By Patrick Avenell
The Nintendo Wii is now selling faster than ever, with GfK figures showing an incredible sell through rate for the console. This has led Nintendo to focus on product and content, not price, as it battles the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 (PS3) for the Christmas dollar.
According to GfK figures, the Wii has not only maintained its position as Australia’s fastest selling console, it is now selling much faster than it was four months ago, when it crossed the 500,000 units sold mark. Industry figures now show the Wii has crossed 750,000 mark in just 102 weeks of sale.
Amazingly, this means the Nintendo Wii has sold its last 250,000 units in just 18 weeks, or just under 2,000 per day. It took the Wii 84 weeks to reach the 500,000 mark, or 42 weeks per 250,000 sold. Compared to the last 18 weeks, that works out at a relatively paltry 850 per week.
This level of startling sell through contrasts with Sony, who gave away 35,000 PlayStation 3s (PS3) in the lead up to the Olympics, and Microsoft, who have slashed between $50 and $100 off the recommended prices of its Xbox 360 models in the hope of remaining competitive.
In addition to the Wii figures, Nintendo sold 1.5 million DS units in just 194 weeks. That means that in just under four years, over seven per cent of Australians have purchased a DS device.
It is clear, therefore, that pricing does not currently need to be reevaluated, at least not downwards, which means Nintendo is squarely focusing on its product range. Nintendo public relations manager Heather Murphy reports that the key products for the Wii this Christmas are Animal Crossing: Lets Go To The City (out 4 December), Wii Speak, Wii Music and Disaster: Day of Crisis. For the DS, the key titles are KORG DS-10 Synthesizer, Kirby Super Star Ultra and Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia.