintendo makes a profit of $6 on every Wii sold. Some quick math tells us that at $6 each, Nintendo could rake in $60 million dollars this year from the United States alone in just Wii hardware sales.
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The Wii is also expected to sell 220 million units of software worldwide, 60% of which are made by Nintendo. That’s nearly double what Microsoft and Sony are doing with 125 million units for the 360 and 120 million units for the PS3.
While some developers will achieve success just by virtue of releasing games on the Wii, it’s clear that most haven’t yet been able to emulate the mega success of Nintendo, who also make a 65% gross margin on game software, meaning they make 5-10% more money per game than anybody else in the game.
Since March, Nintendo has been remarkably consistent with Wii shipments, averaging nearly two million a month worldwide. If shipments hold, then they could be looking at two or three million Wiis sold this December in the US, capping off an extraordinary 2008 for Nintendo.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is seeing gains with the 360 in this turbulent economy. Though Xbox 360 sales have fallen slightly behind 2007’s pace – most likely due to the boon of Halo 3 last September – Microsoft has announced that sales of their console over the Black Friday weekend have increased year-to-year by 25%, totaling a new record for this period.
The 360 has also outsold the Playstation by a three-to-one margin. Thanks in part to a reasonable price tag and an array of pack-ins that some stores have begun offering, the 360 is off to a promising start this holiday.
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Industry News, Wii, Xbox 360 |
Comment by doomteam1 on the December 3rd, 2008 at 3:50 am
second to last paragraph has a spelling error
its Microsoft not Microsof
Comment by nobody on the December 3rd, 2008 at 6:10 am
yay!!!
Comment by JayTee on the December 3rd, 2008 at 8:09 am
This doesn't surprise me at all, the Wii is getting ready to take over. I am noticing more and more Wii commercials on TV, specifically for Rayman.
Comment by TheForgotten0ne on the December 7th, 2008 at 5:36 am
Can't really comment on the US market, but in Norway it's easy to feel that the Wii isn't getting any love at all anymore. People got tired of it, and all the kids want either a PS3 or X360, mainly for GTA4.
Comment by fdinolfo on the December 7th, 2008 at 9:11 am
The trouble is the Wii's really big games are so far apart. Wii Music also didn't do as well as Nintendo had hoped it would. If you ask me that's not particularly surprising, given what it's up against, with both Rock Band and Guitar hero already being on the Wii. The Wii certainly has its audience, but I don't really see the Wii as a Main Console. Everyone I know with one has aiehter a PS3 or 360, and in some cases both.