"More than half of the year has gone by?" Um... it's only mid-June. That leaves six and a half months, which, unless I'm mistaken, means that less than half of the year has gone by.
For a comparison, though: let's assume that Wii sales reach 28 million this week, or close to it. That means that about 9 million Wiis have been sold worldwide in five and a half months. That averages out to about 1.6 million Wiis a month. Without the holiday boost, if sales trends continue, the Wii would sell another 10.6 million units, putting it at about 38.6 million.
Now, from Black Friday to Christmas last year, the Wii sold about 4 million units, putting it above the 1.6 million mark by about 2.4 million. Add that to our 38.6 million number, and the Wii is guaranteed to sell at least 41 million units by the end of this year.
However, that's if current trends continue. If a price drop occurs, or if Nintendo fixes the supply issues, or if demand for the console increases over last year, then we could see sales up to 45 million.
I will agree that 50 million is out of the question, but 41-45 million in 2 years is quite impressive.
"'Casual games' are something the 'Game Industry' invented to explain away the Wii success instead of actually listening or looking at what Nintendo did. There is no 'casual strategy' from Nintendo. 'Accessible strategy', yes, but ‘casual gamers’ is just the 'Game Industry''s polite way of saying what they feel: 'retarded gamers'."
-Sean Malstrom
