Starman apparently now provides invincibility from both Goombas and a crumbling economy. Power up!
In the midst of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, Nintendo sold a staggering 800,000 Wii consoles in the United States during the month of October.
It was the best month for Wii sales since December 2007 and a sizable jump over September’s 687,000.
The nearest competitor, Microsoft sold 371,000 Xbox 360 consoles, less than half Nintendo’s total. According to NPD analyst Anita Frazier, the impressive jump in Wii sales can be attributed to a greater supply of hardware in stores.
Sony’s PlayStation 3 fared worst among home consoles, selling only 136,000 units for the month, less than half of Microsoft’s total.
Nintendo DS was second only to big-brother Wii in October with 491,000 units sold, more than twice Sony’s 193,000 PSP sales.
Americans spent a total of $494.74 million on video game hardware last month, a 5 percent increase over last October. Americans have spent $4.72 billion in 2008, a 14 percent improvement over 2007.
ejamer
Wow… I know the Christmas season is approaching quickly, but considering that Wii hasn’t had any really big software releases over the last month or so that’s an astounding number.
DonWii
People don’t have to buy the Wii for what is coming out soon. They could be buying it for its impressive back catalog of games.
Jamie
just for the likes of Wii Sports, Wii Fit and Mario Kart, people will be buying the Wii, not the games to come. I think this’ll be a trend for the next few months up to Christmas. Hardly surprising but still, gotta keep giving love to Nintendo for the Wii, it really is a genius invention.
ejamer
True enough – the Wii does have many excellent games in it’s catalog. But selling 800,000 units in October is still mind boggling.
🙂
DonWii
Correction:
PS3 sold 190k
PS2 sold 136k
Damien
That is unfathomable… holy hell. 800,000 units… no way.