Halo, GTA and other kill them before they kill you fare may boast an aggressive, testosterone-laden affair, but in reality the experience is skin deep. Real men and women play Wii Fit, it seems, and the sales confirm that in spades.
Indeed, the (still) $89 Wii Fit just usurped a game from the always popular murder simulator Grand Theft Auto series (Vice City) as the number three best seller from the past 10 years. San Andreas sits in the number two slot, but its fall to virtual yoga is all but assured when the NPD group releases their latest numbers in the near future.
Says IGN:
Approximately 7.9 million copies of Wii Fit have been sold in North America through August, according to NPD. That puts the title in the upper echelon of videogame blockbusters alongside Rockstar’s juggernaut Grand Theft Auto efforts. At the time of this writing, Wii Fit holds the third spot on the Top Five (capitalized for effect), which also houses Mario Kart Wii (at number five with 6.7 million) and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (at number four with 6.9 million). Nintendo’s high-priced and unconventional exercise program has already glided past one GTA game, but it’s about to take down another: the monster-seller, San Andreas (currently at number two with 8.25 million).
The number one game is Wii Play, by the way, with an astounding 11.1 million copies sold. All the Nintendo games on the list still command 100% of their retail asking price.
Which leads now to a brief aside, but an important one: When you have a legitimate best seller on your hands, you don’t cut the price (see Mario Kart DS, Wii Fit, Mario Kart Wii, Super Smash Bros Brawl). This is why Nintendo’s decision to reduce the Wii console to $200 is so puzzling. And troubling.