01 - Wii Sports 78.92m
02 - Super Mario Bros. 40.24m
03 - Mario Kart Wii 31.98m
04 - Pokémon Red/Green/Blue 31.37m
05 - Tetris 30.26m
06 - Wii Sports Resort 29.66m
07 - Wii Play 28.54m
08 - Duck Hunt 28.31m
09 - New Super Mario Bros. 28.26m
10 - New Super Mario Bros. Wii 25.43m
(Source: http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/ )
Yes, some of those were pack-in titles but that's not what I was interested in.
I then wondered what the top selling video game of any gaming platform was and I discovered that only last week it was announced that Angry Birds has now surpassed the ONE BILLION downloads mark.
(Source: http://www.itproportal.com/2012/05/10/a ... downloads/ )
So the top selling game ever for a 'traditional' gaming platform has sold approximately 79m units. That was a pack-in game though. Looking down that top ten list for the highest selling non-pack-in game reveals sales of 'only' approximately 32m units.
Arguments aside, and taking the Wii Sports sales figure, we're looking at 79 million units total sales from a sales model that's existed since the Atari VCS in 1977. iOS has been around since only 2007 and its top selling game, albeit a game sold for a considerably lower price point relative to 'traditional' console games, has sold over 1 billion units.
Yes, Angry Birds may only be one game and it would be foolish to use what has become a modern-day phenomenon as being in any way representative of the wider picture... but that astronomical figure of one billion units surely cannot be overlooked as a 'one-off' with no wider significance. Oh, and don't forget the additional revenues Rovio has likely made from the game's in-app purchases option.
Steve Jobs once claimed iPod touch to be "the number one portable games player in the world" and that the device "outsells Nintendo and Sony handhelds combined". Remember, he wasn't factoring in the phenomenal number of iPhones and iPads sold either!
Apple has stated 'Game Center sign-ups had shot past 50 million in nine months - an impressive figure when put against the 31 million that Microsoft had managed to coax onto Xbox Live in eight years'.
PlayStation Vita has sold diabolically pretty much since day one. It's not necessarily easy to see Sony turning things around either. This is from a corporation which hasn't made a profit in years and its most recent losses ran into the billions.
As for 3DS, well, it sold poorly for a good while and it took a dramatic price cut (plus a couple of Mario games) to help it turn the corner. Despite this, the console is still set to miss Nintendo's own sales forecasts and they've had to downgrade said forecasts. Nintendo itself has recently posted its first annual loss (+$400m) since records began. Its cash reserves have just taken a near 50% hit in the space of only one year too.
So what next for Apple?
I've just read this fascinating article about 'Apple TV',
"Would an Apple TV kill the console business?" - http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012- ... e-business
Time for Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo to brace themselves for another almighty onslaught from Apple onto their territory? Quite possibly. Interesting times we live in...
! That one billion figure is for all platforms the game has been sold on.
