Nintendo has sold 7 million Wii units in Japan since its launch back in December 2006, according to Famitsu publisher Enterbrain, but those figures show the console’s rate of sales is in steady decline.

Late in January this year, Enterbrain stated that the Wii had hit past the five million sales mark in Japan.  5,019,337 units had been sold, which since its launch thirteen months prior meant the console had a sales rate of approximately 386,000 units per month. Enterbrain’s estimates today show that, as the Wii enters its second year since launch, it has a sales rate of approximately 292,000 in Japan; that calculates as a 24 percent drop.

That drop coincides with the console’s steady decline in sales over recent months (though it had enjoyed a slight sales climb in the last two weeks), and the fall in annual spending on the Wii is certainly part of a wider decline in TV console sales (down 33 percent as shown in our global market report), as well as a Japanese economy in the midst of a recessive phase.

Last week, Screen Digest’s senior games analyst Piers Harding-Rolls told Edge that mainstream consoles could be more susceptible to an economy in recession. “The new mainstream consumers that play lifestyle and social games on the Wii and DS are more likely to be impacted more by a recession,” he says, adding that it is Nintendo's market who may consider games and consoles a much more discretionary spend.

The Wii, of course, is about to enter its third Christmas, which is certain will push its sales figures up worldwide. However, the console would have to sell over 2 million units in Japan over the holiday season in order to return to its previous sales rate.

Source via Kotaku.