372,000 Wiis sold in Japan in 2 days

Famitsu publishes estimates for the "new-gen" console's launch, which saw Nintendo narrowly miss its 400,000-unit target.

Nintendo has reportedly sold the vast majority of its promised launch stock for its next-gen console in Japan. According to Weekly Famitsu, the game giant sold 371,936 Wiis during December 2 and 3, just shy of its 400,000 target. That's five times the 80,000 consoles the top Japanese gaming magazine estimates were available at the PlayStation 3's Japanese launch on November 11. Both consoles quickly sold out.

According to Famitsu, the Japanese software tie ratio for the Wii is 1.69, which means that most people who bought the console also bought two games. The PS3's Japanese tie ratio weighed in at just 0.98, which some interpreted to mean that many of the Sony systems had been bought a la carte for resale on the secondary market.

In Japan, Wii Sports did not come free bundled with the Wii as it did in the US--and will in Europe. However, the game was still the top title, with sales of 176,880 units. Wii Play followed closely in second place, selling 171,888 copies, and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was in third, shifting 145,068 games.

Other games in the top 10 included: Tecmo's Super Swing Golf in fifth place, with 12,673 units sold; Ubisoft's Red Steel at number eight, selling 8,823 copies, and Konami's Elebits at 10 with 6,505.

211 Comments

  • nvorgang

    Posted Jan 22, 2007 8:24 pm PT

    As mentioned below, the Japanese are waiting for better games to come out. Watch PS3s sell like crazy when that Gundam Musou comes out for it. Japan will explode.

  • Ronaldihno10

    Posted Jan 19, 2007 5:13 pm PT

    Woot

  • Omihalcon

    Posted Dec 20, 2006 10:07 am PT

    need gamecube zelda so badly...

  • --MasterLink--

    Posted Dec 10, 2006 1:41 pm PT

    Wow . . . almost 400k units. Go Nintendo!

  • djayshaggy

    Posted Dec 8, 2006 11:37 am PT

    Zelda: OOT is only a 6 hour game, but if you want to enjoy the experience it could take you 20 or 30 hrs to beat it minimum.

    btw it took me 45 hrs to run straight through twillight princess and it was friggen awesome. Now I'm gonna go buy a guide and get every single thing in the game.

  • cfamgcn

    Posted Dec 7, 2006 4:07 pm PT

    That is really good... let's go the same way as the DS did

  • Alosjs

    Posted Dec 7, 2006 10:00 am PT

    371 936 or 400 000 is the same, not big difference, and of course Japan is going to get crazy with the Wii as they did with the DS

    nice job Nintendo! congrats!

    oh btw with the Wii I had the first chance to see my dad enjoy a console game, he played Wii Sports like crazy

  • ericbrown

    Posted Dec 7, 2006 7:12 am PT

    whats up guys can anyone tell me how long it will take to finish Zelda - Ocarina of Time from start to finish. Thank you i just got the game and wanted to know how many days or hours im gona be logging

  • metalsonic63

    Posted Dec 7, 2006 5:06 am PT

    well done nintendo keep it up

  • faridmon

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 7:59 pm PT

    good to see the 3rd party games are selling well, 6000 in 2 days is a lot for the least game sales wise (Elebits), Wii sport on the other hand.........................

  • faridmon

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 7:59 pm PT

    good to see the 3rd party games are selling well, 6000 in 2 days is a lot for the least game sales wise (Elebits), Wii sport on the other hand.........................

  • littlewiz77

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 3:04 pm PT

    so...

    p$3 gawt pwned by wii, and even xbox.
    XD

  • CreepyNerd90

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 2:27 pm PT

    Hmm...nearly a 3rd of the price, 5 times as many sold, cheaper production costs, and more games sold...yep, it's pwning the PS3 >.>

  • Ash16

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 1:01 pm PT

    Go Nintendo=) I can't believe the sales for TP were so low.

  • LoWpS

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 12:54 pm PT

    ah!! so close. thats still quite a handful, tho... and im surprised zelda didnt come in first. I love that game to death. In fact, i have to beat it as soon as possible. My grades are suffering, and i havent gotten any sleep lately...

