Posted on 05/21/2007 9:07:34 AM PDT by HamiltonJay
Wii on winning spree, scores fourth consecutive win over rivals by Shubha Krishnappa - May 19, 2007 - 2 comments
Among the trio of next generation gaming consoles, Nintendo has emerged as the numero uno in April for the fourth consecutive month after selling 360,000 of the popular video game devices in the United States, repeatedly outshining both its rivals Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 in the US video game consoles market.
After attaining the top position in the first three months of the year, Nintendo has once again performed exceptionally well by selling nearly four times as many Wiis as Sony sold PlayStation 3s and more than twice as many as Microsoft did Xbox 360s, a market research firm, NPD Group Inc. said.
According to fresh sales results provided by NPD, US gamers bought 360,000 units of the wii console last month, making it the best-selling video game console in the country.
The more-powerful systems, Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 lagged behind in the fierce battle for dominance in the booming gaming consoles market by moving 82,000 and 174,000 units, respectively.
Nintendo sold 436,000 Wii video game consoles in January, while Xbox 360 sold 294,000 and Sony's PlayStation 3 sold 244,000 units.
In February, US gamers bought 335,000 Wii consoles and 228,000 of Microsoft's Xbox 360, while Sony's PlayStation 3 consoles managed 127,000 units.
In March, Nintendo shipped 259,000 Wii video game consoles, while Microsoft and Sony managed 199,000 and 130,000 units, respectively.
In the hand-held category, Nintendo DS remained the most popular game system of any kind in April, with impressive sales of 471,000 units, ahead of PlayStation Portable, or PSP, with 183,000 units. Nintendo DS is a portable game player that is still selling briskly more than two years after its introduction.
Although, Sony's last-generation PlayStation 2 has outshined Xbox 360 in April by selling 194,000 units, but compared to its last three months’ sales data PS2 did not do well this month.
Sony's 7-year-old gaming console moved 299,000 machines in January 295,000 in February and 280,000 units in March.
After reigning as the champ of hardware sales in United States, Nintendo ruled the software game charts too, with the top four best-selling games belonging to the company.
Games for Nintendo DS, took the top two spots, followed by two games for the Wii.
The four Nintendo titles are: ‘Pokemon Diamond’ and ‘Pokemon Pearl’ for the DS that sold 1.04 million and 712,000 units respectively. ‘Super Paper Mario’ for the Wii came in third with 352,000 games sold in April, while ‘Wii Play With Remote’ recorded 249,000 sales during the month.
"Nothing is more valuable in the entertainment world than an evergreen franchise," says Reggie Fils-Aime, president and COO, Nintendo of America. "These new Pokémon titles have cemented their place alongside the most enduring intellectual properties of the book, music and movie industries. And that appeal will expand even further with the introduction of Pokémon Battle Revolution to our Wii home console next month."
The overall market of video game hardware and software came up with booming results.
Total U.S. sales of video games and hardware reached $838.6 million, a 20% increase from April 2006 ($699 million), according to figures sent Friday from the NPD Group.
However, the sales were down from $1.1 billion in March.
After observing the fresh NPD sales data, it seems that consumers still reacting well to lower cost consoles. Launched in November last year, Nintendo’s Wii console retails for $US250, while PS2 costs only $129.
Xbox 360 and the PS3 start at $299 and $599, respectively, while their high-end versions are priced at $US400 and $US600, respectively.
Besides Nintendo console's U.S. price, which is just half the cost of the least-expensive version of PS3, its motion-sensitive controller that has been popular with mainstream gamers as well as new audiences like senior citizens and very young children has helped build buzz for the machine, and made it more appealing to some consumers.
The three companies are locked in a fierce battle for dominance in the $13 billion U.S. video game market.
They still effectively sell out within hours after arriving in stores.
With more than 7 Million units of Wii sold already, compared to about 9.75 million of XBOX 360 (which has been for sale for an entire year longer) Wii is clearly the console to be beat... if it isn't installed 2 or 3 to 1 vs the 360 and PS3 by the time this generation of consoles market has matured I'll be amazed.
HALO 3 is coming, so MS is praying for a boost from its release, but the Wii truly hasn't had some of its bigger apps released yet. Zelda is it, Metroid is coming in Sept.. Pokemon is coming as well, and Super Mario Galaxy is still on the way... MS and Sony do not have a prayer of being the #1 installed this gen.
I cannot understand why people like the Wii so much...kiddie game lineup, mediocre graphics, meh...POS in my opinion...
I’ve played all 3 of the new systems, Wii is without question the most fun to play, hands down.
If you like sitting in a dark room by yourself, playing first person shooters against people from around the world, and need as much realism in the blood splatter as possible, 360 and PS3 are fine machines for that.
