James Delahunty
16 Jan 2007 18:08
Nintendo was very fortunate over the holiday period in the UK, managing to sell over 200,000 Wii consoles and over half a million DS handheld consoles. The company cited Chart-Track figures in its announcement. Across Europe, unlucky gamers looking for a Wii found mostly empty shelves as 700,000 units were quickly purchased.
After its launch in Europe on December 8th, the Wii console became the fastest selling gaming console ever during its opening weekend. As for the games, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess topped the chart for the console with over 500,000 copies being sold, meaning that 70% of new Wii owners bought the title.
Also with the DS selling more than 500,000 units over the month of December in the UK, Nintendo insisted that it was not only the biggest selling console over the Christmas period, but in the entire of the year 2006. The DS sold 1.7 million units across Europe in December.
"We have enjoyed one of the most successful Christmas holidays ever, with both Nintendo DS and Wii selling at staggering rates," said Nintendo Europe marketing director Laurent Fischer. "We are facing such high demand for both platforms that unfortunately we are facing stock shortages. However we are doing everything possible to combat this by attempting to deliver both consoles and games to retailers on a daily basis."
Source:
GamesIndustry.biz