Nintendo Wii and DS sales on Thanksgiving rampage -- trumps own GBA record

Nintendo of America just announced record sales of their DS and Wii gaming rigs. According to internal sales numbers, Thanksgiving week resulted in more than one million DS and Wii units sold. That's one week, from Sunday, November 18 through Saturday, November 24th and breaks down to more than 653,000 DS units and another 350,000 Wiis. The previous all-time Thanksgiving week sales record was held by the Game Boy Advance in 2005 with sales of 600k at the time. Nintendo also said that Wii sales are on track to hit 17.5 million before March 31, 2008. Now, for those of you saying that Nintendo is purposely limiting production to drive up demand, Reggie has this for you, "A shortage benefits no one, we're disappointed. This was all about how we didn't accurately estimate demand. We need to be more bullish about the potential for the Wii." Come on Reg, you're only just now figuring this out?

[lettcco @ Nov 28th 2007 4:55AM]

I have both psp and ds, but I perfer playing my psp cause the ds screen is giving eye strains. And a LOT of the DS game only actively use one screen and the other one for status anyway...Thank goodness for my R4DS :)

[Yoshi Likes Boys @ Nov 28th 2007 10:47AM]

Thank goodness for my ethics.

[Ethan @ Nov 28th 2007 5:32AM]

I am starting to believe Nintendo's line on this one, mainly because I can't see the benefit for them, and because of all the news saying they were going to scale production, it took ages before a contract was reached and it actually happened. It's a mistake they made they made a year ago, and it could be a very hard one to fix.

The only thing I could think of that might be getting in the way is that now it's a success, manufacturers would want a better deal, and Nintendo would want the same one Less profit on each console would probably dent overall profits more than slightly less people buying one because there's simply none there (waves fist).

[luke @ Nov 28th 2007 6:09AM]

The PAL Wii are in extremely short supply sold out in UK & Ireland. In Ireland there are queues outside stores to purchase Wiis when GameStop get some in which isn't happening offten.

[Allan @ Nov 28th 2007 8:08AM]

Don't worry, it's the same in the US. At least around here. I'm not totally sure about consistent lines at EB though, but you'd be pretty hard pressed to find one in ANY store around here. At least in my area...

[Mike_NYC @ Nov 28th 2007 8:58AM]

My sister tried to get one for my nephews; old enough this year to want one; in eastern Pennsylvania. After two weeks of trying earlier this month, she told me about it and asked for help. The only place to get one in Manhattan, unless you are lucky enough to be at a EB when a delivery comes in, is to wait on line at the Nintendo World store. That's how I got my Wii a year ago, and that's how I got one for the boys this year.

My point is that they are hard to get even in NYC.

[Yubastard @ Nov 28th 2007 6:42AM]

where's the pic of them sayin' it prints money?

[NineT9 @ Nov 28th 2007 6:52AM]

lol

[Dave @ Nov 28th 2007 8:25AM]

quick math time
653,000* $129 = "It PRINTS MONEY!~!~~!" 84237000
350,000* $249 = "OMG!@!@!@! LEWT!" 87150000
"It PRINTS MONEY!~!~~!" + "OMG!@!@!@! LEWT!" / 7 day long week = Jayz wants this kinda flo.

Little short of 24.5 Million a day...

I think we'd all like a million an hour in sales revenue. Go tendo.

that sure puts a damper on those psp million sales numbers that sony was prancing about.

[shanoboy @ Nov 28th 2007 8:40AM]

When I was out on the day after Thanksgiving I was AMAZED to see so many people toting around the DS and Wiis, especailly the DS. At the Circuit City in Acworth, GA I must have seen atleast 2 dozen people carrying around the Zelda DS bundles.

[jodosh @ Nov 28th 2007 9:22AM]

there had to be 75+ people in line at the local gamestop the day after thanksgiving, the vast majority were getting a wii, this was an hour after the target that was next door sold out of their 20 wiis in a matter of min.

[Karen @ Nov 28th 2007 10:17AM]

I saw a guy walk into best buy last week and buy 10 DS's+games for his employees as Christmas gifts.

[shanoboy @ Nov 28th 2007 8:43AM]

On top of that, I think that Nintendo is making profit off each DS console sold and I'm cerain they make raw profit off each Wii sold. I don't think the other console makers can claim that (with the exception of Sony with the PS2).

[Almadi @ Nov 28th 2007 10:50AM]

That’s weird...contradicting reports:
1- Wii shortages drive price up
2- A majority of Wii owners don't play the system anymore/Wii systems collecting dust.

Shouldn't the two reports cancel each other?

[gt2378b @ Nov 28th 2007 11:00AM]

It really depends on who's reports they are.

Did one of them come from "all my friends?"

[rachub @ Nov 28th 2007 11:07AM]

I don't get the Wii numbers. If a conservative guess is that the wii has sole 13 million at the end of November. Adding their 1.8 million per month production numbers for the next 4 months plus whatever they seem to have held back for the holiday buying period, shouldn't the Wii's total sales be well over 20 million by the end of March? Why are they saying such a low number?

[ayemac @ Nov 28th 2007 11:33AM]

DS owners should check out the M3 Lite or Cyclo Evolution. Watch movies, look at photos...and more.

[Hax Or @ Nov 28th 2007 12:04PM]

The R4DS, M3 Simply and Ninjapass work good too (ninjapass, not so much).

The Games N Music is sometimes sold in stores. The rest are online and have to be shipped.

R4 rocks!!

[Lemmiwinks @ Nov 28th 2007 1:14PM]

I picked up one of the gold DS Lites. I was a bit apprehensive, 'cuz I thought it would look too toy-like. It looks much better in person than it does in pictures, even the pictures on the packaging. The gold color isn't nearly as dark and gaudy as I thought it would be. Just the right amount of sheen, with a slick sparkle to the finish that doesn't look at all glittery.

After 20 minutes with its brighter screen, going back to the (much darker) screen of my phat DS was a real shocker. I can't believe I waited this long for a lite, but the Zelda bundle was worth the wait.

[yuj @ Nov 28th 2007 4:18PM]

BTW NYC Time Square Toy's R US should have Wii's available. I always see a stack of them on the floor.