Wii's kryptonite is Korea, apparently

by David Hinkle { May 23rd 2008 at 2:15PM }

It would appear that Nintendo has found the one place on the globe that isn't foaming at the mouth for the Wii. In recently launching the console to Koreans, GameShot is reporting that the console only sold 35,000 units of its initial shipment of 50,000. Wow, that's just crazy, considering that we here in the U.S. snatched up almost 20 times that last month.

As for games, the top sellers were:

Wii Sports - 30,000 copies sold
Swing Golf Pangya - 8,000 copies sold
Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure - 8,000 copies sold
FIFA 08 - 2,000 copies

[Via Kotaku]

Tags: business, korea, kryptonite, salesfigures

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

adolson @ May 23rd 2008 2:23PM

Not surprising. Why buy a Wii when you can buy a Vii?

Nigeria @ May 23rd 2008 2:33PM

Vii's are made in China, primarily for the Chinese market.

adolson @ May 23rd 2008 2:37PM

Oh, so Koreans aren't able to buy them? Are the Chinese racist, or something?

Mr.ESC @ May 23rd 2008 2:59PM

You seriously don't know right?

Koreans,Japanese and Chinese hate each other.

adolson @ May 23rd 2008 3:10PM

Well, I recently attended the Asian Fusion tour, so at least some of them do agree to co-exist. And they're much funnier when they do.

fco. @ May 23rd 2008 2:39PM

On the bright side, there's some place where Zack & Wiki is a bestseller!

David Hinkle @ May 23rd 2008 2:41PM

Hahahaha, so true!

CJLopez @ May 23rd 2008 2:41PM

I know, for a fact, Koreans are mostly PC Gamers, specially MMO's gamers, so, the time a Wii has a good MMO, Wii sales in Korea will be going high faster than Apollo 13

cbylife @ May 23rd 2008 2:59PM

so...why don't they send those extra 15,000 wiis over here to the US so at least someone will get use out of them? obviously the crazy koreans aren't that into it.

Mentok the Mindtaker @ May 23rd 2008 4:02PM

Blizzard just needs to port Starcraft to it. The Wii would sell out in a matter of picoseconds.

Anticrawl @ May 23rd 2008 4:04PM

They need to release a game with an online chatroom that you can perform mindless repetative tasks for hours on end with little to no reward then the Wii will sell more units than any other part of the globe.

meist3r @ May 23rd 2008 4:24PM

I think the Korean market is one of the hardest to enter ... they have the best broadband penetration rate on the planet and the fastest overall bandwidth to homes. There is some seriously different type of gaming or technology going on for that matter. The Wii simply doesn't provide as much of a challenge than other things. And yes, they are still playing tons of Starcraft and until that gets boring no one will need something new -so never. I remember the times when things were like that, you bought one and it was so good that nothing else ever cared again. Now it lasts until you go online for the next time and see something even more amazing.

Mr Khan @ May 23rd 2008 5:07PM

Agree: Console enthusiasm in Korea is low, since their media systems are more integrated. Something like the PS3 is pretty much what they roll with, except not so cripplingly expensive

The penetration of broadband and WiBro over there kinda lets them do anything anywhere as long as it isn't too computationally intensive

Jared @ May 23rd 2008 5:33PM

Yeah but the Korean Wii doesn't play GC games...

NutMac @ May 23rd 2008 8:38PM

I was in Korea just few months ago and brought my Wii with Wii Sports and two Wii Remote with me (and international Wii AC adapter). Everyone I showed it to, regardless of age, loved it.

So why isn't it popular? Poor marketing. Take any subway train and chances are, over 50% of the people are (1) texting or browsing on cellphone, (2) watching TV on cellphone with built-in DMB receiver, (3) watching a movie on PSP (almost no one there uses it for game), (4) listening to music via iPod or cellphone, or (5) playing game on Nintendo DS (extremely popular). They are big time gadget freaks.

Luckyz @ May 24th 2008 11:16AM

Here in New Zealand Wii is not selling well at all. Xbox and PS3 are probably selling more. I'm not sure what's wrong here. Probably Wii is very expensive here? (500 NZD = 400 USD)
The good thing is that you can buy an Wii in any place, they always have a lot of units in the shop...
All my friends but one have 360s, this other one has a Wii. I have a Wii and a PS3.

Alex @ May 24th 2008 2:40PM

Maybe it's because of piracy? I've heard Korea has a lot of it.

stranger @ May 24th 2008 3:10PM

I moved to Canada when I was young so I am not sure what people are into but I know that video games aren't that popular as in Japan and other countries because they don't give a shit about video games and some koreans are anti Japanese.
They don't need sony and nintendo for their eletronics like Americans. Korea is home of Samsung and LG.

Lostin Madnez @ May 25th 2008 3:58AM

Well, I live in China, and got a cracked japanese one. So probably most koreans that want a wii already got one ages ago. Since Japan is just around the corner... And all this BS about chinese hating japanese hating koreans,... and they only play starcraft doesnt apply. So if Wii would start selling in china, sales would be lackluster too.