Nintendo’s Wii hasn’t just been a success, it’s a phenomenon. But putting figures on how many consoles the Big N has cranked out has been tricky, until now. AMD, makers of the graphics chips inside the Wii says it’s just delivered its 50 millionth to Nintendo, making the Wii more than twice as successful as its predecessor, the GameCube.
Despite the Wii not moving graphics technology on a great deal since the GameCube, the fact Nintendo has made 50 million of them to date puts the old console in the shade. In its entire life, the GameCube shifted just over 21 million units worldwide.
ATI says the Wii’s Hollywood graphics chip is the “cool and quiet graphics engine that factors so prominently in the overall enjoyment for Wii owners.” And it has no plans to slow down production.
To put the Wii’s success into perspective, Sony had sold 21.3 million by December 2008, while the Xbox 360 had sold just under 28 million by January 2009.
