It peaked early because its sales were insanely high but if you look at the year-end  charts you'll see Wii only fell into third place in 2011. It was the number one selling console worldwide for 4 years.

I will say it was not a fad but had fad like properties.

Not a fad because some people bought it because it had games that they liked and/or were Nintendo fans. These people bought the Wii to play games SSBB, the Metroids, Zelda SS, maybe even the Condiut (lol), etc. These people bought the Wii because they liked the game selection, etc. much like people have been buying consoles for decades. These people gave the Wii a "typical" sales curve.

The fad-like part comes at the increased sales from people who wouldn't have bought a Wii ever, if not for Wii Sports. They saw Wii Sports or here that the Wii was new and cool and not the typical gaming device and were excited about it. This type of Wii purchaser ran out during 2006/2007 and picked it up in droves. Unfortunately, the Wii didn't offer them too much especially after a few years. Some of them bought WSR, Wii Fit, Mario Kart, or SMBW. But, once the Wii's initial "wow" wore off on them and the Wii was no longer something no one had ever seen before, it turns out they weren't all that interested in the games. They were simply interested in the Wii because it was new and cool and offered some entertainment for a while.

So, for these Wii purchasers, I'd say the Wii was a fad. They bought it mainly for Wii Sports and probably only own the bundled games that came with the system, but once the novelty of the Wii wore off, they didn't find it useful any more and the hype was gone. No one was telling their friends about the Wii anymore because there was nothing to tell or everyone had already heard it before.

So, because it had fad-like properties for some of the purchasers IMO is why it has a weird sales curve. The people who bought the Wii because it was a Wii gave the sales curve the usual 2-3 year gains followed by slow and steady drop off. The "I bought a Wii because it was cool" people caused the Wii to have a HUGE initial spike in sales followed by a HUGE drop off when no one bought it anymore because it was no longer a novelty for them.

Just my opinion :)

I think you are ignoring that 2011 was the first full year the Wii was outsold globally by the Xbox 360 and/or PS3.

Also, the sales of the wii since 2010 are greater than the lifetime sales of the Gamecube and on par with the lifetime sales of the original Xbox. In other words, even in its decline, the Wii has eked out 30M in sales -- which is a milestone amount for a system.

Mike from Morgantown

The Wii was a fad guys. It's a lost cause, just move on.

Oh my ...........Gilgamesh is drunk again..........

The Wii is not going to be forgotten, and it has lived 6 years, and you are just a biased bitch.

When Microsoft and Sony jumped onboard the motion-control-train the Wii became a TREND, and thats a different story entirely!

The Wii is/was a trend.

^Well the trend, like the DS' touchpad trend, isn't over yet. and probably wont be for a long time. Motion is here to stay as an expanded part of gaming.

And when you're a trend you can't be a fad at the same time, no? =)

Of all the people I know that own a Wii (just about everyone I know minus my nieces), none of them used it after the first year they bought it. So yeah in my opinion, it was an extremely successful fad.

Ill semantic you !!! :)