  • Eatfishy

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 12:37 pm PT

    Japan have more of those rpg than U.S.A. and so Japanese gamer have more choices. The wii may not have any other hot rpg than Zelda, but they could still be playing other rpg on their ps2 especially FFXII.That could be one of the reason why Zelda sales doesn't have 1:1

  • PixyMisao

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 12:26 pm PT

    While it seems some systems got lost in the shuffle, that is still a great sales number! Well done. But what I really wanna know is... how are the Virtual Console games doing saleswise?

  • hepcat00

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 11:31 am PT

    chrisDojo/G_W_X-

    the Wii DID sell out.....read the article, man. Nintendo just didn't have 400,000 consoles actually produced (just 371,936) according to the article....so chill....still, excellent news for my shares of stock in Nintendo....maybe it'll generate enough of a dividend to buy a ps3....

    Piaras-

    obviously you didn't get one.....Zelda is more than enough. Halo and Halo 2 were more than enough to buy a xbox, and Gears of War is good enough reason for xbox360, as is final fantasy xii for ps2. the only thing ps3 has going for it until ffxiii (or some other class-AAA title) comes out is it's less than $1,000 blu-ray player.

  • Dante565

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 11:04 am PT

    Wii makes me happy.

  • Piaras007

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 10:24 am PT

    Let's face it, all it has right now is a last-gen zelda port

  • i_like_evil

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 9:58 am PT

    I think the japanese are waiting for the more.. "crazy" (ahem) games to come out...

  • JediAutobot

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 7:53 am PT

    I'm suprised any game sold more than Zelda, let alone two. I guess that's an indication of it's mass appeal in Japan beyond gamers.

  • chrisdojo

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 7:51 am PT

    so they DIDN'T sell out??? surprises me.

  • nintendorulz080

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 7:46 am PT

    WHO'S YOUR DADDY!
    if any1 gets this ill be happy

  • Merl57

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 7:32 am PT

    interesting I dont recognize all those games
    what is wii play?

  • G_W_X

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 7:25 am PT

    I thought all 400,000 had sold out!
    LIES ALL LIES!

  • undox

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 7:24 am PT

    What I would like to know is what the rest of the top 10 was. I only see six of them.

  • Konfusion

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 7:24 am PT

    SONY's getting owned... by SONY.

  • caganamata

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 6:42 am PT

    Very good news for Nintendo now came to Europe pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeee

  • Boaandli

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 6:38 am PT

    Someday every family in Japan proly own a Wii. Wii are the world!!

  • mk_2

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 6:09 am PT

    Just nine more hours to go for AU launch.

  • roareh

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 4:27 am PT

    yah! bring on the european launch!
    2 days to go for me!!

  • Pangster007

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 3:16 am PT

    I'm in th UK.

    Next.
    European launch, bring it on!

  • -Dark-Arrow-

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 2:47 am PT

    darn still have to wait till december 8th but sure gonna get it
    Who Mii Yeah Mii get Wii

  • kenesu96

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 2:15 am PT

    i can tell you first hand from living in japan, zelda is not very popular here. it has its following but will never be a blockbuster such as when, say, FF XIII will come out, or the next nintendogs, dating sim, or language tutor/ shopping list organizer software that constanlty makes people here go ape.

    5 minute games are the rage here, 60 hour games arent

    imnot buying zelda either, its not my kind of game

    Hajimete no wii (which they keep refering to as wii play) is not that great of a game, it even less than wii sports, but comes with free controller so its very much worth it for that, it has its fun moments but is very short lived, best for parties and multiplayer fun.

    but still it proves the wii has something for everyone on day #1!

    also i bought the wii with wii sports, hajimte no wii, extra nunchuk, classic controller and a 5000 point card for the equivalent of $347 us

  • anamnawshad

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 1:49 am PT

    Teh 'DS' console have come!!

  • ninja929

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 1:26 am PT

    Go Wii

  • Dolacide

    Posted Dec 6, 2006 12:54 am PT

    That's 1 million Wii's sold worldwide to date, not bad.

