Reggie says New Super Mario Bros. Wii will outsell Modern Warfare 2 @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on November 08, 2009

News: Big words from the Nintendo prez, but you know what, he's probably right.

Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime was the guest of honor on this week's GameTrailers TV. While talking about all of the Big N's major 2009 and 2010 releases, he also let slip with a little prediction on what will be the biggest game of the Fall:

Geoff Keighly: Is [New Super Mario Bros. Wii] going to outsell Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2?

Reggie Fils-Aime: "On a single platform... absolutely. I say that unequivocally."

You've got to give me the entire holiday selling season. Let's take it all the way through the January NPD data."

Some would say that's a bold, almost naive, claim from the big man at Nintendo of America. After all, pre-order campaigns for Modern Warfare 2 are pushing the game's sales numbers through the roof before it's even been released. New Super Mario Bros. Wii didn't even rank a pre-order Reservation Card at Target. But if you stop and look at the sales histories of both franchises, Mario just might come out ahead.

New Super Mario Bros. on the DS has sold almost 20 million copies worldwide since it was released in August of 2006. On the other hand, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare has posted sales of a little over 13 million since it's release in November 2007... on three platforms. At a shade under seven million, the Xbox 360 version of COD4 is the top-selling single platform version of the title.

So not only does Mario's previous sidescrolling adventure top Modern Warfare's last outting on a single platform, it completely obliterates it in total sales as well. And yet, you'd be forgiven if you had no idea New Super Mario Bros. Wii was even being released next week, as the entire video game community seems to be enthralled by Modern Warfare fever. Whoever comes out on top, as Reggie says, "it's going to be close."

You can see all of Reggie's comments right here at the 4:15 mark:

We'll have more soon.