Wii Sports is the Most Successful Videogame of All Time - News
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 03 January 2009 / 155,656 Views
Including VGChartz software data for the week ending 27th December 2008, Wii Sports has now passed sales of Super Mario Bros (NES) at 40.24 million units, making it the best selling videogame of all time. The game, bundled in every country outside of Japan and South Korea, reached that milestone after 110 weeks of sales.
The top ten selling games of all time are shown below. All of the games are made by Nintendo and all games in the list have at some point in their lifespan been bundled with their respective console in at least one region.
Super Mario Bros , released between 1985 and 1987 across the USA, Japan, and Europe and came bundled with most NES consoles. The game accumulated its sales on an install base of 61.91 million NES. Nintendo’s Wii has sold more than 45 million units so far, according to the data provided by VGChartz.com, giving Wii Sports room for sales well beyond the 50 million units mark - depending on how long Nintendo continue to bundle Wii Sports with the Wii console.
There are various viewpoints as to whether a bundled game can be considered for the title of "best selling". Certainly many would argue that the forced sale of the game with the Wii console should eliminate it from this list. The point of view taken by VGChartz is that:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
So there you have it - love it or loathe it Wii Sports is the most purchased game of all time and will only extend it's lead further in the coming months and years.
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Just because it is bundled with the most pirated console of all time doesn't make it successful to me.
Its a cheap-ass forced sell.
I would agree if it is a stand alone game itself. Bought for the game it is not because its bundled.
What a flame bait headline VG.
Wii sport has changed the industry forever. Congratulation, Mr Iwata...
IT CAME WITH THE SYSTEM! IT'S NOT SUCCESSFUL AT ALL!
jbee02 says:
Wii sports is not the most successful game. It comes along with a really succesful system for free. No one has forked over money for this game only. As such it has sold zero copies. Calling it the most successful game of all time is a joke.
You are paying for the game when you buy a Wii.
In the Asian market they don't get Wii sports with there Wii and taking into the Money it would make the Wii $50 cheaper to buy a Wii here without the Wii Sports.
QwayMelqnu says:
I'm sorry, but the title of "Most Successful Video Game" should not go to any game that has EVER been bundled. Just the fact that a game is bundled hinders any way of accurately telling whether the game was "successful" on it's own merits or not.
Out of all the video game systems I've every bought, the NES was the ONLY one I ever got where I liked the bundled game. Yeah, I got a few hours of playtime with Wii Sports, but it's been collecting dust ever since, and I would have been fine having never played it. I didn't buy the Wii for Wii Sports, so my sale shouldn't be counted toward Wii Sports success... Notice I said "success" not "sales". Yes I know I payed for it - but did I have a choice? No. If I had a choice, I would not have gotten Wii Sports.
I'm actually interested in which game would top the charts if you took out all the bundled games.
It still would be Wii Sports.
Wii sports is not the most successful game. It comes along with a really succesful system for free. No one has forked over money for this game only. As such it has sold zero copies. Calling it the most successful game of all time is a joke.
Congratulations Nintendo.
My thoughts exactly lukewarmtakeout. Although I bought a Wii and enjoyed the game, for awhile, I considered it a free-bee, and primarily played it because it was there. If the game was not included with the console I would have had to make a different purchasing choice and would likely have not bought it at all as other games were purchased at the same time which were higher on the priority list such as Zelda. The same goes for Wii Play as I bought it because of the nunchuk and not with the game being the primary reason to get the package. I needed the nunchuk and this was the best cost solution at the time.
If you're going to just count numbers then there are plenty of other games that dwarf the game counts shown in this list. Otherwise there needs a separation of games sold bundled with consoles vs games sold separately.
Games bundled with accessories like Wii Fit, Rock Band, Guitar Hero, where the primary use of the accessory is for that specific packaged game are in essence games that cannot really be played without the packaged controller. Such games are really just expensive games but still countable. With that said I’d consider Wii Fit a candidate. This is not always the case as one other person noted that he/she purchased Balance Board not for Wii Fit but for Shawn White Snowboarding but for most it is.
