Nintendo consoles smash US sales records in 2008

More than 10 million Wiis sold

16 January 2009 18:11 GMT / By Verity Burns

Following the news that Nintendo's consoles managed to smash European sales records in 2008, new US sales data has shown it has done the same across the pond as well.

In 2008, a total of 10.17 million Wii consoles were sold to the American public, breaking the record for the most consoles sold in 1 year.

Its handheld sibling, the DS, followed closely behind, selling 9.95 million units over the year. And although the Wii now holds the annual sales record, both smashed the previous one set in 2007 by the DS with sales of 8.52 million.

The DS need not worry though - in passing on one crown, it gained another. It set the industry record for system sales in any one month, with 3.04 million units sold in December. The Wii broke its own personal record in the same month too, selling 2.14 million.

In total, Wii represented 55% of all next-gen home console sales in 2008, while Nintendo DS claimed 72% of all portable system sales in the same year.

In case it wasn't done bragging, Nintendo still had plenty of facts and figures at its fingertips to further prove its success in 2008.

Industry annual revenues jumped 19% in 2008 over the previous year, and Nintendo claims its products were responsible for 99% of those additional retail dollars.

Having said that, it wasn't just Nintendo's consoles that did well in 2008. More than 132 million games were sold for Nintendo systems, and four of its games were in the top five best sellers of the year.

Full tags