Nintendo's seemingly insurmountable lead in the U.S. became less "seemingly" in December, if EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich's figure of 3.2 million Wiis sold last month is spot-on. "Simply put, Nintendo saved Christmas," Divnich said.
In a note to investors, the EEDAR analyst also estimated U.S. Nintendo DS sales at 3 million last month, naming Wii Play as the best-selling game of December. Another 1.3 million sold, according to the analyst. It's the Wii numbers that are most staggering, besting the console's November performance, in which it moved 2.04 million units to Americans.
To put that in perspective, the Wii's sales in December 2007 were a far less impressive 1.35 million.
And if we really want to drive the point home, we'll point out that U.S. sales of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, from January to November of 2008, totaled 2.8 million and 3.3 million respectively. In other words, it was a pretty good month for Nintendo, if estimates are right.
NPD top ten mainstays like Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit are expected to be best-sellers again, with Wii Music seeing a Christmas bump. Actual figures from the NPD Group are expected on Thursday. We expect excellent corporate responses.
Analyst: 3.2 million Wiis save holidays [GameSpot]