Nintendo: Digital Sales Soaring, Wii U Releases to Ramp Up

by William D'Angelo, posted on 17 April 2013 / 6,582 Views

President of Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Aime spoke with GamesIndustry International about how releasing their games digitally the same day as the retail version has paid off. He said that Fire Emblem: Awakening has sold 240,000 units in the US to date and one third of those figures are digital. He also stated that Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon has sold 415,000 units to date in the US.

"We have 15 Nintendo-published titles available, both physically and digitally [on the 3DS]," he said. "So far in 2013, of those 15 available in this format, 11 percent of sales have come through full digital downloads of those games."

Reggie also announced that more than 20 million games have been sold for the 3DS to date, however that does not include digital sales. Through April 2013 "3DS game sales are up 55 percent versus last year, counting both physical and digital."

Reggie stated that the 3DS had a slow release schedule when it first launched and the company has stepped up since than. He says that the Wii U has had a slow start like the 3DS due to the lack of games. While it sounds like nothing will be announced before E3, Reggie did say that Wii U game releases will "dramatically increase."

"We believe consumers buy our systems first as a gaming system, then enjoy the other entertainment options, so that's why we're putting such a big emphasis on the gaming software," he said.


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10 Comments

DevilRising
DevilRising (on 17 April 2013)

I like Reggie. I love Iwata, have always loved Nintendo. But seriously, SHOW it, don't SAY it. Let's see the fucking games, then people will finally shut up. When you go months and months without any major releases outside of Lego City, but keep saying "Games are coming", it falls short on most people. SHOW the fucking games, give concrete release dates, and people will shut the fuck up.

  • +3
ganoncrotch
ganoncrotch (on 21 April 2013)

A sequel to a link to the past not good enough for you? Perhaps you should watch the nintendo directs as such a massive fan of all things nintendo

  • 0
Moonhero
Moonhero (on 17 April 2013)

Wait until E3... They will drop a few bombs... All Wii U ones... Oh yes.

  • +3
Ljink96
Ljink96 (on 17 April 2013)

You can't make games in a second, well let me rephrase that... you shouldn't make a game in a second. A rushed game is forever bad remember?

  • +3
DarthVolod
DarthVolod (on 18 April 2013)

For the life of me I don't understand why digital sales are that high ... did Nintendo ever add a way to download your games on a second Wii U / 3DS if your old one bricks? This is not to mention the fact that I am 100% sure you could buy all of those digital games cheaper at retail (plus you can trade them in ect. all the usual advantages to physical). Does Nintendo do Steam sales where they knock games down from full price to 50-60% off? I am seriously baffled by this, and I can not think of a single consumer friendly reason to purchase digital ... especially if Nintendo has not yet put in a way to retrieve digital games in the event of a console failing on you.

  • +1
ganoncrotch
ganoncrotch (on 21 April 2013)

you can move your games system to system and there are weekly sales on the eshop since the start of 2013, some of the stuff might be cheaper at retail btw but atm in the town I live the 4 game shops here are all sold out of Luigis Mansion 2... the Eshop is not.

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FarleyMcFirefly
FarleyMcFirefly (on 17 April 2013)

I sure hope more than 20 million 3DS games have been sold to date, considering that Mario 3d Land, Mario Kart 7 have sold over 15 million of those.

  • +1
fedfed
fedfed (on 18 April 2013)

I think he meant in US only

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Michael-5
Michael-5 (on 17 April 2013)

Look like VGC needs to adjust Fire Emblem sales. I told you it was undertracked! You guys have it at 220,000 sales for USA and Canada, but it's 240,000 for USA alone (probably 265,000 for USA and Canada). This puts the game at 865,000 or so, on track to break 1 million with its debut in EU.

  • +1
BradleyJ
BradleyJ (on 17 April 2013)

Sure, but a third of those were digital. VGC only tracks retail. This puts Fire Emblem sales at 160,000 physical copies sold in the US. So if you are guessing that Canada only supplied another 25,000 (even assuming all of those were physical sales) than VGC is actually overtracking the sales...by your logic, at least.

  • 0
AnthonyW86
AnthonyW86 (on 18 April 2013)

So they are waiting for E3 where their announcements will be completely overshadowed by PS4/Nextxbox announcements. And yeah Reggie, sales go up if you finally have a decent digital distribution network....

  • 0
BossPuma
BossPuma (on 17 April 2013)

Im wary of what Reggie means by Wii U game releases "increasing dramatically" but overall it sounds pretty fantastic.

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FujiokaMidori
FujiokaMidori (on 20 April 2013)

It's a digital tittle what will make me buy the Wii U. The HD Wind Waker.

  • -1
BlkPaladin
BlkPaladin (on 17 April 2013)

So it seems there are third party games in the works, because I doubt Nintendo is going carry the entire load of the releases. (It probably includes original eShop games in that.)

  • -1