By David LeeSource: Examiner.com
Wii Sports Resort, which launches in the US on July 26, has sold over 350,000 copies in four days following its release in Japan. Kotaku, translating the original report from Famitsu, reports this is the third-largest Wii launch in Japan, trailing only Super Smash Bros. Brawl (816,000) and Mario Kart Wii (608,000) in four-day sales.
However, those titles were software-only while Wii Sports Resort is a hardware bundle with the new MotionPlus controller. A more apt comparison is to Wii Fit, which according to industry sales and analysis site VGChartz, sold 260,000 units in a two-day opening week. Wii Fit has sold 20 million units worldwide and nearly 3.5 million units in Japan to date. Wii Sports Resort had two more days its initial week, so its sales advantage over Wii Fit may be misleading—we'll need another week of data to tell.
The original Wii Sports was included as a bundle with the console hardware in the US. In Japan it was sold separately and has sold approximately 3.5 million copies. Whether Wii Sports Resort can measure up to that remains to be seen.
Certainly Nintendo will be watching sales of Wii Sports Resort closely. While other games are already using the MotionPlus controller (which is available ahead of the US Wii Sports Resort launch), sales of Wii Sports Resort are a key indicator of the console’s staying power at its current $250 price point. Indeed, and industry report speculated that Nintendo may drop the console to $200 if Wii sales don’t get a lift from the release of Wii Sports Resort.
Consumers may get to look forward to a console price war this fall—a development that could lift game sales for the all-important holiday season.
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