Wii and DS Break Records in the United States and Europe

Nintendo has announced that the Wii had what it described as a “healthy” holiday season on the United States market, managing to sell more than 3 million units during the month of December. Satoru Iwata, who is the president of Nintendo, has made the announcement in Japan citing internal company data. The results are significantly better than during the same period in 2008, when the company's home console only managed to sell about 2.15 million units in the United States.

The main reasons cited are the price drop, which brought the Wii to 199 dollars down from 249, the better supply situation that helped customers find the device, and the launch of New Super Mario Bros., which attracted more than 4 million buyers since it was released.

Nintendo has also pointed out to the strong performance of the DS line of handhelds that sold better than in 2008 and are said to “set a new all-time calendar-year U.S. sales record for any console or hand-held system.” Full numbers are expected later during this month when the NPD Group releases its sales figures for December 2009.

Nintendo also did well on the European market, pointing out that more than 20 million Wii consoles had been sold since the release date of December 2009, making it the fastest selling home console in this part of the world.

The DS Lite and the DSi handhelds have also broken through the 40 million dollar barrier. Sales are fueled by the popularity of Nintendo's videogame line up, with Wii Fit, complete with the Balance Board peripheral, selling more than 8 million units and with New Super Mario Bros. also making good progress, with 2.5 million units sold.

Recently, analysts were worried that the Wii market had reached saturation, with customers less interested in the console and possibly looking to upgrade to either the PlayStation 3 or the Xbox 360.