Also, I don’t think it is accurate to estimate what sales would have been if not bundled and using Japan as a guideline is not accurate as the Japanese market sales pattern are not indicative of the rest of the world.
I believe the results of this article are flawed.
One final note...this is not in any way a slam on Nintendo or its successes.
Great article! saw another website list most popular game websites:
http://www.getmybest.com/
Mouha-ha indeed.
pfft, i call bullshit on this...any game that gets bundled is by default excluded from this list. The game was not purchased the system was and yes, the game IS a freebie included with it. By the flawed logic that you have assembled your list solitaire is the most sold video game ever. It's been included with windows since windows 3.0 in 1990. Vista alone sold over 88 millions copies. So really minesweeper, hearts, and spider solitaire all outsold Wii Sports too. So how's your list look now?
And to lump pokemon red, green, and blue into one game is joke. They are different games with different content. Same with gold and silver.
This list is a massive failure. Do better research.
I did have a rob the robot and also the pack-ins gyromite and duck hunt. Although, Gyromite was only on the label. The game was actually called "Robot Gyro" in-game. They were there for the same reason the Wii comes with Wii Sports to provide utility of and demonstration of the included hardware. In this case, the robot and the light gun. Though your defensiveness is clearly telling me that you realize I have a good point.
http://www.online-flash-game.com/
New Super Mario Bro is a king of game. Hail Mario!
Nintendo is cool
I don't think, that wii sports is actually is the most successful video game of all times
This title should still go to tetris for the gameboy.
Why?
- Vgchartz tracks the gameboy sales for 42,16 m in the pal-region only (32,47 m japan)
- But Tetris goes with 2,47 m in pal (4,24 in japan)
-
Tetris was bundled with the first gameboy
=> Tetris is the most successful video game ever
The only question is the sheer number
P.S.: - I know gb color sales are included in gb, but still the original one sold way more than just 2,47m (with tetris bundled)
- go back into your memory: do you remember anyone without tetris; I don't
One_touch_KO - You're trying to say that a game has to come on it's own physical media to be considered a game? So I guess that means that every copy of every game sold and downloaded from Steam, Xbox Live Marketplace, PSN, Direct to Drive etc etc don't count as sales?
You should apply for a job at this website as your logic seems to fit in with that of the editorial staff. :)
Wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By this same logic it is Microsoft Solitaire the most successful game! It comes with every Windows sold!
Excellent revised version.
And this is news? Wii sports sells nearly as many units as Wii when it is bundled in most of the world shocker!!
Can I buy aWii without Wii Sports somewhere?
I bet it is the most played game for Wii. And the only game for the most Wiis
Funny result. It is like a truck selling company that boast that it sells more wheels
SCREAM1969 Windows bundled games ARE NOT physical games... Don't count...
Bundled games count? Fine. Minesweeper is the best selling game of all time blowing anything Nintendo has ever produced out of the water by at least a billion copies. Go Microsoft!
@mick846
I still have to disagree. Wii sports' popularity is a result of the Wii design. It's the Wii's innovation itself that's driving the Wii sales and Wii Sports is along for the ride. Wii sports itself contains nothing special about its sports and Wii fans would be just as content playing a different pack-in so long as it also took advantage of the Wii controller setup. For the NES, SMB was a title released after-the-fact. SMB was a blazing seller in its own right because of the game play and its innovation at the time. It was packed in after the fact to drive console sales. This is apples and oranges, if not something even more obvious. SMB sold 40M on its own merit, taking the console with it. Wii Sports sold on the console's merit, no different than another pack-in would have. These are polar opposites, no doubt about it.
Wii sports itself is not breaking records, it's just along for the ride. But god speed to the Wii for being able to move this many units in this amount of time.
