Topic: WiiWare, Virtual Console Sales Exposed

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WiiWare, Virtual Console Sales Exposed
While Virtual Console sales decline, WiiWare is expected to grow exponentially.
by Daemon Hatfield

February 23, 2010 - The three console manufacturers (Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft) all tend to be cagey when it comes to releasing sales data for their digital distribution platforms. But today research firm Forecasting and Analyzing Digital Entertainment (FADE) released its own estimations on the revenue Nintendo collected last year from WiiWare and Virtual Console (VC) sales. According to FADE, the two services combined generated $125 million in revenue for Nintendo. WiiWare earned $59 million and Virtual Console earned slightly more with $66 million.

WiiWare sales were up by 30 percent last year, while Virtual Console sales fell almost 25 percent. So Virtual Console sales are down considerably, and yet are still higher than WiiWare sales. Fewer Virtual Console games were released in 2009 compared to previous years, and Nintendo was giving away a free VC game with the purchase of the Wii Internet Channel. That promotion resulted in the download of half a million free VC games, which is a potential source of lost revenue.

The top few most popular titles earned the most revenue, which FADE points out is a common phenomenon in downloadable markets. The top 20 WiiWare games represent only 10 percent of the service, and yet earned 70 percent of its revenue. On Virtual Console, the top 50 represent just 10 percent of the service and brought in 80 percent of the revenue. Most WiiWare and Virtual Console games see sales of under 10,000.

Nintendo-produced games are the most popular titles on Virtual Console, while third parties rule the roost on WiiWare.

Looking ahead, FADE predicts Virtual Console sales will continue to decline while WiiWare sales will grow exponentially. FADE's predictions for this year: $60 million in Virtual Console revenue and $75 million for WiiWare.

Estimated Top Downloadable Wii Titles by Revenue, 2009 (Price in USD; Japan and Korea excluded):
1. Super Mario Bros. 3 (Nintendo, NES) - $5,000,000 (price: $5.00)
2. World of Goo (2D Boy, WiiWare) - $4,800,000 ($15.00)
3. Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo, NES) - $3,300,000 ($5.00)
4. Super Mario World (Nintendo, SNES) - $2,900,000 ($8.00)
5. Super Mario 64 (Nintendo, N64) - $2,700,000 ($10.00)
6. Tetris Party (Hudson, WiiWare) - $2,600,000 ($12.00)
7. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the (Nintendo, N64) - $2,300,000 ($10.00)
8. Pokemon Rumble (Nintendo, WiiWare) - $2,200,000 ($15.00)
9. Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, the (Nintendo, N64) - $2,100,000 ($10.00)
10. My Pokemon Ranch (Nintendo, WiiWare) - $2,000,000 ($10.00)

FADE did not disclose how it arrived at these numbers and specifies that they are estimates.

How much of that money goes to 2D Boy? I'm pretty sure they'd want a lot of that mula from world of goo...

I think the deal they have is something like the 3rd party publishers only make money once the sale exceed a certain number.

So yeah, 2D probably made a cool stack

good maybe nintendo will saturate the service with more AAA titles to boost virtual console sales this year

@ganon Yeah, that would be nice.

But isn't it amazing the VC system STILL outperformed the WiiWARE system? The steam was all with WiiWARE, and last year Nintendo really left the VC system to settle... yet it still brought more in. It's a cash cow... specially considering the profit margin is probably higher on the VC too. No wonder Nintendo is holding out on the system, letting it burn slowly.

it just shows how good vc really is ..... WiiWare sales were up by 30 percent last year, while Virtual Console sales fell almost 25 percent. So Virtual Console sales are down considerably, and yet are still higher than WiiWare sales...... but nintendo has also only been givein one vc game if lucky to 3 wii ware games ....... rember eourpe and north america got 2 weeks in a row no vc game at all and few one week no games at all......its still out sales wii ware.... one game out saleing 3 should tell nintendo a big message ..........go vc go vc go.....i hope we finally start gettin more good vc games now......( im not a big wii ware fan but i hope all the wii ware fans get alot of games as well).....to me i think both wii ware and the vc should be treated equal...........

seriously compared to wiiware, the vc completely demolishes it. WiiWare is full of garbage overpriced titles!

"FADE did not disclose how it arrived at these numbers and specifies that they are estimates."

While i don't necessarily doubt the numbers (they would seem to be correct/expected), this gives me pause before reading anything into this info.

Yeah this is all speculation.

Would like real numbers plz - Nintendo life go ahead and ask them.

At least wiiware is new games I kinda think the devotion to VC is pointless. Even if you are buying rare games - ever heard of compilations akak SNK on Wii even? Lol, you can get a ton of games for $20 and own the disc.

Whatever cant save the wolrd peace love, starscream over and out.

Even so i'l bet most $ comes from VC, after all we don't need game review to download classic compared to WiiWare we do need it.

Nintendo's not gonna tell them the sales numbers

$20 plus shipping (minimum)

Thanks for posting, very interesting. Epecially about the share of sales on WiiWare, which very much seems to show that it's a real gamble to develop for that service. Either you're gonna strike it rich like World of Goo or your gonna bust out and not see a dime, and it appears that the odds are stacked against you. It's also interesting how much Mario's back catologue continues to rake in money for Nintendo, it's like a license to print money almost!

This is all I needed to know.

I went to this FADE company's homepage and... well, it's rather amateur for an organisation claiming to be a professional analyst firm.

I've never heard of these guys either, which in itself doesn't necessarily mean much, but nonetheless I'm skeptical its legitimacy is comparable to a GfK or Gartner.

FADE is owned in part by VGChartz. Both get estimations and then make educated guesses on the amounts.

These are NOT OFFICIAL NUMBERS. Neither are anything VGchartz posts.

It makes me a bit saddened to see NintendoLife post this, when there is little base to the actual numbers.

True and the numbers don't count Japan. Personally I think it's good to report if only to put pressure on Nintendo et al to actually release the real numbers.

It's been widely stated by analysts before that whilst a download-only future software distribution model seems a near certainty, without the service providers like Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony and Steam providing NPD-style figures it's not going to be possible for publishers to make the shift to a download-only model because they cannot see the proven revenue stream. Attempting to conceal this information for marketing reasons really doesn't help the long-term future of these services.

There's not that many left now surely? This is what people that whine about the VC getting fewer releases fail to remember: the supply of memorable and/or truly great retro games is, by it's very nature, finite.