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Record-Breaking UK Launch For Nintendo's Wii Fit

Nintendo has enjoyed its second record-breaking launch in as many weeks, with Wii Fit becoming the sixth fastest selling game of all time in the UK, beaten only by iterations of Grand Theft Auto, Halo and Gran Turismo.

David Jenkins, Blogger

April 29, 2008

2 Min Read
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Nintendo has enjoyed its second record-breaking launch in as many weeks, with fitness title Wii Fit becoming the sixth fastest selling title of all time in the UK. After Mario Kart Wii became the eighth fastest selling earlier in the month, the Wii Fit hardware bundle performed even more strongly - beaten only by iterations in the Grand Theft Auto, Halo and Gran Turismo franchises. Despite a higher than normal retail price, due to the inclusion of the “Balance Board” controller, Wii Fit was bought by around 1 in 10 Wii console owners over its first two days on sale. The title recorded an estimated £16.3 million ($32.4m) in revenues, making it the third biggest launch ever in the UK, behind only Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (£24.2 million/$48.2m) and Halo 3 (£16.9 million/$33.6m). Despite fourteen titles in the top forty, Wii Fit accounted for half of all Wii software sold this week, with 79 percent published by either Nintendo or Sega. Gran Turismo 5: Prologue is the only title not for either the Nintendo DS or Wii in the top ten. There were no other new releases in the top ten, with sales of Mario Kart Wii at number two down by 62 percent. A number of Nintendo DS and Wii titles did enter into the bottom position of the chart though, with Sight Training (aka Flash Focus) returning at number thirty-one, Big Brain Academy for Wii at thirty-three, Super Mario Galaxy at thirty-six and WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 on Wii at thirty-seven. The only genuine new entry of the week was the latest UK edition of the long-running karaoke series, SingStar: Summer Party for the PlayStation 2, at number twenty-four. Sony Europe recently announced that the SingStar franchise had sold over 12 million units in PAL territories. Overall this week, there are fourteen Wii titles in the top forty, twelve for the Nintendo DS, six for the Xbox 360 (the highest being Call of Duty 4 at number thirteen), five for the PlayStation 3, two for the PC, one for the PlayStation 2 and zero for the PSP.

TW

LW

Title

Publisher

Format

1

NE

Wii Fit

Nintendo

Wii

2

1

Mario Kart Wii

Nintendo

Wii

3

3

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games

Sega

Wii

4

2

Gran Turismo 5: Prologue

Sony

PS3

5

5

Dr Kawashima's Brain Training

Nintendo

DS

6

4

Sega Superstars Tennis

Sega

Wii

7

10

Game Party

Midway

Wii

8

7

PES 2008: Pro Evolution Soccer

Konami

Wii

9

8

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games

Sega

DS

10

6

Wii Play

Nintendo

Wii

Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2008. ELSPA Ltd

About the Author

David Jenkins

Blogger

David Jenkins ([email protected]) is a freelance writer and journalist working in the UK. As well as being a regular news contributor to Gamasutra.com, he also writes for newsstand magazines Cube, Games TM and Edge, in addition to working for companies including BBC Worldwide, Disney, Amazon and Telewest.

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