  • Fooljeff

    Posted Dec 5, 2006 11:20 pm PT

    I'm not so sure zelda is unpopular, they probably just didn't ship as many as wii sports.

  • BuntaX

    Posted Dec 5, 2006 10:59 pm PT

    It's true that it's a bit surprizing when u first here Zelda is in third place in terms of sales, but this might not be a bad thing. This could mean that some senior citizens or a new class of gamers actually came out to get the wii. From what I know, at least 2 people who seemingly left the gaming world were enticed by the wii's appeal. Maybe, Nintendo's belief that the Wii will pull in the whole family or "people who aren't necessarily fond of games" is not so far off. If one looks at the sales this way, it seems to make sense but I will admit that this is only gues work. Although it is definitely a possibility, I won't go as far as to say this is how it actually turned out.

  • Yukanna

    Posted Dec 5, 2006 10:54 pm PT

    The Zelda series havent been that popular in Japan the last decade. That series is first and foremost a big seller in american and western-european markets.

    Not sincwe the last decade, just throughout Zelda's carreer in japan. OOT sold 1 million in japan, which is good, but nowhere near other hugely popular games like DQ and FF.

    Zelda is hugely popular in america, Where OOT sold I think 4million units. I didnt Expect Zelda TP to get 145,000, seeing as Wind waker sold 700,000 units overall(didnt even break a million in japan like it did in America)

  • MasterAsh42

    Posted Dec 5, 2006 10:03 pm PT

    Hmmm. . .And now it makes sense that Japan didn't get Wii Sports out of the box. . .The country's more than willing to shell out for it!

    Simply amazing.

  • Slash_out

    Posted Dec 5, 2006 9:57 pm PT

    I just want to say that the P$3 sold less, because their was less stock. Not because their was less demand. I am saying that because some are saying "what happened to the ps3?".
    That said, I am soooooooooo happy to see Nintendo back on track. Let's hope that Nintendo will reach it's target for the end of the year.

  • NagaSadow

    Posted Dec 5, 2006 9:41 pm PT

    The Zelda series havent been that popular in Japan the last decade. That series is first and foremost a big seller in american and western-european markets.

    Wii Play and Wii Sports have a much bigger presense in the japanese media. They are also very cheap compared to regular games. They have serious mass market potential, and prolly will sell better than any other game in the japanese market.

  • Gamepro2421

    Posted Dec 5, 2006 7:42 pm PT

    hahaha i love how there is room for a little Sony PS3 bashing every time the 360 or the Wii is praised

    but i must say, i'm dissapointed that Zelda is only number 3?? wuts up with that??

  • ButtonBasherBW

    Posted Dec 5, 2006 7:34 pm PT

    Well well, selling pretty good, no? Although I did expect slightly more, but still not bad all the same.

    Wii Sports is certainly up there, ain't it? It would be the game most know about, and the best of the party titles I reckon - those where you have a bunch of people around just moving that controller around like there's no tomorrow. Great fun!

    Not so sure about Wii Play. Haven't seen much of it, only know a little of it and the fact it's bundled with a controller. Get another controller with another couple of pick up and play games to add in, for a few dollars more? Easy to see why it'll get picked up so much. If it wasn't in a bundle, it wouldn't sell.

  • runejedi

    Posted Dec 5, 2006 7:27 pm PT

    ill have a wii and a 360 over a ps3 anyday!

  • Jaeme

    Posted Dec 5, 2006 7:01 pm PT

    Its a new industry now. Now people are more likely to have more than one console which leads to this sort of Wii60 sort of thing. I think its great. I love a good blockbuster(Gears of War) like any one else but I also love a good little show now and then(Rayman). And you can`t always predict where its gonna happen(Zelda and XBLA games). I doubt I`ll ever buy all three systems, but I am in heaven with my wii and 360. I`ve been gaming since gaming got going and don`t believe what some of the senile types say. This trully is gaming`s golden age.

  • DS_fan_atic

    Posted Dec 5, 2006 6:56 pm PT

    Is North America getting Wii Play?

  • drangel_jam

    Posted Dec 5, 2006 6:25 pm PT

    Zelda is third to Wii Sports and Wii play?

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