15 Biggest Gaming Risks That Paid off

Nintendo Wii

The GameCube wasn’t a massive failure for Nintendo but considering it was competing against the PS2 and OG Xbox in terms of power, it definitely under-performed. Following its release, however, Nintendo was already working on its next big concept and this one was a doozy – a console focused completely on motion controls. Influenced by the Nintendo DS, this new console was initially code-named Revolution; its controller resembled a remote control rather than the traditional controller.

But even with so much risk riding on it, not to mention the official announcement of the Wii name which drew tons of criticism, the console was a success. It not only outsold the PS3 and Xbox 360 combined in several regions at launch, suffering from shortages as a result, but hit 50 million units sold in roughly 2.5 years. It crossed 101 million sales in its lifetime and not only revitalized Nintendo but would inspire ventures like Microsoft’s Kinect (which also became a huge success on Xbox 360) and PlayStation Move through the years.