@greg1975
I'd like to point out that the reasoning for bundling Wii Sports was much the same as the reason for bundling Super Mario Bros. The only real difference here is that Nintendo made the decision with Wii Sports before the Wii came out as a result to the hugely positive reaction the public displayed when playing the game at various public events.
When Nintendo saw they had a huge hit on their hands, they bundled it with the system. This applies to both Mario and Wii Sports. Apples and oranges? No, not really. It's the same thing, just this time Nintendo was wise enough to know they had a hit on their hands ahead of time and used it as the selling point of their system right away.
This just shows that Nintendo knows how to take full advantage of history repeating itself.
I just heard them talking about this article this morning on 94.7 the Globe. They even sighted VGChartz as the source....awesome!!
and another Mouha Ha Ha to everyone who doesn't accept this thread Wii Sports Number One it's not a fiction it's a fact.
ChichiriMuyo - Yes...I did have a rob the robot and also the pack-ins gyromite and duck hunt. Although, Gyromite was only on the label. The game was actually called "Robot Gyro" in-game. They were there for the same reason the Wii comes with Wii Sports - to provide utility of and demonstration of the included hardware. In this case, the robot and the light gun. Though your defensiveness is clearly telling me that you realize I have a good point. The key here is "Would Wii Sports be setting this record right now if it was not a pack-in?" and the answer is no. Whereas SMB became the pack in because of its popularity. Apples and oranges, whether you like it or not. Just be happy the Wii selling like mad.
Sad. So sad...
The interactive nature of the Wii is the true winner here. Don't forget all the accessories that are out there developed for the Wii Sports games. Just saw a new cool Wii baseball bat here:
http://www.g6solutions.com/productlistwiibat.html
Lol at haters
I'm sorry, but the title of "Most Successful Video Game" should not go to any game that has EVER been bundled. Just the fact that a game is bundled hinders any way of accurately telling whether the game was "successful" on it's own merits or not.
Out of all the video game systems I've every bought, the NES was the ONLY one I ever got where I liked the bundled game. Yeah, I got a few hours of playtime with Wii Sports, but it's been collecting dust ever since, and I would have been fine having never played it. I didn't buy the Wii for Wii Sports, so my sale shouldn't be counted toward Wii Sports success... Notice I said "success" not "sales". Yes I know I payed for it - but did I have a choice? No. If I had a choice, I would not have gotten Wii Sports.
Games that you are FORCED to buy if you want the system shouldn't be in contention for any "Top Selling" or "Most Successful" lists.
Bottom line is, if you're going to measure a games success, you either have to eliminate ALL bundled games from contention, or at least put a HUGE asterisk next to the listing saying something like: "*Success directly related to system sales".
I'm actually interested in which game would top the charts if you took out all the bundled games.
Oh, and Wii Sports is still the best selling Wii game in Japan. If you're trying to imply that it's not popular you're obviously not the sharpest stick in the bunch.
greg, either you had a rob the robot and zapper and two games (Gyromite + Duck Hunt) or you're a liar. No launch NES came without pack-ins in the US.
This article I think is misleading. First off, the NES did not ship with SMB upon launch. I was one of the possibly millions who outright purchased SMB after already having bought a NES. I owned a NES in the US in 1985. Anyone who argues this point needs to spend 3 seconds on google. This IS important because SMB was packed with the NES BECAUSE of the game's popularity, in order to drive sales. This is not the same paradigm for the Wii. Wii Sports was packaged with the Wii from day one. This is unquestionably apples versus oranges. Should I state OS X is the most popular current Apple operating system? No. It's only "popular" because it comes with the machine. SMB was popular outside of the NES's sales and drove its way into being the new included title as a result. Show me another game that does that and still breaks the 40M record and I'll be impressed. Until then, this is only a console sales record (when it gets there).
