People buy sports on the Wii, the only console currently bundled with a sports-based video game. But how much do they play these things? And how do the Maddens, the fishing games and the mighty Wii Fit rate?
Yes, I'm defining "sports game" loosely. But, on the Wii, where the boundaries of gaming communities and game genres are blurred, that may be the most informative approach.
(The following stats are pulled from the usage data shared by more than two million Wii users through the system's Nintendo Channel. For more information about how we calculate these total playtimes, check out this week's earlier Wii stats post)
Average Per-Gamer Playing Time For Sports Games On The Wii (as of August 1)
(Release Dates in Parentheses)
Wii Sports (November 2006) - 36 hours, 19 minutes
FIFA Soccer 09 All-Play (October 2008) – 29 hours, 44 minutes
Madden NFL 08 (August 2007) - 28 hours, 12 minutes
Madden NFL 09 All-Play (August 2008) - 22 hours, 58 minutes
MLB Power Pros 2008 (July 2008) - 22 hours, 41 minutes
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 (August 2007) 20 hours, 55 minutes
Wii Fit (May 2008) - 18 hours, 47 minutes
Mario Super Sluggers (August 2008) - 18 hours, 22 minutes
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 All-Play (August 2008) - 17 hours, 46 minutes
NBA LIVE 09 All-Play (October 2008) - 16 hours, 52 minutes
NCAA Football 09 All-Play (July 2008) - 16 hours, 45 minutes
Mario Strikers Charged (July 2007) - 16 hours, 23 minutes
Skate It (November 2008) - 14 hours, 50 minutes
Fishing Master (September 2007) - 12 hours, 42 minutes
NHL 2K9 (September 2008) - 12 hours, 27 minutes
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 (June 2009) - 12 hours, 17 minutes
Super Swing Golf: Season 2 (December 2007) - 12 hours, 7 minutes
Major League Baseball 2K9 (March 2009) - 11 hours, 59 minutes
Little League World Series 2008 (August 2008) - 11 hours, 51 minutes
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (November 2007) - 11 hours, 35 minutes
We Ski & Snowboard (March 2009) - 8 hours, 28 minutes
Carnival Games Minigolf (October 2008) - 7 hours, 51 minutes
Hooked! (October 2007) - 6 hours, 20 minutes
We Ski (May 2008) - 6 hours, 4 minutes
NASCAR Kart Racing (February 2009) - 6 hours, 3 minutes
DECA Sports (May 2008) - 5 hours, 58 minutes
EA SPORTS Active (May 2009) - 5 hours, 54 minutes
My Fitness Coach (December 2008) - 5 hours, 34 minutes
Summer Sports: Paradise Island (April 2008) - 5 hours, 26 minutes
Active Life: Outdoor Challenge (September 2008) - 5 hours, 25 minutes
Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip (November 2008) - 5 hours, 5 minutes
Top Spin 3 (June 2008) - 4 hours, 19 minutes
AMF Bowling Pinbusters! (November 2007) - 2 hours, 40 minutes
(NOTE: Many Wii sports games, new and old, were not listed on the Nintendo Channel as of August 1, including Wii Sports Resort. Games typically aren't listed until they've been played by a set number of people, meaning unpopular games and new games often don't make the cut.)