Nintendo expects 2010 Wii decline

Platform holder Nintendo has confessed that the chances of Wii topping its 2009 sales performance over the next 12 months are slim – though the firm is still hopeful that Wii can eventually overtake PS2 to become the most successful console the world has ever seen.

[With the] Wii, we are now in the fifth year,” Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of sales and marketing Cammie Dunaway told GamesBeat. We have had extraordinary success.

We think we can continue to sell many more Wiis. If you compare our US installed base of 28m, it is pacing at about 5m more than the PS2 was at this point in its life cycle. The PS2 went on to sell more than 50. So that means there is plenty of opportunity to sell more Wiis.

That being said, going into the fifth year, you usually don’t anticipate selling more than you did in the previous year. What we are excited about is being able to capitalize on this great installed base and bring out great software.”