The Wii- an in-depth sales analysis

Nintendo fans regularly claim that Wii-games aren't so "front-loaded" as the versions or similar versions on other consoles. To confirm or deny this, let's have a look at a few games released for the Wii this year...

1. Monster Hunter Tri

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this is my GOTY. Is also, as can be seen below, had a very unusual sales pattern when we consider EU/America;

http://gamrreview.vgchartz.com/sales/26681/monster-hunter-tri/

For example, this past week, ending n the 29th November, had a larger number of sales as opposed to that of its 3rd week of sales in America (30,000 compared to 26,000). This, whilst it may have something to do with Black Friday, clearly illustrates that there is still a large market for Wii-games of this calibur, and I would expect the "legs" of this game to far surpass 2mil LT, far surpassing Capcom's expectations of 500k in the West

2. Goldeneye 007/ COD: BO

I have posted these games together due to the fact that both games came out at the same time, and that both would be competing against each other. Many expected both of these games individually to pass 1mil, therefore proving further how "doomed" the Wii was for shooters, and that a PS360 port of Goldeneye was on its way. If these early sales figures are anything to go by, there is no worry;

http://gamrreview.vgchartz.com/sales/45651/goldeneye-007/

As you can see, there is very much an upwards trend of a straight increase, where no week has fallen to below half of that of it's opening week, and expect this trend to continue. For reference, let's compare the Wii sales of Black Ops to those of the 360 version

http://gamrreview.vgchartz.com/sales/44952/call-of-duty-black-ops/

http://gamrreview.vgchartz.com/sales/44953/call-of-duty-black-ops/

As you can see, once again the Wii-version remains flat on its increase (this week in fact outselling its opening week!), whereas the 360 version has dived heavily. Everyone knew that the Wii-versions wouldn't stand a chance at beating its HD cousins, but the fact remains that the Wii-version is much less front-loaded, as many have been claiming for almost 3 years

3. Just Dance

Now, moving away slightly from the "hardcore" feel into a game which has been on the market for much longer; a game no-one expected much from. However, these sales prove otherwise...

http://gamrreview.vgchartz.com/sales/40053/just-dance/

The graph quite clearly shows, once again, a trend of the game slowly moving upwards from poor openings, getting progressively bigger and bigger as time progressed, this week reaching a collosal 4.5million copies sold, and there's no sign of it slowing down. I expect sales of this game to be over 7 million when all is said and done

4. Sonic Colours

Another favoured game of mine, one of which never really set the sales board alight, but I believe needs mentioning. As can be seen, the sales once again are picking up nicely from a poor opening;

http://gamrreview.vgchartz.com/sales/45319/sonic-colors/

Once again, no change in sales for America, and a steady increase for EMEAA. A game which, once again, shows no signs of stopping, and deserves al the sales it can get. I expect LT sales of this game to breach 1million, maybe between 1.5-2million when all is said and done. It's THAT STRANGE!

5. New Super Mario Brother Wii

The thread couldn't be completed without an entry from Nintendo, so why not a game which people expected to heavily flop, and when it was said that it would eventually outsell MW2, people laughed. 

Now who's laughing

http://gamrreview.vgchartz.com/sales/35076/new-super-mario-bros-wii/

Another game which, whilst flatter than the others, proves that every week it'll be somewhere in the top 30 WW. Now, MW2 on the 360 quickly dropped out of this zone due to spiked sales, so now NSMBwii has outsold this game, a feat many thought was impossible, and ignited the now-amazing 2D renaissance on the Wii. Well played. Predicting sales for this game is lunacy, but I expect 21-22Mil WW AT LEAST.

I could go on for much longer, talking about Boom Blox, Mario Kart, De Blob... and I shall! But another day. Watch this space! For now I shall stop. I expect many new games to continue this trend, such as;

• Epic Mickey
• Micheal Jackson: The Experience
• Donkey Kong Country returns
• Xenoblade
• The Last Story 
• Zelda: Skyward Sword
• Metroid: Other M
• uDraw Studio
• Call Of Duty: Black Ops
• Kirby's Epic Yarn
• PokePark Wii: Pikachu's adventure
• Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4
• Hasbro Family Game Night
• Rabbids go home
• Gold Gym's cardio workout
• The Biggest Loser
• Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz!
• Super Mario All-stars
• Nerf N Strike Elite

flawed analysis is flawed.

Well New Super Mario Bros. Wii is still behind MW2, no?

And now it's bundled ---» Not fair.

I think MW2 (with PC sales) is higher than Mario Kart Wii actually...

Doesnt mention things like brand recoginition (Sonic Goldeneye and Call of duty, come on) , sales of previous titles (each call of duty on the wii sold over 1m why would this be different), price drops (20% in the case of MH Tri, Capcom getting less revenue for a game that didnt sell well initally in the west, but i guess thats ok), all things that can effect games games.

Using lines such as "everybody know" and "its been long clamined" with no links just discreditis your analysis even more.

I was just counting the sales from the 360 version, which I believe is now below that of NSMBWii.

The bundling thing, yes, I admit, may be an issue. But, the bundle has only just occured, no? It's not like it's been going on for a LONG time, such as Wii Sports resort or something...

I have proof here;

I don't think there's been nearly 5.5million copies of NSMBWii bundled in the past few weeks so it has indeed overtaken it out of previous sales

-Brand recognition surely doesn't occur for de Blob, Boom Blox etc. does it?

-Every game gets a price cut at some point. Normally this causes a little spike but nothing of any significance in the long run, which is what this is showing. Also, I haven't yet seen a drop in price for Tri yet, exactly the same price where I am from the day it was released

-The "long claimed" thing is how where all the Wii-fanatics claim that, if a game doesn't sell well initially, then it'll have good legs, therefore it doesn't matter. Which, to an extent, is true, which is what this is showing you.

Chill man...

he means combined. And of course when games have huge openings their legs see a bigger % dip. Legs means how well the game sells after the first few weeks not how well it sells compared to its first week like you seem to be implying. Hell that means Sniper Ghost Warrior has some of the best legs this gen simply because its first week was low. I will give you a quick comparision. Everyone raves about how good littlebigplanet's and just dance's legs are. But week 5-to date of call of duty modern warfare 2(360) are higher then ether of those games total sales. Even earasing the first few weeks of "frontloaded sales" it outsold them. I don't think anyone has ever said the nintendo "wii" games have bad legs though. They have among the best legs of any none console bundled games ever.

I needed a thread to post this in:

Upcoming Wii Million Sellers - I bolded the ones that will most likely pass the milestone before the year ends

Donkey Kong Country Returns

Michael Jackson: The Experience

uDraw Studio

Call of Duty Black Ops

Kirby’s Epic Yarn

Goldeneye

Pokepark Wii: Pikachu’s Adventure

LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4

Hasbro Family Game Night

Rabbids Go Home

Gold’s Gym Cardio Workout

The Biggest Loser

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz

Super Mario All-Stars: LE

Nerf N-Strike Elite

I don't think Red Steel 2 will beat 1 million.

The game is no even inside the top200, lol.

Its said that the game flopped, it is actually a very good game and has very nice graphics.

It is a known fact that Wii games do not follow the same trends as other consoles do. You RARELY see a game with more than a 10x multiplier on the 360 or PS3.... on the Wii most succeful games do.... there are exceptions of course, SSBB does not have a 10x Multiplier but few would deny its great success.