I have recently discussed the extent to which the success of the iOS devices for casual gaming has hurt Nintendo, so it only seems fitting to juxtapose some big iOS gaming news with major sales success for Nintendo!
Angry Birds Christmas for Free for Halloween Owners
Back at Halloween Rovio released a special themed version of Angry Birds for iOS devices, and people bought it up in droves! Now we have heard for a while about a possible Christmas version … but this weekend we got more details.
From a post at UberGizmo, developer Rovio Tweeted:
@nickbouwhuis it’s a free update to the Halloween game for iPhone and iPad
Here is the rest of the story:
We know that there are plenty of Angry Birds addicts out there and since we’re still horribly addicted to the game, there is some good news for Angry Birds fans out there as Christmas draws closer. If you forked out $0.99 to purchase the Halloween version of the game, you’ll be able to pick up the Christmas version of the game for free as an update in the future. In related good news, the Christmas version will not be an iOS exclusive like the Halloween version was, so get your $0.99 ready.
That is great news across the board – free for those who paid, cheap for those who didn’t … and available across platforms!
Nintendo Sells 1.5 Million Wii / DS Systems in Black Friday Week
While Nintendo has definitely seen a drop-off in sales this year, anyone counting them out – especially during the holidays – just got a wake up call! In an email I got today, the company announced that they sold more than 900,000 DS systems and 600,000 Wii systems, including standard units as well as the special limited edition red Wii version pictured above.
When confronted with a wide range of Black Friday retail options, U.S. holiday shoppers again turned to Nintendo. Nintendo sold 900,000 combined units in the Nintendo DS™ family of systems and 600,000 Wii™ consoles between Sunday, Nov. 21, and Saturday, Nov. 27, according to the company’s internal sales estimates.
“U.S. shoppers bought about 9,000 Nintendo hardware systems nonstop for every hour of every day during the week of Black Friday,” said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. “For the past several years, consumers have decided that Nintendo defined both top value and all-inclusive entertainment, and that sentiment continues again at the start of this shopping season.”
Nintendo’s Black Friday surge was fueled by multiple new hardware colors, each of which comes bundled with games. The bundles provide a great value for shoppers who are looking to get the biggest bang for their video game bucks.
The press release details the various packages, as well as a number of games recently released on each platform – I skipped it here, but found it online if you really want to peruse.
Remember, these numbers are for the US only, and demonstrate just how hot both of these products remain. Since so many have called the Microsoft Kinect and Sony Playstation Move ‘Wii Killers’, it will be interesting to see how sales of those products progress through the holidays.