-G
and hey to the idiot that points out solitaire isn't a real game and Windows isn't a console, the TITLE IS "Wii Sports is the most successful videogame of all time"
Solitaire is "bought alongside" Windows and blows the ever-living HELL out of EVERYTHING ELSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! stop fantasizing, even Tetris stomps Wii Sports...... ugh
@alexdude,
Wikipedia disagrees with the claim because they are using numbers from September of '08. Wiki uses shipment data from the companies because they are an encyclopedia and statistical estimates are not encyclopedic facts. VGC isn't banned from usage there, just like NPD its numbers are not a fact and thus can only be listed as estimates.
As soon as the most recent quarterly financials are released the page will be updated to reflect exactly what VGC has told you weeks ahead of time...which is the point of the site...to provide estimates of sales so you have an idea of where the numbers are at while waiting for hard data from the manufacturers.
As for SMB, it too was a pack-in, I know because I have purchased two NES's. Yes it was also packed in with SMB/DH but all of the different combinations, re-releases, etc.. are all counted in the 40M SMB sales number...the same as the non-pack-in JP sales of Wii Sports are counted with the pack-in NA/EU sales to get its slightly higher 40M sales number.
Feel free to stay in denial about this but Wii Sports has past SMB regardless of how many fantastic and desperate excuses people want to make about it.
Why did this... news have to be the thing to put vgchartz on the spot?
I know it's perfect press and everything, but come on.
My landlord just told me about this. It is currently the featured story on Yahoo.com, meaning the top story on the website.
http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/wii-sports-is-best-selling-game-ever/1276855
You are WRONG about Wii Sports beating out Super Mario Bros.! Understandably, Wii Sports is coupled with the Wii console, and therefore if you bought a Wii, you bought the game, Super Mario Bros. was NOT coupled with the NES! Super Mario Bros./Duckhunt was, and as such, does not constitute as the same game! Therefore, Super Mario Bros., being sold separately, still holds the title, where as Wii Sports is provided FREE! This is not including all of the re-releases made of Super Mario Bros. for different systems over the years! VGChartz has provided false information!
THE alexbarker116
Before video games the alltime entertainment was hoola-hoops, then came 3-D glasses in movie theaters. Next was pinball machines,electronic darts, and the pacman craze. Now Super Mario was top dog and now the torch has been passed on to <a href="http://www.mywiiloads.com/?tid" target="_top">Wii Sports</a>
One can only imagine what's gonna be the next craze.
If it's any consolation, Mario is still the most successful video game franchise.
http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/the-top-10-best-selling-game-franchises/532199-2
And with the Wii/DS, its numbers will still grow...
@alexdude1991
and wikipedia is banned almost everywhere else, stop trolling
The cost of the Wii includes the cost of Wii Sports. Remove Wii Sports from the package and the price of the Wii goes down. Therefore, you have paid for it, you are not getting it free.
As the article says, the attach rate in Japan is around 45%.
If you assume the same attach rate worldwide, you'd still be talking about sales of well over 20m, and by the end of the generation, you could assume that would hit 40m...
It's as simple as that. If you don't like it, I suggest you get over it...
some of these guys attack vgchartz for the point wiisports is a bundle? ... I don't see anything wrong here.
lame
And why does not wanting to count bundled games as being Anti Nintendo I don't understand. Game sales to me seems simple to me as when it gets bought it says the name of the game you bought on the reciept. I will say it bothers me WAY more that Wii Play is number 9 on this list and it DID say Wii Play on the reciept.
Some people did make a good argument about 3 pokemon games but to me that makes those sales a bit more impressive I bought 3 of the same damn game basicaly for maybe 12 more pokemon. I just Want to be clear I DO like Wii sports but just don't feel any bundled sales count towards game sales. It distorts actual Game Sales. Wii needed Wii sports for people to get what the Wii was about. The game itself isn't even sold at retail for the most part and probably should have been software pre-looaded on the Wii if the Wii had more storage.
http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/wii-sports-is-best-selling-game-ever/1276855
For all the VGChartz haters, check out Yahoo's first page right now.
