WiiWare and Virtual Console

The Wii has offered downloadable games since its launch in November 2006 with its Virtual Console service, which allows users to purchase and download as-is classic games from older systems for 500 to 1000 "Wii Points" (where 100 points equals 1 USD). The service offers over 500 titles across nine classic platforms. FADE estimates that the Virtual Console service has brought in over $270 million in revenue worldwide through 2009.

In March of 2008, Nintendo began offering new, original titles for download on the Wii through its WiiWare service. Since then, over 260 titles have been released from developers both large and small for anywhere from 500 to 1500 Wii Points. In November 2009, Nintendo began offering demos for select WiiWare titles on a limited basis. FADE estimates that the WiiWare service has brought in over $100 million in revenue worldwide through 2009. During 2009, WiiWare revenue has approached and even surpassed at times Virtual Console revenue on a monthly basis, as the Virtual Console release schedule has slowed down since the launch of WiiWare.

Not all titles are available everywhere, as each region has its own approval and release process. The three major regions tracked by FADE are the Americas (both North and South America), PAL territories (mainly Europe and Australia), and Japan.

Report Availability

FADE offers a combined report for WiiWare and Virtual Console services that offers the top 25 titles worldwide and top 15 titles for each region (Americas, PAL, Japan) for each service. In addition, worldwide figures for over 100 unranked titles are provided, with regional figures as available for each. Archived reports are available starting from July 2009, with limited regional data available from July 2008. Custom reports can be provided on an as-needed basis.

Report Content

The report provides monthly and life-to-date sales figures along with revenue estimates (typically excluding promotions) and categorical data such as genre, release date, user rating, and price on a per-title basis. The report also includes a .PDF file containing high-level observations and data of the market as a whole, important news affecting the market, and projections of future performance of the market and of individual titles.