Nintendo: 600,000 Wii, 454,000 Zelda Sold In First Eight Days

Following the North American release of the Wii on November 19, officials from Nintendo have confirmed that the console has sold more than 600,000 units in its first eight days of availability. In addition, the company noted that, when taking into account first-party software and accessory sales, Wii sales have thus far amounted to an impressive $190 million. Nintendo also added that sales of the Wii's highly anticipated launch title, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, has already has achieved sales of more than 454,000 units in the Americas, a figure which it notes represents in excess of of 75 percent of all hardware purchasers. While still early, Nintendo is expected to continue to ship large amounts of consoles to North America, with Lazard Capital Markets' analyst Colin Sebastian in particular recently predicting Wii shipments of 150,000-200,000 per week throughout the remainder of 2006. Nintendo itself has said that it expects to ship a total of 4 million consoles globally during the six weeks between the system's launch on November 19 in North America and the end of 2006. The Japanese launch of the system will follow North America on December 2nd. "Even with sales already in excess of 600,000 units, demand continues to exceed supply, as it's clear this is one of the 'gotta-have' products for the holiday season," commented Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime. "We've shipped retailers several times the amount of hardware the other company was able to deliver for its launch around the same time -- and we still sold out.” He added: “Given the inclusive nature of Wii game play, we're seeing this new form of video gaming is already a huge hit with gamers and newcomers alike. It continues to be a phenomenal launch.”