There’s no doubt that Nintendo is currently the king of video games, but news this morning about just how important the company has become to the industry as a whole is amazing, to say the least.
How amazing? Well, if the sales preview from analyst group Electronic Entertainment Design and Research (EEDAR) is to be believed, Nintendo literally saved the gaming industry from the “full wrath” of the current recession with more than 50% of all games sold in December for the U.S. market.
Said Jesse Divnich, EEDAR director of analytical services, “In terms of pure dollar and unit growth, Nintendo’s systems are expected to lead the way by an unprecedented amount.”
That amount? A predicted 3.2 million Wii consoles sold in a single month. If these numbers are legit, and match the respected NPD group findings later this month, it would be the highest monthly unit tally for any single console since records began.
The DS, for its part, sold approximately 3 million units. Together, the two Nintendo consoles were responsible for boosting the entire industry by 14% in 2008.
The news, if it pans out, will debunk recent rhetoric that said typical Wii owners would ditch the console in a recession, and that core gamers would save the industry with their insatiable appetite for the latest games and hardware. As we can see with the tanking PS3/PSP numbers, that just isn’t the case. The Xbox 360, for its part, was up 19.05% year-over-year, thanks in part to a solid winter game lineup (which I can personally attest to) and some hefty, well-timed price cuts.