14 DAY TRIAL // The NPD Group says that the Nintendo Wii gaming consoles have just sold the millionth unit on the Canadian market, becoming the first of the so called next gen consoles to break this barrier.
Canada is not the hottest market for videogames and consoles, with sales well below those registered in the United States of America, Europe or Japan, but the way the market performs is a good indicator of the relative strengths of products like those offered by Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. It's interesting to see that the Xbox 360 managed to sell just over 870,000 units, although it was presented a year earlier than the Wii, while the PlayStation 3 sold somewhere around 520,000 consoles. It would also have been interesting to see a comparison with the PlayStation 2, but the NPD did not reveal the numbers for the last gen Sony product.
Recent NPD numbers for the United States have showed the Wii selling more than its closest two rivals combined, a feat that no one expected when the motion tracking console was presented to gamers. The combination of an innovative control scheme with a bigger focus on social gaming means that the Nintendo product managed to attract new customers.
Worldwide, the Nintendo made product has sold close to 30 million units, while the Microsoft Xbox 360, which was the first of the trio to be launched to the public, has got sales of just over 19 million with the PlayStation 3 falling into third place, having moved just 14.4 million gaming devices.
A look at the state of the Canadian videogame chart confirms the domination of the Wii, with five of the top ten titles being for the Nintendo consoles, with Mario Kart Wii as the best seller.
We are eagerly awaiting an announcement from Nintendo that they have broken the 30 million units sold world wide barrier.