Wii: History and Key Facts

The Wii ( WEE) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, following the GameCube, and is a seventh-generation console alongside Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3.

The Nintendo president, Satoru Iwata, focused on appealing to a broader audience through innovative gameplay, rather than competing with Microsoft and Sony on raw computational power. Shigeru Miyamoto and Genyo Takeda led development, which was initially codenamed Revolution. The Wii emphasized new forms of interaction, particularly through its wireless controller, the Wii Remote, which featured motion-tracking controls and could recognize gestures and function as a pointing device. The Wii was Nintendo's first console with native Internet connectivity, enabling online gaming and digital distribution via the Wii Shop Channel. It also supported wireless connectivity with the handheld Nintendo DS console for select games. Early models were backward-compatible with GameCube games and accessories. Nintendo later released cheaper versions: the RVL-101, without GameCube compatibility, and the Wii Mini, which removed features such as online connectivity and SD card storage.

Because of Nintendo's reduced focus on computational power, the Wii and its games were less expensive to produce than those of its competitors. It was extremely popular at launch, and was in short supply in some markets. Wii Sports, a pack-in game, became the Wii's killer app while new entries in the Super Mario, Legend of Zelda, Pokémon, and Metroid series helped boost its popularity. Within a year, the Wii became the best-selling console of the seventh generation and a social phenomenon in many countries. Total lifetime sales of the Wii reached over 101 million units. As of April 2026, it is the seventh-best-selling console of all time, and Nintendo's second best-selling home console after the Nintendo Switch surpassed it in 2021. The Wii was discontinued in October 2013, though the Wii Mini continued production for a few years, and some of its third party online services persisted until 2019.

The Wii repositioned Nintendo as a key player in the video game console marketplace, achieving Nintendo's goal of attracting a broader audience to video game consoles. The popularity of its motion-controlled games led Microsoft and Sony to develop the Kinect and PlayStation Move. However, the Wii's emphasis on casual-based experiences alienated core gamers. The Wii's successor, the Wii U, released in 2012, attempted to recapture that demographic but became a commercial failure and Nintendo's worst-selling home console.

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