I don't think it couts as a sale simply because I didn't buy it I bought a Wii and this game came with it. I really enjoy the Game but I think as a stand alone game there is no way it would garner a 100% attach rate so the numbers can not count and it is simply not fare to games that sold on thier own merit.
As for games that had been released then later bundled once bundled they become extra value for the System not a game sale.
What about Wii Play that Game sucks and the only reason that sells is for a controller and you get a game for 10 dollars so why not. if that stays bundled with a 40 dollar controller it will continue to sell and be near the top of the list. That just seems wrong to have a game anywhere on the list that could sell for any reason beyond what it could do alone.
I do feel the Wii needed Wii sports bundled though. the game showcases what the Wii was about and the reasons to buy one. As a stand alone game I would have demanded more from it. More Depth in games as well as some online, and oh yea a real case.
This whole discussion about whether or not it qualifies as best selling game seems really silly and very petty.
I mean, it's not as if it doesn't CLEARLY state that it IS bundled in the article...
I don't understand peoples animosity ...
SO, a game that you didn't like (that up till now has been only available in the west as a bundle), has sold like 50 bajillionzss ... big deal, live with it, breathe, move on...
Just 'cause this game is in millions and millions of homes, doesn't invalidate any other games intrinsic worth. So why the hostility, why be so pedantic about it.
You're favourites still matter!
Live and let live, jeeze...
For those who disagree with this claim, you'll be satisfied to know that so does wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best_selling_video_games#Top_20_console_games_of_all_time
Wiisports appears in the top selling bundled games category, thankfully well away from the top 20 of all time.
You should also be pleased to know that vgchartz is a banned source on wikipedia.
Since some people have a problem with counting bundles as sales, what do people here thing about counting four versions of Nintendogs, or 2 or 3 versions of Pokemon, as one game? That doesn't seem fair. Surely the games wouldn't have sold as well if they were just one game.
Wow, people are really in denial over how big Wii Sports is. Also, they fail to see the irony:
Super Mario Bros., icon of gaming, hated when first released. Most of the established gamers and game makers thought the NES was a fad and its flagship game was awful.
Wii Sports, new icon of gaming, hated when first released. Most of the established gamers and game makers think/hope the Wii is a fad and find its flagship game awful.
I love the repetition of it all.
This doesn't reveals the quality of the game, reveals Wii phenomenon. A hit in videogames history to remember through the years
I heard this on the local radio yesterday (Dominican Republic). VGChartz was even mentioned in it! Congratulations on the exposure this report has given you and your site, Brett (still getting used to the name!) :P
I saw this coming since 2006.
Will Wii Sports mark the death of bowling alleys?
Pokemon red/blue is still the best selling game of all time. This article is BS.
why are four different pokemon games one title when GTA 3 is three titles?
dont read all replys to the new but all i can say is that this is a joke of a game... and will never ever have the carisma and the brand of a generation like SMB and others like it... this will be forgoten even faster than my next birthday... yes its good for a worm up but nothing else but that.
nobody actually bought wii sports. it comes with the wii. if would they sold wii sports separately from the Wii it would be popular as much as wii music
although I agree that this isnt really a fair representation of the games popularity, if we were to remove it from the sales charts you would have to take into account the 100s of other games that have been heavily sold as pack in games. I recall marvel superheroes (or similar) topped the 360 charts for a while last year which came in a bundle for example.
"If every Honda Civic sold came with a Microsoft Zune, and Honda sold 100 million Civics would you then say that the Zune outsold the iPod if the iPod sold 80 million iPods with out any sort of bundle deal? I seriously doubt it."
When Prince bundled a copy of his CD with the purchase of tickets to his concerts, they were counted by the RIAA as if they had bought the CD directly. So there you have as official a source as you can get saying that counting a bundled purchase is OK.
If we were counting dollars, I could see your point, as it would be impossible to put a dollar amount on a title that is not currently sold separately. But we don't count dollars, we cound units moved.
