In hardware sales. So third party wasn't amazing for Wii but it did pad out the library a lot and include hits such as Just Dance which must have shifted huge amounts of hardware given the series did over 40m software units on Wii.

Then there is a sprinkling of other titles such as Zumba Fitness (6.60m), I imagine this was bought by the Wii Fit crowd however. And Lego games (Up to 5.3m).


PS3 and 360 will sell just beyond 92m, how much is yet to be seen, Wii will top out just below 102m. So a 10m gap.

So in the end, did third party help WiiU secure first place? Or would it have managed this without Just Dance and the likes?

The gap may have been slightly smaller, but the Wii had a certain magic about it (people I know who never even played video games had a Wii just sitting in their house), so it would have still beat them.

So how much do you think Just Dance contributed to Wii Hardware sales?

Well if one thing, Nintendo is by far the strongest one on first party. (And by strongest I'm talking about sales not having 100 IPs but selling them like 500k copy each). When there is a big Nintendo title (involving Mario, Link, Yoshi etc..) it will sell millions for sure with few exceptions.

Now, Microsoft and Sony are pretty much equals in that area and while we have some third party exclusives too, I would say it is pretty much the same at the end. Maybe one is coming out with more FPS games (Microsoft) and the other ones not (Sony), but overall they both have a very equivalent first party library in term of sales. But they are FAR from being where Nintendo is. I mean yes they have Halo, Grant Turismo, etc... but they have like 2 or 3 games only that can achieve one Nintendo is doing with their first party.

Actually I was expecting Nintendo to fail at some point with their Mario games etc. As I was really thinking nostalgia was the main reason why they were having success. They proved wrong with the Wii and even the WiiU (software wise)

500m of the 900m+ on Wii are third party FYI

Without Just Dance, which contributed with the Dawn of the Wii, it would've sold

I felt the Wii would have still outsold PS360 without third party but like you said, around a 10m gap. Last gen, the Nintendo and Wii brand itself was overpowered that even a "game" such as Wii Fit sold beyond most third party can dream of.

Games like Just Dance was big but wasn't required for Wii's success in hardware sales, that was just extra icing that probably pushed an extra few million hardwares at best but never thought it was a system seller. Likely 99% of Wii owners bought the Wii for the Nintendo games.

just dance wasn t an exclusive third party...i think

Wii sold because it was a fad, plain and simple
If it was the games, than why is wii u selling poorly?

The real question...is how much motion controllers  and its  big userbase before  just dance release...helped wii to get that game...!