Nintendo systems and games sold big in 2007 @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on January 18, 2008

News: If any company 'won' 2007, Nintendo makes a strong case that they did.

With the NPD numbers for the full year released yesterday, each company will no doubt attempt to spin them in the best possible light. It looks like Nintendo will have to do less spinning than most as the numbers paint a very rosy picture for the Big N.

According to Nintendo, 52 percent of all video game systems sold in 2007 were made by Nintendo. For the path challenged, that means that Microsoft and Sony had to share the remaining 48 percent. Nintendo sold 17.6 million Nintendo DS systems and nearly 7.4 million Wii systems to capture that 52 percent.

On the software front, big sellers for the year include Wii Play (4.1 million), Super Mario Galaxy (2.5 million), Brain Age (1 million) and Brain Age 2 (1 million).

Nintendo systems can also lay claim to half of the top 30 best-selling games of 2007 including Pokemon Pearl, Pokemon Diamond, Mario Party DS, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games.

The top 30 handheld games are dominated even more by Nintendo. While the PSP continues to put up a valiant fight on the portable front, 27 of the top 30 games appeared on Nintendo handhelds (25 on the DS and two on the GBA).

"By the end of 2007 we were sold out of virtually all hardware, and much of our stock of software and accessories was sold out as well, thanks to the broad appeal of Wii and Nintendo DS to core gamers, women, families, grandparents Ц and seemingly everyone in between,"said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of sales & marketing. "And that momentum continues here in the early weeks of 2008."

Finally, according to the company "the video game industry grew by 43 percent over 2006 [in 2007]. Nintendo is responsible for 60 percent of that growth." Wow