"treating every port as a completely different title feels extremely dishonest"
I'm not crazy about it, myself, but it's the industry standard. Multiple SKUs released simultaneously for the same machine are usually counted together, as will a re-release for the same unit. But releases on separate machines are counted separately. VGChartz clearly differentiates between releases of the same game for different machines and as long as they are consistant with that, they are not being dishonest.
After all, where do you draw the line? Is every version of Pac-Man released to be counted together (including multiple releases for the Game Boy machines, the 2600, etc.)? Is The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past / 4 Swords the same as the original ALTTP despite the fact that it has not only a separate game on the cart (4 Swords), but actual changes to the main game itself?
Well what about Solitare? It sells with every copy of Windows so it MUST be the most successfull video game of all time!
also, treating every port as a completely different title feels extremely dishonest. After all it allows you to disregard the success of titles like Grand Theft Auto 3 or DooM, as well as the fact that Tetris moves hella units on every platform it gets released on
Congratulations to Nintendo for sure. I was wondering if VGChartz have factored in the the VC sales of Super Mario Brothers?
world famous VgChartz - the article has now made it to Norway
http://www.dagbladet.no/2009/01/06/kultur/spill/nintendo/wii/4263646/
I'm sure this has been pointed out but I have to say it. I don't have time to read all the dribble here but:
Wii Sport IS NOT the best selling game for any system. It just happens to be bundled with the best selling console system to date. If it had been packaged and sold seperatly, it would not have such high 'sales'.
And yes, I own a Wii.
Really, who is to say that the original 'Wii Sports' will ALWAYS be bundled as a pack-in game for the Wii?
I think that it might well be very sensible and prudent for Nintendo to inculde 'Wii Sports Resort' down the line instead.
^ Say, perhaps a few months after the initial stand-alone release (maybe mid-2009 or so)... simply swap the original pack-in Wii Sports for it's Motion+ enabled sequel!
And if every new Wii bought from then on came ready with a motion+ enabled controller included - it would definitely help the adoption rate of Motion+ tremendously (Something I believe Nintendo certainly wants!) ...why wouldn't they want to encourage that?
^ So instead of introducing a future price-cut, simply upgrade the Wii-package by adding the new M+ controller AND Wii Sports 2 .. to boost sales even further! (or any possible flagging interest - like perhaps slighly in Japan)
^ (not that they need to, but two and a half years after launch - would be good time to spruce up the Wii brand, generate a new energy and buzz around..
..Wii's new 1:1 controls at this years E3?? ...Probably accompanied by a showcase of the new 1st and 3rd party games in development that use Motion+.
^ That could really be good for Ninty and renew intrest (for those who believed the initial promise of Wii's motion controls were not fully realised after it's first E3 showing)
...All just speculation of course - but it WOULD make perfect sense, don't you think?
Also spotted this article on the site of a Flemish sports newspaper:
http://www.nieuwsblad.be/sportwereld/Article/Detail.aspx?articleID=DMF06012009_088
Smart move this article, well done VGChartz.
And of course bundled games count as sales too. Since the consumer is paying for it, it is a sale, voluntarily or not. If you don't count this, then you also shouldn't count sales at discount prices when a game is old - good luck trying to keep track of all that.
To resolve this issue, it might be better to track sales volumes in currency rather than in units; like box office numbers for movies. For bundles, an estimate of the relative prize would have to be made then. For Wii Sports I'd say 25-30$/€.
All you nay-sayers are forgetting that the Wii sells for about $50 less in Japan, so even if it is "bundled" here, you're still paying for it.
Congrats to Wii Sports.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, el wii spoooooooooooooooooorts, nunk pense k revasartia al super mario bros, un nuevo record guinnes se sta presentando aka, felicidades a nintendo, con su permiso.
Cool, this also made the Dutch news:
http://www.nu.nl/games/1893786/wii-sports-is-best-verkochte-game-ooit.html
Wow! This article made it to the front page of digg and worse of all, the comments on digg are much smarter than the stupidity a lot of users here posted. I'm quite shocked because usually digg users are morons and users on this site are better.
|_emmiwinks bravo you said it perfectly!
