Although this figure has been reported before, Nintendo's licensing director Shinji Hatano confirmed that 7.8 million Virtual Console games have been downloaded.

Hatano also revealed how this translates to money, reporting that the VC has brought in 3.5 billion yen (approximately $33 million USD) in sales. This confuses us a little, because even if every game downloaded was a NES game (the cheapest available), at $5 a pop that would lead to a minimum of $39 million in sales. Unless, of course, Hatano is talking about net profit (after licensing costs, server fees, etc.), in which case the figure he gave makes more sense.

Hatano said, "We're currently unsure if this is a lot or low. They're not bad figures." With almost 15 million Wii owners in the world, these numbers are certainly not stellar. Of course, considering that not all Wii owners have their consoles connected online, 7.8 million isn't terrible, either. In any case, $33 million is some decent profit for not even a full year, and the VC's first year, at that.

[Via Games Industry]