For video gamers, it was the month that was – November 2006, the first time all three new home systems would be available to consumers, along with three established portable game devices. It was a month that belonged to Nintendo. According to independent sales data from the NPD Group, Nintendo sold 55 percent of all video game systems in November, led by the launch of the Wii and the incredible continuing success of the Nintendo DS portable.
In only the first seven days of availability after its Nov. 19 launch, Wii sold nearly half a million systems in the United States alone (as reported previously by Nintendo, total sales of Wii in the Americas reached 600,000 in its first eight days of availability). Despite spot shortages in some locations, well more than a million Wii systems will be available in the United States by the end of the year. While Wii sold through at a rate of more than 70,000 a day for the seven days represented in the data (substantially higher than any other game device), November’s two top sellers of any type were the Nintendo DS, at almost 920,000 units, and Game Boy Advance, with nearly 642,000 portables sold. With Wii and Nintendo GameCube totals included, Nintendo sold through more than 2.1 million of the 3.9 million systems purchased for the month.
The data also reveals that the Wii title The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess achieved sales of 412,000, representing 87 percent of all Wii purchasers, the highest industry rate of sale for any launch title since introduction of Super Mario 64 with the Nintendo 64 a decade ago. In addition, despite the inclusion of Wii Sports software with every system sale, Wii buyers also purchased an average of two additional games, compared to approximately one game per system for the installed bases of either competing new home system.
