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Strong first party titles benefits all - Nintendo

Iwata claims strong hardware base is vital; third parties now sold 1 million Wii games

Nintendo president Saturo Iwata has defended the company's software strategy, claiming that by having strong sales for its own titles that it has created a strong hardware base - which other publishers can now exploit.

That argument counters criticism from some third parties in the past that the first party success was generating too much competition, but Iwata revealed in his GDC keynote speech that third parties had now sold over 1 million games on the Wii console alone.

Additionally he added that the installed base of the Wii Fit Balance Board sits at around 14 million, compared to a total console installed base for the PlayStation 3 of around 16 million.

Iwata had earlier revealed that the Wii had sold over 50 million units since launch, making it the fastest-selling console of all time.