http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aoqLHZILbNng&refer=home

Nintendo Co., the No. 1 maker of portable game consoles, may rise. The company expects to sell as many as 35 million Wii video-game consoles in the U.S., close to the record 38.2 million PlayStation 2 players sold by Sony Corp, the company said yesterday.

They're being conservative as always.

They'll obliterate that number. Make no doubt about it.

John Lucas

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aL9z9P81ssuk&refer=japan

Nintendo Plans to Sell 35 Million Wii Consoles in U.S. by 2012

By Michael White

May 22 (Bloomberg) -- Nintendo Co. expects to sell as many as 35 million Wii video-game consoles in the U.S., close to the record 38.2 million PlayStation 2 players sold by Sony Corp.

The company will reach its goal by 2011 or 2012, George Harrison, marketing chief at Nintendo of America Inc., a unit of Kyoto-based Nintendo Co., said in an interview today.

Nintendo is increasing Wii production at factories in China to meet demand, Harrison said from Seattle. The company has sold 2.5 million Wii players in the U.S. since the console was introduced in November, making it the top-seller among the newest generation of machines.

``Demand is much greater than we anticipated,'' Harrison said. ``A year ago no one thought we would be in this position.''

U.S. consumers have purchased 1.3 million PlayStation 3s since it was introduced two days ahead of Wii. Microsoft Corp. has sold 5.4 million Xbox 360s, released in 2005, according to market researcher NPD Group Inc., based in Port Washington, New York.

The older PlayStation 2 remains popular, outselling both the PS3 and Xbox 360 in April. Consumers bought 194,000 PS2s during the month, according to NPD. That compares with 174,000 Xbox 360s and 82,000 PS3s. Wii was No. 1 at 360,000 units.

Demand for the PS2, introduced in 2000, has been bolstered by price cuts and the popularity of games such as Activision Inc.'s ``Guitar Hero.'' The console sells for $149.

Pricing also has helped sell the Wii. At $249, it costs less than half the price of a PlayStation 3 and is about $50 less than the cheapest Xbox 360. Nintendo has no plans to sell Wii for less, Harrison said.

New Games

Nintendo yesterday announced 14 new games for Wii, including the in-house title ``Mario Strikers Charged'' and ``Boogie,'' which allows players to sing and dance to music videos. The new games will be released in the third quarter.

Nintendo will continue to focus on titles that attract people who typically don't play video games. That means there's little reason for the company to upgrade the console with more powerful chips or better graphics, Harrison said.

``We're starting to see in the performance of the PS3 and Xbox 360 that that's not necessarily motivating the market the way it used to,'' he said. ``So we're going to start work on future technology only when we believe it's necessary.'' 

Hmm..they have sold 2.7 millionish in the USA so far..3.05 millionish in North America..So...32 million over the next 4-5 years in the USA?

I imagine they hope it goes something like this in the USA:

2006 - 1.1 million

2007 - 7 million

2008 - 7 million

2009 - 7 million

2010 - 5 million

2011 - 3 million

2012 - 1.5 million

I was just going to post this... :) If Nintendo is going to make that goal, they better get cracking on upping those production numbers!

Saying stuff like "Wii players" and claiming Mario Strikers Charged was announced yesterday really give me a competent picture of whoever wrote this. Who the heck says "newest generation" anyway? =P

Steve: They're currently selling over 100k consoles per (ordinary, non-holiday shopping season) week. They'll beat 35M by 2012 easily if they keep up the pace. 

Nintendo always talks big about expanding the market, then projects numbers low, only to blow by them when they do expand the market. That's becoming a trend. So people should shluff this number off like they do the projection of 22 million DS's this year when they're making enough to sell 30 million. Nintendo will blow by 35, 40 and 45 million Wiis in the US alone. I won't even say how many I actually think they'll sell.

If they can sell at least 35million, Ill be happy. Not that it really concerns me, but it woudl make it a great come back for Nintendo from last gen. Go Wii.

Am I the only one that doesn't think they'll hit 35m in the US? I am sure they will hit 35m, but not with the current Wii model. Like always, I'm anticipating a new Wii around 2010 or early 2011. I'd say 35m is about right though, maybe less, between Wii 1 and Wii 2. I'm thinking 25.5m by late 2010, a Wii2 launch in early 2011, and strong sales to get it close to 35m. IMO, I don't really see how the Wii can really get uber-sales like 35m, when it's obvious that the PS3 and X360 will increase (sales wise) versus what the GC and Xbox did last gen. The consoles did 45/15/15 (assuming PS2 sells a bit more), for a total of 75m. I doubt the 360 and PS3 will sell less than 20m each, so that'd mean the market stagnated if the X360 only tripled it's base, and the PS3 got sub-N64 levels. Something's gotta give, and at some point, I think it'll be Nintendo.

Nintendo isnt known for making different versions of the same console, only handhelds. I think the estimate is high, but I do believe it can happen. Only time will tell.