What does that number stand for?
Hahaha. Why it signifies the bare minimum sales total for your favorite and mine...the Wii.
Two Hundred and Forty Million will be the lowest possible amount of sales for the Wii's lifetime. The LOWEST amount.
In the PS2's impressive 7 year (going on 8 year) lifetime it has sold over the 120,000,000 mark making it the largest selling home console of all time besting its 100,000,000+ record selling predecessor the PS1.
Sony captivated new audiences and expanded the reach of videogaming resulting in the increased figures.
But the Wii is far beyond the PlayStations in its ability to reach new audiences.
What you have seen in 2007 is absolutely NOTHING compared to what you WILL see in the next coming years. Believe it or not this is the warm up period. This rapidly selling system which has captivated your imaginations has only begun to mesmerize.
Wii Fit is the tip of the iceberg in what Wii is aiming for to vastly expand videogaming's reach. Nintendo is rewriting the industry bible that they themselves have authored over 2 decades ago. The Wii won't just be a videogame system, it will be more a common entertainment appliance like a DVD player or a stereo. The naming of the system makes it possible. The word "Wii" is simply endlessly accessible and because of this it will find its way into homes and other buildings with an ease you will not believe.
As the 3rd party shifts in full to Wii, the competition will lose a great advantage as Nintendo begins absorbing their audience. Reggie Fils-Aime's marketing talk about "push-pull" is no corporate BS. Nintendo is PUSHING the boundaries of videogaming creatively, business-wise, and demographically while PULLING the creative resources, business, demographics from its competition. It's like a rapidly expanding Black Hole or shall we say Blue Hole when looking at the system's trademark glowing light.
2008 will show you a year where Wii seals its dominance in regions where some viable competition still exists like in Europe, Australia/New Zealand, and the other PALs and yes here in the USA, Canada, and Mexico. Some Wii-Luddites will slowly drop their protests and join the pearl white/electric blue attack finally realizing what matters in this pastime. New styles of games that could only come about because of the Wii will alert the doubters and attitudes will soften. The diehards will always remain but their herd will thin out more and more as time goes on. Stories of "I finally went out and bought a Wii" will become more commonplace and the FUD of "Wiis collecting dust" will be laughed out of forums internet-wide as more and more people realize how Wii proved its promise (I love using that line).
Wii will realize Nintendo's original vision for its second home console the Famicom/NES. Yes, Wii is the fully realized implementation of the Family Computer. And THIS is why 240,000,000 is only the entry point. The competition as time goes on will be made irrelevant though they will always have some supporters. But their moves will have no effect on the aims Nintendo set forth for its system. PS3 will sadly succumb to XBox 360 taking its spot as the refuge for the Wii-Luddites and graphic *ahem* "ladies of the night". And XBox 360 will be left with a marketshare resembling their last system in the very end. They will function as the smaller alternative as Wii takes over the regions where it is weakest and strengthens its power where XBox 360 is strongest.
The WiiDS Phenomenon has only begun and I cannot tell you the maximum point of how much Wii will sell. The number could boggle the mind.
But I will tell you the minimum point: 240,000,000. Niles Standish says take the PS2 and DOUBLE It!
That's a guaran-DAMN-tee. Bet on it.
John Lucas
Words from the Official VGChartz Idiot
WE ARE THE NATION...OF DOMINATION!