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Korea doesn't like the Nintendo Wii

May 23, 2008 in News comments 13

The Nintendo Wii has been a hit in almost every country, from Japan to America, everyone seems to love it.

But what about South Korea? With the recent Nintendo craze that has taken over the country (including Mario Kart game shows and compulsory piano lessons to teach kids the Mario theme), surely the Wii has been a success over there too?
Not necessarily.
It seems the Wii hasn't sold too well in Korea at all ...

America? America loves the Nintendo Wii. Europe? Ditto. And Japan? Man, Japan is bonkers for the Wii. What about Korea? The country finally has an official Nintendo of Korea branch after years of going through shady third party distributors.

According to Korean site GameShot.net, the Wii's first month performance there is only 35,000 units sold out of the 50,000 units released by Nintendo. For game software, Wii Sports sold 30,000 copies, while Swing Golf Pangya and Jack & Wiki each sold about 8,000 copies. FIFA sold 2,000 copies. It seems Korean gamers have better things to do than play Wii Sports — things like waiting for StarCraft II.
Miss Razz via kotaku.com »
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  • -1
    Final Blade May 23, 08
    Seems to me they aren't impressed with the Gimmick and lack of great, must buy games the Wii has.
    • 0
      Rinkydink May 23, 08
      There are a reasonable amount of must-buys out for the Wii so far, but that's not the case here.

      It isn't just the Wii, but console gaming as a whole isn't so popular over in Korea since it mainly consists of PC players. Koreans are probably not into the casual games as much either, which doesn't really benefit the Wii.

      With that, handhelds are doing fine over there, since both the DS and PSP seem pretty popular.
      • -3
        Final Blade May 23, 08
        So what...I bet you the other consoles are doing better. Hey there's like 8, maybe, must buys for the Wii. Its mainly consists of Wii sports and fit, and to be honest im not the only one who thinks this.
        • 0
          Rinkydink May 23, 08
          Yep the other consoles will be doing better for sure, since they'll be a higher range of hardcore gamers over there, but still, as it stands in Korea:

          PC gaming > Handheld gaming > Console gaming
  • 0
    Alliteration May 23, 08
    "JACK and Wiki?"

    Shame.
  • -1
    Zeon I May 23, 08
    to be honest, I'm not surprised. Korean Gamers are all about PC gaming.
  • -1
    Remino52 May 24, 08
    Why would they hate it?Weird.....
  • 0
    Heretic May 24, 08
    Well that blows for them i love my Wii.
  • 0
    Ray_Masamune May 24, 08
    Koreans are the most hardcorest of hardcore gamers. Parents play MMOs along with their kids there.

    So a console aimed at the "casual" crowd such as the Wii isn't as appealing to them.
  • 0
    Capn Droid May 24, 08
    As much as the Nintendo Wii rocks, I don't see too many Koreans playing those sort of games.
    • -3
      Distortion May 24, 08
      Why not? Is there some sort of different mindset exclusive to Koreans? I don't understand.
      • 0
        Miss Razz Jun 4, 08
        Because they're simply not interested in the types of games that Wii has to offer.
        Same reason Japan isn't very interested in the XBox 360.

        As mentioned by Rinkydink, South Koreans are highly enthusiastic with their PC gaming, followed by handhelds (the DS is very popular over there), followed by console games.
  • 2
    RabidChinaGirl May 25, 08
    Many of you did mention that maybe Koreans just aren't as enamored by the Wii and its gimmick-games. Hell, other Asian countries (except maybe Taiwan) aren't as infatuated with Japan/Japanese as many Americans/Westerners are.

    But there's also the fact that Koreans are very proud, and in Asian countries, Japan's past crimes against them still creates a sore spot. That is to say, Korean consumers might be less willing to buy into a Japanese product... then again, not sure how well the PS3 did in South Korea, or how well the Wii did in other Asian countries.

    "...from Japan to America"

    In the literal sense, there isn't much between Japan and America, just a really freaking big body of water. =P Otherwise, Japan and America are *not* that different if you see them both as consumer cultures -- heavily capitalistic, driven by (and dependent on) each other's economies.

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