Wii mini-games outsell Zelda in Japan

[Galactus]

Tuesday 5-Dec-2006 12:03 PM Wii mini-game titles fly off of Japanese shelves, outselling even Nintendo's new Zelda

Nintendo's Wii mini-game titles Wii Sports and Wii Play have dominated the Japanese game charts, outselling all other Wii software - including Zelda.

According to Famitsu, Wii Sports - which unlike Europe and the US is not a hardware pack-in the Far East - topped Wii software sales over the launch weekend shifting 176,800 units, which means that over 47% of Japanese Wii owners picked it up with their console.

Wii Play did similarly impressive numbers in Japan this weekend, almost matching Wii Sports at 171,888 units sold - again, meaning that 46% of Wii owners snapped it up.

Surprisingly this leaves Nintendo's flagship launch title Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess lagging in third place having sold 145,068 units - that's an attach rate of 39% - still impressive numbers, but not enough to beat the mini-game champions.

Seemingly these numbers would also suggest that Nintendo's Strategy of attracting new audiences is working - at least in the Land of the Rising Sun, that is. Or, maybe Japanese punters just aren't excited about Link's latest? No, that can't be it.

Additionally, Famitsu also says that the Wii hardware itself managed to sell in the number of 371, 936 - basically confirming yesterday's reports that the console sold out of its 400,000 shipped units, and further suggesting that - with Nintendo of America's claimed 600,000 sold included - the Wii now stands at 1 million units flogged worldwide.

Here's the full list of Japanese Wii sales numbers, according to Famitsu:

Wii Hardware: 371,936

Wii Sports: 176,880
Wii Play: 171,888
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: 145,068
Odoru Made in Wario: 63,086
Swing Golf Pangya: 12,673
Ennichi no Tatsujin: 10,192
SD Gundam SCAD Hammers: 9,801
Red Steel: 8,823
Tamagotchi Pika Pika Daitouryou: 6,994
Elebits: 6,505

 

[Hudson]

maaan I just found out, there might be only 1400 wii available in Denmark

 

[Kritish]

The Japanese like some wierd stuff, if only sentient toilets and whale meat lunchables were commonplace here.

 

[bulok]

I suspect the theory about Wii attracting new gamers or non-gamers may be accurate hence the disparity between the Zelda games and the Sports games. The sports titles are more generic and probably be easier to get into by non-gamers, thus would be purchased more by people and Zelda has a core group of followers. I don't see newcomers buying Zelda straight away altho it would probably be sold more in the long run.

 

[amazingfantasy15]

It's not that suprising, Japanese gamers love the quirky games.