Wii phenomenon broke Nintendo’s hope for second place

Nintendo often settled for last place in the console wars. After Sony moved in with the PlayStation and SEGA moved out of the hardware scene, Nintendo struggled with an electronics giant that had the experience in delivering power on a budget.

 

The second generation was more upsetting than the first for the Japanese gaming giant. Microsoft‘s own entry, the Xbox, pushed the GameCube back to third (and last) place in the console race. So in November 2006, when the Wii launched, Nintendo of Canada‘s Ron Bertram just hoped that the new-gen console built by Nintendo’s revelations on “gamer drift” would park them a “strong second place” this time around.

But the Wii became a gaming phenomenon. CanWest News reports that the elder, the female, and the youth all found something appealing about the Wii, aside from its affordable price tag. It has tapped into a resource that has never put money on a gaming console, before the Wii came out.

And as the non-gamers and non-gaming households alike are embracing the idea of gaming, Nintendo is reportedly cashing in a lot of money. At its last official counting, the Wii has already sold more than six million units worldwide in no more than five months of its launch.

Even as the Xbox 360 has reached 10 million units sold worldwide to date, at the current rate that Nintendo’s console is going, the Wii is already expected to peg more than 14 million units sold for its first year out. And that’s more than half of what the GameCube had accomplished since its launch six years ago.

To date, 22 million GameCubes have been sold by the company until today, which is miniscule compared to what Sony’s PS2 has raked in: 106 million units sold – and still climbing – today.

Via Canada.com

Nintendo often settled for last place in the console wars. After Sony moved in with the PlayStation and SEGA moved out of the hardware scene, Nintendo struggled with an electronics giant that had the experience in delivering power on a budget.

 

The second generation was more upsetting than the first for the Japanese gaming giant. Microsoft‘s own entry, the Xbox, pushed the GameCube back to third (and last) place in the console race. So in November 2006, when the Wii launched, Nintendo of Canada‘s Ron Bertram just hoped that the new-gen console built by Nintendo’s revelations on “gamer drift” would park them a “strong second place” this time around.

But the Wii became a gaming phenomenon. CanWest News reports that the elder, the female, and the youth all found something appealing about the Wii, aside from its affordable price tag. It has tapped into a resource that has never put money on a gaming console, before the Wii came out.

And as the non-gamers and non-gaming households alike are embracing the idea of gaming, Nintendo is reportedly cashing in a lot of money. At its last official counting, the Wii has already sold more than six million units worldwide in no more than five months of its launch.

Even as the Xbox 360 has reached 10 million units sold worldwide to date, at the current rate that Nintendo’s console is going, the Wii is already expected to peg more than 14 million units sold for its first year out. And that’s more than half of what the GameCube had accomplished since its launch six years ago.

To date, 22 million GameCubes have been sold by the company until today, which is miniscule compared to what Sony’s PS2 has raked in: 106 million units sold – and still climbing – today.

Via Canada.com