KylieDog:
"- Game sold alone = Sale of game.
- Same game package with a console = Sale of game.
- Game not for sale = No sale of that game.
-
Game not for sale package witha console = No sale of game, because it was never for sale in the first place."
SMB, Tetris, SMW all for the first few years of their existance: last on the list
SMB, Tetris, SMW a few years into their respective consoles' existances: first on the list
It's the same god damned thing.
I dunno, I dont see what all the fuss is about. I tried Wii once at afriends house and I still think my PS3 kicks it to the curb!
www.web-privacy.pro.tc
One thing is buy a console that comes with a game, and a whole other thing is buy a game because you want that particular game. I would like to know how many copies Wii Sports would have sold if it wansn't bundled with the system.
It's certainly a sign of times when something that can be called a symbol of gaming is bypassed by bunch of funny minigames.
Makes me sad (even if I still think Giana Sisters > Mario :) )
How many units did Duck Hunt sell?
It's because people seem to think it takes away from what Super Mario Bros. is. It will never take away from SMB. NEVER. But, you can't take away what Wii Sports is which is a huge gaming revolution. I mean that was a huge risk on Ninty's part because if that game flopped the entire Wii concept would have gone down the drain.
I'm honored that despite bundles, if something is going to overtake SMB that it is something just as revolutionary and risky to put out like SMB was and Wii Sports a couple of years ago. It's a good game in its own right and a cornerstone of innovation in this industry.
But it will never take away from SMB. If games like MGS4, GTA IV, Halo 3, and even Super Mario Galaxy can't take away from it then this never could.
people at cnet arent to happy of this
http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=55655&page=1
Oh people stop complaining so much. You've made your point enough to make peoples eyes bleed. Even yall must realize by now it's not going to change anything so why keep doing it.
Why this matters to people so much is beyond me. Probably have some self-interested background to it anyways. People are so predictable.
as any one found and rated Sony's secret game yet i am busting literally "get off the toilet" to play it but want a meta critic rating be for i take apart my Sony consoles to find the worlds top selling video game help me please ,signed desperate
If nobody bought Wii Play for the game, then they wouldn't be able to sell used copies of WiiPlay without the controller for over $20. I have no idea why anyone would pay more then $10 for the game without a bundled controller, when you can get the bundle including a $40 controller for $50, but strangely people do buy Wii play for the game.**
You just proved my point about Wii Play, its not worth the price of a full game and neither is Wii Sports on its own is worth no more than $29.99 and thats being generous. I bought my Wii because my wife wont play my 360 with me and I figured we could play with my Wii together, turns out that all the games that she said looked so fun are just shovelware. In the 2 years we have owned it I have only found 4 games worth playing Zelda, Galaxy, Paper Mario, and Mario Kart. Needless to say she is dissappointed with it and has hardly touched the thing since Mario Kart came out, she even picked up Wii fit and decided after a week that it wasn't worth anywhere near the $90 and ebayed it.
The number of copies that were sold in a Bundle whether its Lego Indy Jones, Kung Fu Panda, MGS 4, SMB, Wii Play, Wii Sports, MotorStorm, Marvel Alliance, etc.... should not count as "sold"
Did you know that the metro is the best selling newspaper in London?
Noobs SMB was bundled too. Every hardcore gamer should already know that. Its even in the damn article morons. We were counting bundled games as units sold even before you were fucking born get over it.
@morpheusx: The controller is sold separately for a cheaper price than Wii Play costs.
Wii Play is worth a buy even if only for the Duck Hunt clone and the tanks game.
