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Forums - Sales Discussion - Wii tops 1 million in Australia, DS still king

Sol on 21 January 2009
Wii tops 1 million for Oz
By Nick, 20 Jan, 2009 - 11:18 PM - 2008 proved a bumper year for the Australian computer game industry, with consumers spending a massive $1.96 billion on computer games, consoles and accessories. This is an equally massive 47% increase on the previous year. It seems that in all the doom and gloom of the economic crisis, people wish to drown their sorrows with alcohol and games.

GfK, who provide weekly top 10 sales charts, recorded that the 'family' category was the biggest winner, increasing 137% from 2007. However, percentage can be deceiving.

Sales are where it's at, and Wii topped 680,000 consoles for 2008, pushing it up and over the 1 million mark. However, the best selling machine wasn't the Wii, but of course Nintendo's DS. The DS sold through 800,000 machines. That's 2185 a day or about one every 40 seconds. This makes Nintendo's handheld the best selling console for the third successive year.

With sales of Xbox 360 nudging 200,000, it managed to reach the half million, while the PS3 sits at a total of 400,000 sold (re: given away).

Nintendo now controls a better than 50% stake in the home console market. So where exactly is Ridge Racer?

http://www.aussie-nintendo.com/?pageid=article&t=15100

Alcohol and games, we Aussie's have taste!



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Rhonin the wizard on 21 January 2009

VG Chartz has it at 1,017,054 units. Good job guys.



seancsm on 21 January 2009

Well done Wii what is the attach rate for each console in Oz?  Everyone of my daughters friends has a Wii, she is a playstation fan through and through like her dad.  She just dumped the DS for a PSP and she is 7.

We had a ten pin party for her on Saturday and her six and seven year old friends did not know you played ten pin bowling with a ball.  How sad is this Wii generation? 

 

 

 



J-Favs on 21 January 2009

Alcohol + Wii = good times.



Pacman taught people to run around in dark rooms munching on pills while listening to repettive techno music and for that I somewhat idolise him.

megaman79 on 21 January 2009

Yeah it looks vgchartz got it spot on with the million. that number was reached here in the 1st week of jan. i believe.



“When we make some new announcement and if there is no positive initial reaction from the market, I try to think of it as a good sign because that can be interpreted as people reacting to something groundbreaking. ...if the employees were always minding themselves to do whatever the market is requiring at any moment, and if they were always focusing on something we can sell right now for the short term, it would be very limiting. We are trying to think outside the box.” - Satoru Iwata - This is why corporate multinationals will never truly understand, or risk doing, what Nintendo does.

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Infamy79 on 21 January 2009
seancsm said:

Well done Wii what is the attach rate for each console in Oz?  Everyone of my daughters friends has a Wii, she is a playstation fan through and through like her dad.  She just dumped the DS for a PSP and she is 7.

We had a ten pin party for her on Saturday and her six and seven year old friends did not know you played ten pin bowling with a ball.  How sad is this Wii generation? 

 

 You're clearly a bad parent turning your daughter into a Sony fangirl so early in life ;)



Never argue with idiots
They bring you down to their level and then beat you with experience

--OkeyDokey-- on 21 January 2009

1 in 20 Aussies own a Wii. Not bad.



BKK2 on 21 January 2009



FAMILY-friendly titles helped fuel a record $2 billion video game sales bonanza last year.

The economic slowdown has done nothing to dent Australians' passion for games.

Sales surged to $1.96 million in 2008 - a 47 per cent increase on the previous year.

Official sales statistics compiled by market research company GfK reveal non-violent family games were the key to the sales boost.

The family category grew by a whopping 137 per cent, making it the No 1 genre, ahead of action games.

CEO of the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia, Ron Curry, said games industry sales had grown by 112 per cent since 2006, proving video games are now very much part of Australian families' home-entertainment experience.

"The industry has really witnessed phenomenal growth, which has largely been driven by people playing games together," Mr Curry said.

The number of G-classified games released last year grew by 58 per cent.

The success of the innovative Nintendo Wii console, which boasts wireless controllers and has a heavy emphasis on socially inclusive games, has struck a particular chord with consumers.

Wii sales topped 680,000 in 2008, putting it ahead of Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's next-generation PS3 machines.

More than 1 million Wii consoles have now been sold in Australia, compared with about 500,000 Xbox 360s and about 400,000 PS3s.

Consumers also snapped up more than 800,000 of Nintendo's pint-sized DS hand-helds last year, making it the biggest-selling games console for the third year in a row.

Sales of games software in general grew by 57 per cent last year, and 43 per cent more consoles went out the door.

The biggest percentage jump of all was recorded by gaming hardware accessories such as driving wheels, which leaped 68 per cent.

Xbox 360 sales topped 200,000 in 2008, a 48 per cent increase on the previous year.


Link



shams on 21 January 2009

Wii really has become big here, and Ninty completely dominates TV advertising. I see a Wii or DS ad almost every night - and basically nothing else.

They are still showing WiiSports ads - surely no other game *ever* has been actively promoted on TV 2 years after it was released!



Gesta Non Verba

Nocturnal is helping companies get cheaper game ratings in Australia:

Game Assessment website

Wii code: 2263 4706 2910 1099

megaman79 on 21 January 2009

Wii Sports at the Australian Open tennis for the 2nd yr in a row



“When we make some new announcement and if there is no positive initial reaction from the market, I try to think of it as a good sign because that can be interpreted as people reacting to something groundbreaking. ...if the employees were always minding themselves to do whatever the market is requiring at any moment, and if they were always focusing on something we can sell right now for the short term, it would be very limiting. We are trying to think outside the box.” - Satoru Iwata - This is why corporate multinationals will never truly understand, or risk doing, what Nintendo does.