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Wii gathering dust? Not so, says Nielsen survey

gamepro.com | November 13 2008

A new survey from the renown consumer tracking firm Nielsen found Wii usage is actually relatively healthy compared to other consoles.

Wii gathering dust? Not so, says Nielsen survey

All three, dust free.

Anyone who's visited an Internet forum, read a blog, or visited a news site like GamePro has seen it at least once. "My Wii," someone will say, "is gathering dust."

It's an Internet meme that's had considerable legs, starting pretty much when the Wii launched in 2006, and lasting to the present. The funny thing is that for a majority of Wii owners today, it isn't true.

In fact, new research out of the Nielsen Group today revealed that the Wii is actually a system that's played pretty consistently every month out of the year.

According to the chart, from September 2007 through August 2008, the average Wii was played, on average, five and six days per month for roughly 50 minutes at a time. The numbers remained consistent throughout the year.

But let's not forget about the other consoles. In an interview with GameDaily, Nielsen Games marketing manager Brad Raczka said, "all next generation consoles (Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii) continue to grow in terms of their overall consumption of usage minutes compared to the last generation."

In fact, Nielsen found that month over month the trend is continuing into 2008 and 2009. After seeing and playing the large number of solid new releases over the past two months we're inclined to agree.

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