Since its launch, sales of the Wii video game console have generally been higher than its competitors around the globe. According to the NPD Group, the Wii sold more units in the United States than the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 combined in the first half of 2007. This lead is even larger in the Japanese market, where it currently leads in total sales (having outsold both consoles by factors of 2:1 to 6:1 nearly every week from its launch to November 2007). In Australia the Wii broke the record set by the Xbox 360 and became the fastest-selling game console in Australian history.
On September 12, 2007, the Financial Times reported that the Wii had surpassed the Xbox 360 (released a year earlier) and had become market leader in home-console sales for the current generation, based on sales figures from Enterbrain, NPD Group and GfK. This was the first time a Nintendo console led its generation in sales since the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
On July 11, 2007, Nintendo warned that the Wii would remain in short supply throughout that calendar year. In December, Reggie Fils-Aime revealed that Nintendo was producing approximately 1.8 million Wii consoles each month. Some UK stores still had a shortage of consoles as of March 2007, demand still outpaced supply in the United States as of June 2007, and the console was "selling out almost as quickly as it hits retail shelves" in Canada as of April 2008. In October 2008 Nintendo announced that between October and December the Wii would have its North American supplies increased considerably from 2007 levels, while producing 2.4 million Wii units a month worldwide (compared to 1.6 million per month in 2007).
In 2007 the Wii was the second-best-selling game console (behind the Nintendo DS) in the US and Japan (with 6.29 million and 3,629,361 units sold respectively), according to the NPD Group and Enterbrain. That same year the Wii outsold the PlayStation 3 by a 3:1 ratio in Japan; the Xbox 360 sold 257,841 units in that region that year, according to Enterbrain. In Europe the Wii sold 0.7 million units in 2006 and 4.8 million in 2007, according to estimates by Electronic Arts. In 2008, the Wii was the best-selling home console in Japan with 2,908,342 units sold, according to Enterbrain. Before the release of the NPD Group's video-game statistics for January 2008 the Wii had been ahead of the Xbox 360 and PS3 in US sales in most months since the Wii and PS3 were released, according to data by the NPD Group. In the United States the Wii sold 10.9 million units by July 1, 2008, making it the leader in current-generation home console sales according to the NPD Group (and surpassing the Xbox 360). As of November 1, 2008 the Wii had sold 13.4 million units in the US (almost two million more than Xbox 360 and over twice the number of PlayStation 3 units sold), according to the NPD Group.
In Japan the Wii surpassed the number of Nintendo GameCube units sold by January 2008; it sold 7,526,821 units as of December 28, 2008, according to Enterbrain. According to the NPD Group the Wii surpassed the Xbox 360 to become the best-selling "next-generation" home video-game console in Canada (with 813,000 units sold by April 1, 2008), and was the best-selling home console for 13 of the previous 17 months. In the first six months of 2008 the Wii sold 318,000 units in Canada, outselling its nearest competitor (the PlayStation 3) almost 2:1. According to the NPD Group the Wii had sold a total of 1,060,000 units in Canada as of August 1, 2008, making it the first current-generation home console to surpass the million-unit mark in that country. In the first seven months of 2008 the Wii outsold the PS3 and the Xbox 360 combined, with 376,000 units sold in Canada. In the United Kingdom the Wii leads in current-generation home-console sales with 4.9 million units sold as of January 3, 2009, according to GfK Chart-Track. On March 25, 2009 at the Game Developers Conference, Satoru Iwata said that worldwide shipments of Wii had reached 50 million.
While Microsoft and Sony have experienced losses producing their consoles in the hopes of making a long-term profit on software sales, Nintendo reportedly has optimized production costs to obtain a significant profit margin with each Wii unit sold. On September 17, 2007 the Financial Times reported that the direct profit per Wii sold may vary, from $13 in Japan to $49 in the United States and $79 in Europe. On December 2, 2008, Forbes reported that Nintendo made a $6 operating profit per Wii unit sold.
On May 7, 2009, Nintendo reported increased operating profits for its fiscal year (April 1, 2008 – March 31, 2009) and a rise in sales—record earnings, compared to the previous year. Kenji Hall of BusinessWeek called the company "a bright spot in an otherwise dismal Japanese tech sector", citing the unique qualities of the Wii and DSi. However, Nintendo's financial forecasts until March 2010 had investors and analysts questioning whether the company can keep its streak from ending. The Japanese market (a leading indicator for global markets) saw Wii sales drop by 47 percent, comparing Nintendo's fiscal year 2008–2009 to the previous year. While analysts predicted that game-console sales will generally fall in 2009, Hall argued that "Nintendo's big advantages are disappearing" amid price reductions for the Xbox 360 and rumors that Sony would unveil a motion-sensing wireless controller.
On September 23, 2009, Nintendo announced its first price reductions for the console. In Japan, the price dropped from ¥25,000 to ¥20,000 on October 1, 2009. In the United States the price was reduced by $50 (resulting in a new MSRP of $199.99) on September 27, 2009. In Europe (excepting non-eurozone nations), the price of a Wii console dropped from €249 to €199. Nintendo sold more than three million Wii consoles in the U.S. in December 2009 (setting a regional record for the month and ending nine months of declining sales), due to the price cut and software releases such as New Super Mario Bros. Wii. On January 31, 2010 the Wii became the best-selling home video-game console produced by Nintendo, with sales of over 67 million units (surpassing that of the original Nintendo Entertainment System). On March 31, 2010, according to Nintendo the Wii had sold 70.93 million units worldwide (including 20.53 million units during the 2009–2010 fiscal year. Nintendo reported that on Black Friday 2011 over 500,000 Wii consoles were sold, making it the most successful Black Friday in company history. In September 30, 2013, the Wii has sold 100.30 million consoles worldwide. As of March 31, 2015, the Wii has sold 101.52 million consoles worldwide.