Wii nears 30M, DS slumps in Japan

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted Jul 30, 2008 10:52 am PT

Halved handheld sales in Nintendo's homeland are offset by Wii's worldwide surge; company's quarterly revenue jumps 24 percent.

The Nintendo juggernaut continued rolling today with its latest glowingly profitable quarterly report, but the company's figures showed one of its tent-pole products losing steam.

Between April and June, the Nintendo DS handheld sold 6.94 million systems worldwide. That's down slightly from 6.98 million during the same time frame the year before. Nintendo also updated its lifetime-to-date sales total for the DS, which has now sold 77.54 million systems worldwide.

While sales grew elsewhere in the world, those gains were wiped out, as the Japanese market for the system experienced drastic decline. Japanese gamers picked up 580,000 DS systems for the quarter, down from 2.08 million during the same time frame last year. DS software also suffered a drastic slowdown in Nintendo's backyard, as Japanese consumers picked up only 4.93 million games, slightly more than half the 9.79 million sold in the previous year's June quarter.

The DS has been having issues in Japan, but its closest competitor is on the rise. Yesterday Sony announced its own results, which showed worldwide PlayStation Portable sales up 75 percent to 3.72 million systems for the quarter. The system is also apparently doing well in Japan, because Capcom today announced that its Monster Hunter Freedom 2G racked up 2.4 million in sales, becoming the first Japanese PSP title to break the 2-million-unit barrier.

The DS's slip did not go unnoticed by Nintendo. In its report, the company laid out its approach to revitalizing the handheld's fortunes.

"Nintendo's strategy is to accelerate current sales momentum from 'must-have for every family' to 'must-have for everyone' by continuously introducing new and unique software and introducing new services which take advantage of its expanded installed base."

The market for the Wii was similarly divided between Japan and the rest of the world. Nintendo sold 530,000 Wiis in Japan between April and June, down from 950,000 the year before. However, sales momentum continued rising for the system outside of its homeland, with worldwide Wii sales hitting 5.17 million for the quarter, up from 3.43 million the year before.

Lifetime-to-date, the Wii has sold 29.62 million systems worldwide, more than double the PlayStation 3's 14.4 million units. In between the two consoles is the Xbox 360, which has sold 20 million units since it launched in November 2005--one year before the Wii and PS3.

One place where Japanese consumers were more in unison with the rest of the world was in Wii software sales, which doubled and then some year-over-year. Japanese game sales for the system were up 40 percent, with software sales in the Americas jumping 222 percent. The system did even better on a global basis, with the number of games sold in the other regions soaring 381 percent.

For the quarter, Nintendo's revenues were up more than 24 percent year-over-year, from ¥340 billion ($3.15 billion) to ¥423 billion ($3.92 billion). The company's bottom line also improved--profits jumped nearly 34 percent to ¥107 billion ($990 million) from ¥80 billion ($740 million).

DS games that sold in droves for the company included Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time. Over on the Wii, Nintendo praised the sales success of newer titles like Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit, which sold 6.24 million and 3.42 million copies, respectively. It also singled out catalog titles that continue to sell, like Wii Play and Wii Sports, which is sold separately in some regions.

278 Comments

  • Zerosumgame

    Posted Sep 3, 2008 8:29 pm PT

    Having a wii is like having a fridge, every household needs one. On the other hand, Xbox is like the fancy glassware which you rarely touch it. PS3 will be something in between. Yup, xbox 360 at the bottom.

  • division_9

    Posted Sep 1, 2008 5:51 pm PT

    To me it always feels like the Wii is just a PS2 in a whitebox with some online service and motion sensing.

  • ajac

    Posted Sep 1, 2008 3:59 pm PT

    eh I got all 3 consoles so who cares who wins. BTW the DS sales slumping becasue EVERYONE HAS ONE! Thier has to be a point when no one will by something no more casue everyone has one

  • BLuFAlc0n

    Posted Aug 14, 2008 12:34 pm PT

    oh look.. the 360 has been out 1 year earlier than the wii, but.. the Wii has thrashed, the ps3, thrashed the 360 even in america, outsold the gamecube, the xbox, and now charging through the N64, well the DS even beat the NES and outsold the psp by more than half, it's guaranteed, Nintendo has won thee 7th gen wars.

