AfterDawn: News

Wii sells out in Japan on the first day

In a totally unorthodox move in the video game market, console underdog Nintendo introduced it's Wii to Japanese consumers almost two weeks after it's successful American launch. The famous electronics store, Yodobashi Camera in the Machida district in Tokyo opened at 7:30am, 2.5 hours earlier than normal in anticipation of the Nintendo launch. By 8am they had already posted signs saying they were sold out for the day.

Some eager consumers said they had been waiting in line since 6:30am the earlier day. Although this length of time waiting for a product launch pales in comparison to how long US comsumers were waiting in line for Nintendo's competitor, the Sony PS3.



Nintendo shipped 400,000 units to Japan which quickly sold out everywhere. This is in contrast to the 600,000 units sent to the United States which were said to be all accounted for in eight days. Nintendo remains hopeful that it will meet it's goal of reaching 4 million by the end of this year.

Instead of going head-to-head with the technical marvel of rival companies Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo decided to go for a fun-for-all approach. After taking a back seat to Sony with the introduction of the Playstation in 1994, Nintendo executives began looking at the 20 billion dollar video game market a bit differently. They look to achieve a healthy market share with their innovative controller and unique gameplay.

Source:
Bloomberg

Written by: Dave Horvath @ 1 Dec 2006 19:06

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• 10 comments

• xyron

  now i got a say that this just proves that even the smallest of creatures(comparing with s*ny and micro****) can change the course of the future

  1.12.2006 20:29 #1

• ZippyG

  Nintendo used to be king...I guess they miss that feeling. :) Now i actually wanna get a Wii even tho it is basically an OCed Gamecube with a new controller.

  1.12.2006 21:52 #2

• OzMick

  Nintendo is still the only one making a profit, and have done each year. Sony and Microsoft have been loss-leading on their consoles for years. Combine that with healthy first party games development and Nintendo have to be laughing. They're again the only one making money on the base console, and people are snapping them up, don't think for a minute the big N is dead...

  1.12.2006 21:59 #3

• limelight

  Hooray for Nintendo!!! I hope they sell millions more of the Wii!!

  2.12.2006 05:38 #4

• oofRome

  Was that a Lord of the Rings reference, xyron?

  2.12.2006 09:44 #5

• davidl1l

  i hope they out sell that high price crap playstation and xbox...

  2.12.2006 10:29 #6

• WKnight

  I think very many people have underestimated Nintendo for many years...Now Nintendo will take the lead in the console wars..
  

  
  

  2.12.2006 14:10 #7

• AntiHer0

  What a joke!! LMAO!!!!

  2.12.2006 14:52 #8

• halfhere

  keep laughing it off, and watch all the other keep theirs and be happy with their purchase.

  3.12.2006 14:29 #9

• xyron

  Quote:Was that a Lord of the Rings reference, xyron?
  lol ya it was a lord of the rings one, hope its not copyrighted
  

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  http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/244804
  my xbox games backup tut-
  http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/299366
  
  

  13.12.2006 19:15 #10