Wii becomes fastest selling console to reach 200K in Australia

Friday 23 Nov 2007

Nintendo has announced that the Wii has become the fastest selling console to reach 200 000 units in Australia. The Wii achieved this goal in less than one year, more specifically in 50 weeks since its launch down under in December 2006.

The last reported Wii figures were at the end of quarter 3 2007 and indicated that the Wii had sold 167 899 units in total. This means that from the start of October to date (roughly a month and a half) the Wii has sold 32 101 units.

The Nintendo Wii already boasts higher sales than its predecessor the GameCube, a feat which it achieved in less than a year. The last reported life to date figures showed that the GameCube (launched in Australia in May 2002) had sold 162 936 units while the Wii was sitting at 167 899 units at the end of quarter 3 2007.

The Wii is currently leading the next-gen console race in Oz, outselling both Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PS3 quite significantly. Quarter 3 2007 sales indicate that the Wii sold 61 027 units in comparison to the Xbox 360’s 40 467 and the PS3’s 27 533.

Although since its launch the Xbox 360 boasts a total of 222 136 units sold, the Wii’s 167 899 units in less than a year means Nintendo will soon overtake Microsoft in this arena as well. Sony’s PS3 has sold just 82 261 units so far. To give you a little perspective the Xbox 360 was launched in Australia in March 2006 with the Wii following in December 2006 and the PS3 in March 2007.

With a number of highly anticipated titles scheduled to hit Australian shelves this year, the Wii’s success looks set to continue. Super Mario Galaxy will launch on the 29th of November while both Link’s Crossbow Training (packaged with Wii Zapper) and Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles will be out on the 13th of December. 2008 is also set to be a crowd pleaser with Endless Ocean launching on the 17th of January and Zack and Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure launching in the first quarter of 2008.

All figures are courtesy of GfK Australia.

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