  • CJFreeze

    Posted Aug 6, 2008 10:29 am PT

    This board is hilarious. The wii and Xbox have hardcore and non-hardcore games respectively of their own. Shadow7871 make an amazing point that if you truely are a hardocre gamer then you would nose dive into just about anything regarding gaming wether its on your favorite console or not. Those who complain and moan about how they think that "their console is better because..." can put that to rest because a game is a piece of art, a canvass that someone decided to paint his or her own way to appeal to either a specific crowd or to the masses. So if Xbox or PS3 were truely the better consoles then somethings wrong cause the numbers prove otherwise. Well all get 15 minutes of fame and right now Nintendo has the spot light. Congratulations in advance if they keep it, and congrats to the one who steals it. In my opinion, I just want to play some damn awesome games regardless of who makes them. Amen

  • cloudstrife145

    Posted Aug 6, 2008 12:17 am PT

    @ masterchief;

    i didnt even say anything about "hardcore" xbox360 games being in the wii. wtf?

  • JBDragon

    Posted Aug 5, 2008 9:58 pm PT

    The sales slowdown of the DS is going to happen at some point. Really, who the hell in Japan that wants one hasn't gotten one by now? Do people really need to buy 2-3 of them so Nintendo can keep it's sales up?
    I thought about getting one, but when I'm not home and I'm have a bit of free time, my Cell phone is right there always, so why not play games on that then worrying about carrying a DS around. Then again I just don't have a lot of gaming time.

  • LordNightwolf

    Posted Aug 5, 2008 7:10 pm PT

    give the Nintendo Wii a few more years and it just might be THE # 1 SELLING SYSTEM OF ALL TIME!!! I bet Microsoft's Xbox 360 is going to be out dated in 2 years.

  • Shadow7871

    Posted Aug 5, 2008 4:36 pm PT

    To those who claim to be 'Hardcore' gamers, if you truely were Hardcore then you would be open mindedand and you wouldn't give a damn about how pretty a game looks so long as it plays well. But of course I forgot most of you only give a damn about how a game looks, not plays. So Xbox and PS3 fan boys quit being all "were better because we have better graphics!!!!!!!" or "We have better games!!!!!" the most I have seen is FPS after FPS after FPS now I know there are other games coming out. So pardon me while I play what I want when I want HOW i want and not be called various names because I own a Wii (I have seen it happen also I do own a Xbox 360) and to those little kids who think heir all that grow the hell up and astop using words you don't understand in a attempt to bash one system. Their all good quick whining and just play (sorry for the rant I just hate how Hardcore gamers are quick to bash a certain system with out playing it)

  • MasterChief1694

    Posted Aug 5, 2008 12:38 pm PT

    sorry cloudstrife, youre wrong. Wii may beat 360 and ps3 in overall sales, but the wii is a family oriented system so you wont see much hardcore games you would see on xbox on the wii. i have both systems and i think they are equally good. i just think Nintendo and other developers should make more games and features that you would expect on xbox 360 (voice chat, for example, which they are working on) to make the wii more of a system for hardcore gamers

  • AFWorm

    Posted Aug 4, 2008 6:20 pm PT

    Go Nintendo! Now, they need to convert those sales into real profit like Sony. I do think that they really don't have anything to come out for the Christmas holiday.

  • thomas10soa

    Posted Aug 4, 2008 3:39 pm PT

    wii has been good the past, what is it now, 2 years? since its launch, but im a little concerned about the nintendo games coming out this year, there seems to be none other than animal crossing, correct me if i am wrong

  • metc123

    Posted Aug 4, 2008 10:35 am PT

    Define *slump* The DS is Still a runaway train!!!!

  • crszn962015

    Posted Aug 4, 2008 9:20 am PT

    DS has sold enough to be really popular, I wonder if the Wii will outsell PS2.

  • LorenaLarue

    Posted Aug 3, 2008 7:16 pm PT

    Its about time it slowed down.

  • BlackPlague1

    Posted Aug 3, 2008 5:33 pm PT

    well how many ds can they expect to sell before everyone has one =p

  • Pete5506

    Posted Aug 3, 2008 5:09 pm PT

    Go Wii, I love the Wii

  • Mp5slipknot

    Posted Aug 3, 2008 10:37 am PT

    Not surprised the DS is starting to slump, considering how many people have it already.

  • hank_101

    Posted Aug 2, 2008 5:58 pm PT

    yea that was pretty awesom

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