If nobody bought Wii Play for the game, then they wouldn't be able to sell used copies of WiiPlay without the controller for over $20. I have no idea why anyone would pay more then $10 for the game without a bundled controller, when you can get the bundle including a $40 controller for $50, but strangely people do buy Wii play for the game.
same argument can also be made for Wii Play, nobody buys Wii play for the game, we bought because of the "free Controller"
Even the greedy movie and music industry do not count copies that are given away as a sale. If you receive any CD or DVD free it counts as a promotional copy. If Wii sports didn't come bundled the sales of it would be no more then 1/3rd of what they are because of the used game market.
OK... now, for the best selling game that's not a free pack-in in the whole world save for Japan.
Sheesh...
Lord_Yggdrassil: "They bought it for the Controller"
and yet you are so stupid. Because Wii Sports is WHAT SHOWED OF THE CONTROLLER. Hence why Wii Sports sold the Wii. Do you think if Wii Sports never existed all the new people to gaming would of baught the Wii for Zelda and Red Steel?
HELL NO.. Grow up and learn that there is more diversity in gaming now then there ever was.
People didn't buy a FRIGGIN WII for the god damn WII SPORTS! They bought it for the Controller and the fact it was a new kind of gaming console...Wii sports was just a friggin tech demo showing off the wii mote.
It might be the best SELLING game ever but it wouldn't even be in anyones lsit of BEST games ever. SMB..GTA..Halo..Tetris would.
@Snozzle
WHAA!!!! I am going to sell it
WHAA!!!! The whole world has it
WHAA!!!! I am going to take the first flight to tokio
WHAA!!!! I am going to sell it for 40 € or 50$
WHAA!!!! They sell it newly for this price
WHAA!!!! Assurance that in amazon or ebay they give me more...
WHAA!!!!WHAA!!!!WHAA!!!!WHAA!!!!WHAA!!!!WHAA!!!!WHAA!!!!WHAA!!!!
I totally agree, every wii-owner would buy wii sport to play it at least one time because it's fun and not expensive. And so what? i mean, Motostorm was bundled with PS3 oder Halo3 with XBOX360, so they shouldn't count too...
I love the arguments about this article. The fact is...Wii Sports is now the number one selling console video game of all time.
I also find it ironic how some of the same people who argue that the sales of bundled Wii Sports should not count have and will argue that the only reason the Wii is selling so well is because of all the moms and parents out there buying a Wii to play Wii sports.
And the same have argued that Wii Sports is the only game anyone who owns a Wii plays hence the poor game attach rate for the Wii.
Aren't they and others that have made similar remarks making a good argument for the case that Wii sports deserves to be the best selling console game ever?
Also aren’t Wiifit and Wii Sports resort going to be considered bundled games as well (balance board and wii motion plus)?
Good god, the pint of my post is that WII SPORTS IS INDEED LIKE ALL THE OTHER BUNDLED GAMES. Up until the very end of the NES's lifespan, you couldn't buy an NES without buying a bundled game. During the incredibly long time where SMB and Duck Hunt were that packed in game, they were not, I repeat NOT, sold separately. It was not until Nintendo replaced the bundled game on some SKUs to SMB3 that the game started being sold separately. THIS WAS MORE THAN TWO YEARS INTO THE LIFESPAN OF BOTH NES AND SMB. It has been only just over two years into the lifespan of the Wii and Wii Sports. Once Wii Sports becomes a separately packaged game, are it's sale "valid"? Are all of SMB and Duck Hunt's sales as a bundle "invalid" too? And thus, going down the line, the same hold true for each of the generall accepted top 15 selling games of all time? Again, Tetris wasn't sold in a separate package either. Neither was Super Mario World. (both eventually were, when much later they became unbundled). After all, why sell the game separately when it comes with the system? No one would need to buy it.
You want to call SMB3 the best selling game of all time because it was never exclusively available in a bundle, fine. But drawing a distinction between SMB and Wii Sports is ridiculous.
And if a game had been bundled with PS2 it would have 120 million sales and counting
hmm is it just me, but do most of the people who dismiss Wii Sports success are from names I have never seen on VGchartz before?
