Iwata believes Wii could be as popular as the Playstation 2

As the Wii continue to grow in popularity and consumers remain in shock regarding its continued purchasing power, industry pundits and gamers both wonder aloud at the levels of success Nintendo’s latest console effort will achieve.

If Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has his way, the Nintendo Wii will, according to 1UP, approach and eventually surpass the user base total of Sony’s Playstation 2, widely regarded as one of the most critically and commercially successful gaming consoles in history.

This statement comes courtesy of an investor briefing that was acquired by the MTV Multiplayer Blog. In it, Iwata makes his central goal clear time and again: to surpass the lifetime sales of Sony’s Playstation 2.

This is certainly an achievable goal. Nintendo’s Wii continues to sell at a significantly faster rate than its higher-definition counterparts, the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360. However, while the Wii is certainly winning the battle of sales, it is certainly losing the battle of consistent game quality, as most of the games on the Wii tend to skew towards the younger crowd, often to the detriment of older gamers who label the Wii as a “kiddy console.”

However, while the Wii is the subject of a great deal of controversy in the gaming community, one can’t deny its influence on the industry. The decision of Sony and Microsoft to skew casual in their attempts to broaden their horizons was not made in isolation. Both have observed the success of Nintendo and are obviously doing their best to adapt.

It remains to be seen whether or not Nintendo will achieve this goal, but in order for it to happen, they should focus on equaling the PS2 in both sales and quality.

Read [MTV Multiplayer] Via [1UP]