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Wii Play has out sold Halo 3, Metal Gear Solid 4, and Gears of War. COMBINED December 30, 2008

Filed under: Exclusive, Fanboy, Nintendo DS/DSi, Rants/Opinions, Reviews — hey_suburbia @ 12:56 pm
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Slapstic.com came upon some pretty interesting information. Wii Play has been in the top ten on the sales charts pretty much every since its release, which has led to it becoming one of the top 10 best-selling games of all time. The game has sold 19.21 million units since its launch, which is an absolutely astounding number. Here are some random stats on the biggest games on other consoles:

Halo 3 has sold 8.81 million units to date.
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots has sold 3.71 million.
Gears of War has sold 5.74 million.
Gears of War 2 has sold 3.77 million.

Now, I’m all for great Nintendo sales, but I’m starting to have mixed feelings about these ‘casual’ games being Nintendo’s cash cow. I’ve been an avid supporter of Nintendo for 25 years and love the Wii (never owned any other system, except a Dreamcast and a Panasonic 3D0), I just don’t want Nintendo to continue focusing on these games that may do really well $$$ wise, but end up being bookends.

The flipside to this would be that these “money games” gives Nintendo the time/energy/resources to focus on putting out really great franchise games; Zelda ‘09, Pikmin Wii, Kirby?, Mario 2010?, Kid Icarus, Metroid 2010?, etc…

What is your feeling on games like Wii Play doing SO well? Good or Bad for Nintendo’s fan base? Also, it’s noteworthy of pointing out that the game was bundled with a Wiimote, so one could argue it was actually a Wiimote purchase…



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  • skunkchop
    The reason Nintendo is raking in so much money is that after seeing the sales of the GameCube, they knew they had to do something new to make some cash. They definitely didn't abandon their true fans, and games like Brawl(deepest, most hardcore game this generation) prove it. Basically, the casual games are used simply to get Nintendo the funding to make new games, and make them keep up with modern graphics(no matter how great a game is, it won't sell well looking like a N64 game nowadays). The best-selling games just HAPPEN to be the ones with the best graphics.
  • @ Santarex - Not too many people would agree with you about the PS3... Unless you want a good BR player. Ha! However, the 360 is a solid system with great online support and several "hard core" games. I'm still a Nintendo fan, like hey_suburbia, as I've only owned Nintendo consoles except a Dreamcast. 2009 looks good for the Wii though...and the DSi should be really good too.
  • Santarex
    This further proves that 95% of Wii owners are casual gamers. Sometimes I wish I had a PS3 or xbox360...*sigh*
  • Jim
    I tend to think (hope?) that "casual" games will be the gateway for a lot of non-gamers to get into the harder (ha) stuff. Maybe once more casual gamers get into the deeper games, they'll become profitable enough for Nintendo to focus more on them? No doubt some people will only play casual games, regardless.

    e.g. My wife loves Wii Sports/Play, but hasn't yet delved into many deeper games yet. She played through Castlevania:HoD on the GBA (I'm quite proud of her for that!), but she tends to like playing an Animal Crossing or a Cooking Mama more than a Zelda or a Metroid.

    We NEED more multiplayer co-op games, IMHO. I think multiplayer (esp. co-op) is the best way to spread gaming as a hobby.
  • @bob

    Yeah, I mention that in the last sentence of the post. There is still no denying that there are a bunch of 'casual games' doing remarkably well. I guess that's the real question, not specific to Wii Play. Do these games hurt the Nintendo fan base?
  • bob
    Lame.

    Since it comes with a wiimote, people are basically buying a $10 game for a remote. The WiiPlay numbers shouldn't even be tracked or left off comparison charts.
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