System Mover Game of the Day

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

This is the first entry in a new series of the “Sales of the Day” articles where we will be looking at the impact of a game’s launch on its system’s hardware sales.

Description: Super Smash Bros. Brawl was the most eagerly anticipated Wii game before its release, with hype for the title being built with official daily updates from Nintendo for over a year. When the game launched it accumulated a massive worldwide first week total of 2.7 million, making it the biggest opening week ever for a Nintendo title on a home console. In addition to selling a massive amount by itself, Wii hardware sales also increased by 53% during the week of release. In the Americas the Wii sold 93,000 more consoles than the previous week, both Japan and Europe also experienced hardware boosts with the release of Super Smash Bros. but not near as large. So can the large increase in Wii hardware sales seen the week Super Smash Bros. released be attributed to people buying the Wii to play the game, or is there another explanation for the increase in sales? Read on to find out what we decided.

Before attributing all of that ~53% increase to the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, let’s consider other potential factors besides the release of the game that may have impacted Wii hardware for that week, breaking sales down by region.

Japan was the first region to get Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and the game had a huge first week of more than 800,000 (the biggest launch for a home console game in Japan so far this generation) while Wii hardware increased 27% to 97,244 for the week. Besides the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl there is not much else to explain the increase in Wii hardware, as its last big game was Wii Fit which released 10 weeks earlier, and was actually down in sales the week of Brawl’s release.  More evidence that Smash Bros. actually caused the increase in hardware is that the week after Super Smash Bros. Brawl launched Wii hardware dropped 15% to 82,451 as the game dropped ~64% to 300,938, suggesting that game really was enough to entice some people to pick up the system. Also while Brawl did not release during the holiday period, it did come out a month after the peak sales week in Japan and sales were still slightly elevated in the region, had the game been released during a time when hardware sales were lower it might have caused an even larger percent increase.

The Americas had the biggest launch week for Brawl by far, and also had the biggest percentage hardware increase week over week. Wii hardware increased 121% to 170,313 as Super Smash Bros. Brawl sold 1,593,621 in its first week, in its second week the game dropped 65% to 557,222 as Wii hardware actually increased 46% to 248,762. Hardware actually increasing while the game saw a steep drop shows how much Wii hardware sales were dependant on supply at the time. Whatever systems were available in stores were being sold, and while Brawl surely caused the demand for the Wii to increase even more, it is difficult to objectively reason how much of an impact Brawl actually had on Wii sales in the region.

When Super Smash Bros. Brawl finally released in Europe nearly 6 months after its release in Japan, the game opened with the smallest launch of the three regions with 286,949 as Wii hardware increased 31% to 191,902.  In its second week the game dropped by 41% to 170,000 as Wii hardware sales dipped 17% to 167,189. Europe was the only one of the three regions where Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit had both already been released by the time Super Smash Bros. Brawl was released. While Wii hardware was not supply constrained at the time of Brawl’s launch, both Mario Kart and Wii Fit had still been in short supply, and both had more units available during the week of Brawl’s launch (especially Wii Fit whose sales tripled from the previous week, from ~30,000 to ~90,000). So it is likely that a small part of the boost in Wii hardware for the week was due to the increased availability of those two games instead of Brawl’s release.

When looking at the hardware sales by region, the worldwide 53% increase in hardware for the week is a bit deceiving as a big part of that weekly growth is due to the increased availability of systems in the America’s. Still Super Smash Bros. Brawl definitely impacted hardware sales in both Japan and Europe and likely raised demand for hardware in the America’s. So now the question becomes, why is Brawl one of only a few games that was able to cause a significant impact on its platform’s hardware sales?

I believe the most important reason Brawl was able to cause an increase in Wii hardware sales was because it convinced some of the existing fan base of the franchise to purchase the console. Super Smash Bros. has been a huge franchise since its debut on Nintendo 64 with the original game selling 5.55 million copies and the Gamecube title Super Smash Bros. Melee selling 7.08 million copies (making it the best selling Gamecube game). With the previous games being so successful, it is no surprise that some of the fans of the previous games had not yet bought a Wii, and were waiting until the release of Brawl to do so.

There are a couple of less significant factors that I also think led to Super Smash Bros. Brawl being able to help move Wii hardware, the first being the increased advertising and promotion that the Wii received as a result of the heavy advertising for the game. After every television commercial and at the bottom of every print ad for Super Smash Bros. Brawl (and all software), there is a reminder of which system the game is available for, which results in increased awareness for the console even if a person seeing the ad is not necessarily interested in that game. Additionally I think that Brawl was a game that helped convince some people to pick up the system, as it was a quality title that added to the appeal of the Wii software lineup for people who were on the fence about buying the system before.

That is my take on Super Smash Bros. Brawl’s ability to move hardware, here is what the VGChartz community thought.

darthdevidem01 – “I feel it moved systems, this can be seen from percentages. The main reason for this is that there is not similar game on Wii to Super Smash Bros Brawl, although Mario Galaxy & so on were out; remember Super Smash Bros Melee was Gamecube’s top selling title, so in a way the fan base for Super Smash Bros is bigger than that for a 3D Mario.”

SaviorX – “Super Smash Brother's Brawl (like Mario Kart Wii and Wii Sports) are one of THE reasons to own a Wii, just like Halo is the reason to own an Xbox.  Gamers from the Gamecube era who played Super Smash Bros. Melee were heavily anticipating this title, hence its astounding first week sales. It would've sold more in Europe/Others 1st week had it released around the same time (~3 months).”

Yakuzaice – “I don't think this can really be measured properly outside of Japan.  America obviously was due to supply.  It would have sold the same with or without Super Smash Bros Brawl.  It was actually higher two weeks before.  Others/Europe is a bit harder to tell.  It had been a bit lower in the few weeks before Brawl's launch.  But another thing to notice is that so was Wii Fit.  The week that Brawl launched Wii Fit sales tripled, and was the first week of constant high sales.  Obviously Brawl had some effect, but it is hard to say how much was that and how much was Wii/Wii Fit supply.”

Thanks for reading today’s System Mover Game of the Day, if you missed the thread be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you think about the impact of Brawl’s launch on Wii hardware. Look out for another System Mover Game of the Day article next week.