Wii Sports, the popular sports game bundled with the Nintendo Wii console in most countries, has now shipped 40.52 million units making it the biggest selling console game ever.According to data from VGChartz, 40 million copies have been sold in the 110 weeks it has been on sale. The game is packed into the Wii console package in all countries apart from Japan and South Korea where it is available on general sale. The game has now overtaken Super Mario Bros. to top the list, with Mario only at 40.24 million units. Super Mario Bros. was also bundled with a console, but in 1985 the NES was the popular console of choice.
The top 5 list is completed with the original Pokemon series (Blue, Red, Green) at number 3, Tetris at number 4, and the classic Duck Hunt at number 5. The rest of the top of the list is filled with various Mario, Pokemon and Grand Theft Auto games amongst others.
Shipped and bought are two entirely different things. 40 million copies don't mean a thing when it came with the system. Game and software companies like to skew their numbers.
The game has great replay value and is tons of fun. It is NOT bundled with all Wiis.
Millions of copies are sold on store shelves.
Where? Nowhere that I'm aware of (at least not in the US). According to Wikipedia, it is bundled with the Wii in all areas except Japan, which would seem to imply that the only place you can actually buy Wii Sports on the shelf in a store would be there (why would someone need to buy it if it came with their system?).
- I think we know where this extra profit comes from in the US and Europe, I'd say us in Europe and America get shafted!
Agreed. And it says in the article that it's shipped 40 million copies, not sold. There's a difference between the two!
The actual best-selling game of all time is Super Mario World on the SNES: over 20 million copies. (Don't mention Super Mario Bros. on the NES. That was a pack-in like Wii Sports)
The actual best-selling game of all time is Super Mario World on the SNES: over 20 million copies. (Don't mention Super Mario Bros. on the NES. That was a pack-in like Wii Sports)
Uh, Super Mario World was a pack-in as well. It came with my SNES.
In other locations, it is sold as a stand-alone game. So, many people are buying it just like any other game on the shelves.
In other locations, it is sold as a stand-alone game. So, many people are buying it just like any other game on the shelves.
The ONLY place where Wii Sports is NOT bundled is Japan. It is bundled everywhere else. Where are you getting your information??
In other locations, it is sold as a stand-alone game. So, many people are buying it just like any other game on the shelves.
The ONLY place where Wii Sports is NOT bundled is Japan. It is bundled everywhere else. Where are you getting your information??
It isn't bundled in South Korea either according to VGChartz.
VGChartz says over 3 million copies of Wii Sports was sold in Japan alone.
However, I know this is not the case for everyone, as you -dont- have a choice (at least in USA) when purchasing the system whether or not you want Wii Sports included.
The "Best selling game of all time" should be classified as strictly game only purchase, not something that primarily comes as a bonus...
Now if the article was boasting the Wii Play game as best selling ever... different story
Impressive.
If someone purchased oh say an Xbox and a copy of Halo then you know that Halo, for them, was in fact a system seller. Once Halo becomes a pack-in then the waters are completely muddied. Now you don't know if people are purchasing the system for the pack-in or if the pack-in is simply icing.
Sure you can look at tie-in ratio and the like but who's to say that the console with pack-in and the actual game they wanted the system for aren't completely separate purchases? (it could be a gift or someone could be tight on cash that month and waiting for their "real" game purchase or who knows what) The only way to find out is to ask each end-user.
In effect, it taints the game's sales forever once it is packed-in for any region. You'll never be able to separate who bought what and why but you can sure as hell fudge the numbers and lie calling Wii Sports the best selling game of all time when it's really just a pack-in that most everyone ends up with whether they want it or not.
I don't think that people are picking up 360s for Sega Superstars Tennis or Kung-Fu Panda but their respective publishers will sure as sh*t count those as sales.
The real question to ask people is: "If game X were not included with the system would you have purchased it on it's own?" Given the sorry choices made for pack-in games these days I'd wager that that answer is going to be no.
Wii Sports is fun and neat but when it's by itself on a shelf for $50 it's a f*cking tech demo and not worth the asking price. How many people would rather save $50 off of their console purchase instead of having Wii Sports packed-in? How many people would rather pay full price and select their own game? Would they chose Wii Sports over everything else?
See pack-ins don't count because no developer/publisher is ever going to ask every single end-user if the pack-in was a sale or a freebie that they could give two sh*ts about.
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