Merrill Lynch: 30% of U.S. Households to Own Wii by 2011

February 22, 2007 | By: James Brightman

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As the Wii continues to sell quite well month after month, analysts are becoming convinced that it's no fad. A new forecast from Merrill Lynch suggests that Nintendo's console will occupy around 30 percent of U.S. households by 2011, and even more in Japan.

According to a report in the Financial Times, the Wii's sales momentum is so strong that some analysts have upgraded their long-term outlooks for the console. Nintendo's new console just came off a very strong performance in January, easily selling more consoles than either the Xbox 360 or Sony's PS3.

Now Merrill Lynch analyst Yoshiyuki Kinoshita is forecasting that by the year 2011, nearly 30 percent of all U.S. households will own a Wii. In Japan, Kinoshita believes that number will climb even higher, reaching a third of Japanese households.

According to Enterbrain, publisher of popular gaming mag Famitsu, out of approximately 600,000 consoles sold in Japan during January, the Wii managed to take a 68 percent share of the sales, blowing Sony's PS3 (25 percent) and Microsoft's Xbox 360 (7 percent) out of the water. Furthermore, since the Wii and PS3 both launched back in November of last year, Nintendo's console has sold at roughly twice the pace of the PS3.

This continued momentum coming out of the holiday season is no doubt very encouraging for Nintendo, and analysts believe it's a sure sign that the Wii's success will last.

"There has always been a strong concern that the Wii was gimmicky, but each passing month assuages that [fear]," commented Credit Suisse analyst Jay Defibaugh.