Wii Sports passes Super Mario Bros as top-selling video game of all time
Posted by Jonathan Oosting | Man Zero January 06, 2009 07:23AM
Categories: Wii News

NintendoThe little game that could has, is and done did. Wii Sports, thought by skeptics to be merely a gimmick to show off the capabilities of the Wiimote, is now the top-selling video game of all time, according to VGChartz.

Like the former record holder Super Mario Bros, Wii Sports owes much of its sales success to bundling, as it shipped with nearly every Nintendo Wii sold (except in Japan and South Korea). To date, the game has sold 40.24 million units, while the Wii itself has sold upwards of 45 million units.

But can a bundled game be considered the "best-selling" game of all time?

VGZChartz, Jan. 3: The point of view taken by VGChartz is that:
1. The bundling of Wii Sports with the Wii console is integral to the success of the Wii console - Wii Sports adds value to the package and isn't "given away" with the console. It is purchased alongside the console.

2. The game isn't bundled in Japan and has managed to sell at a 45% attach rate with the Wii console showing that many Wii owners in Japan bought a Wii for Wii Sports.

3. Bundle sales of all other games are counted. Super Mario Bros wouldn't have sold 40 million as a stand-alone title but who can say how many it would have sold - maybe 20 million, maybe 25 million. Same is true of Wii Sports, Tetris, Duck Hunt, Super Mario World and most of the other titles on the best seller list. Sure, the act of bundling the game with the console will serve to increase its sales but to totally remove the game because of the fact it has been bundled is not right either. It is totally conceivable that as a stand-alone title Wii Sports would have sold well over 20 million units by now given the attach rate seen in Japan and also seen with both Wii Play and Wii Fit in the west. So to remove the title also seems totally unfair - especially given point 1.



While I understand the above justification, it's clear that bundling the game at launch led to a buzz that the game would not have received otherwise.

For instance, I recall going shortly after launch to Reno's, a sports bar in East Lansing, for the sole purpose of playing the hard-to-find Wii. Miller Lite and a local radio station teamed up to give away a Wii and brought a console to the bar to hook up to a large high definition television. They only had Wii Sports, and although it underwhelmed graphically, it was a hit with most patrons.

For those at the bar that night, Wii Sports became the game they associated with the Wii. And they probably told their friends about it. Who probably told their friends.

So would Wii Sports have been a hit if it wasn't bundled with the console? Perhaps, but it certainly wouldn't have sold 40 million units based on its merit alone.

That said, more people paid for Wii Sports, either directly or indirectly, than any other video game in history. That's certainly saying something, and it is another in a long series of triumphs for Nintendo.

Wii Sports the best-selling game ever?
Friday 8-May-2009 4:28 PM Sports title has now sold over 45 million copies, likely surpassing sales of NES classic Super Mario Bros.
26 CommentsNintendo has revealed global lifetime sales figures for first party Wii and DS titles that shifted over a million copies during the fiscal year ended March 31.


Topping the list is Wii Sports with 45.7 million copies sold, including those bundled with hardware. That total likely puts the game's sales ahead of those of Super Mario Bros, which has long been considered the bestselling game in history with over 40 million sales. The 1985 NES classic was also bundled with hardware.

When approached, however, Nintendo UK said that it couldn't confirm that sales of Wii Sports had overtaken those of Super Mario Bros.

Elsewhere in the data, Nintendo said that Wii Play sales are just 200,000 copies shy of 23 million units, followed by Wii Fit on 18.2 million and Mario Kart Wii on 15.4 million.

Nintendo Wii
Wii Sports - 45.7 million (includes sales bundled with hardware)
Wii Play - 23 million
Wii Fit - 18.2 million
Mario Kart Wii - 15.4 million
Smash Bros. Brawl - 8.43 million
Super Mario Galaxy - 8 million
Mario Party 8 - 6.7 million
Link's Crossbow Training - 3.76 million (includes sales from Wii Zapper bundle)
Animal Crossing: City Folk - 3.38 million
Wii Music - 2.65 million
Mario Super Sluggers - 1.26 million