If you like to have fun, Nintendo console is untouchable.
“fun” is relative...
Its simple, I hand a 10 year old, and his grandmother both a Wii remote, and turn on Wii Sports.... They BOTH have fun and are laughing up a storm for hours.
It doesn’t matter who it is, you put them in front of a Wii with some friends and they all have a blast, regardless of age, gender, even physical dexterity.
Nintendo got it right, and they are, and will continue to be rewarded greatly for it.
The “hard core” gamers will buy all 3 systems, because that’s what hard core gamers do. Casual gamers will buy the Wii, and the intermediates will buy the Wii and 1 more system either the 360 or the PS3. That’s going to be the lay of the land this generation. The key thing for console sales is simply this, EVERYONE will own a Wii.
I predict this gen will look like this when it finally all falls out:
1 will be Wii, 2 will be PS3 and 3 will be XBOX
PS3 right now is overpriced, but it also is the cheapest Blu Ray on the market, so Sony is using it to ensure it wins the HD format war. Once its obvious HD-DVD dies the death it deserves, Sony will wind up 2nd in this gen.
This of course is after some serious price dropping... Price and lack of good games is what is mostly killing PS3 at this point.. but with Sony using it as a point in the great profit and more lucrative HD format wars, winning that is more important than strict gaming division for Sony.
Sony and MS will battle for 2nd place this gen, and I personally think when the dust finally settles, Sony will take 2nd.
I will happily sell mine. Wii is for little kids. I honestly do not olike it at all.
I am with you. My GF’s mom bought me one for X-mas. I have used it 5 times and packed it away. Boring, kids games, sore shoulder.
Yeah, well the Wii will delight those with simple tastes, I agree. For people who enjoy some challenge and some realism, they will look elsewhere. I do not think PS3 will come in 2nd. I firmly believe that, if it comes down to a second place finish, the XBOX will be 2nd...if not 1st in this generation...Wii’s sales will fall off soon enough...people can only handle so much Mario Kart and little fuzzy, furry cutesy characters who throw cotton balls at cutesy flower “baddies” for so long before they desire something a little less juvenile. PS3 will fail this time around...Sony has had its dominance interrupted for this generation.
The game lineup for the 360 ANNIHILATES anything PS3 OR Wii have...and I do not think Microsoft will capitulate this time around...
Well, time will tell. Personally I think neither 360 nor PS3 has a prayer of first place. They are in a battle for 2nd.
I think MS will be 3rd, not because they capitulate, but simply because they don’t know what they are doing.... Yea, HALO’s a killer app, but it can’t carry you to 1st place. SONY has hurt themselves short term in terms of console sales by forcing Blu Ray to be part of the console, however as Blu Ray wins the format wars, in part because of this decision, and costs of manufacturing come down, Sony will drop the PS3 and it will have more and more going for it.
1) Back catalog of PS2 games, huge.
2) Better games for it, 08 will be the year where PS3 will come into its own in terms of its catalog.
3) HDTV, as HD becomes more widely adopted, and Blu Ray becomes the defacto standard for it, that is another cap in Sony’s crown, and aid in decision making to PS3 over 360. MS made a huge mistake helping revive the HD-DVD format IMHO.
4) Even to this day 360 adoption in JAPAN is laughable, you don’t win a console war without winning Japan.
Long term, I think PS3 will beat MS. Wii will blow them both out of the water in terms of sales. Wii sales will not slow down as you believe, you seem to think fuzzy and cute is all that Nintendo has to offer. This is a classic “misunderestimation”.
The controller allows for completely new game interactions and types of games that have never been thought of yet, and that the 360 and PS3 will not be able to offer.
Relying on this “its got weak graphics” is a fools argument. The DS graphics are beat by the PSP, but the DS outsells it by tons and is cheaper... why? Because it allowed for entirely new types of games because of its new interface... same will hold true for the Wii.
Wii will be a MUST HAVE for a gamer this generation, the PS3 and 360 will be interchangeable, with the only differentiator being who publishes more platform exclusive “killer apps”. And Sony has shown it will win that battle.
You are right about the Wii, wrong about the PS3
>>>1) Back catalog of PS2 games, huge.
Sony will eventually drop full backward compatibility like the already did for Europe.
>>>2) Better games for it, 08 will be the year where PS3 will come into its own in terms of its catalog.
I dont think so, but that is opinion.
>>>3) HDTV, as HD becomes more widely adopted, and Blu Ray becomes the defacto standard for it, that is another cap in Sony’s crown, and aid in decision making to PS3 over 360. MS made a huge mistake helping revive the HD-DVD format IMHO.
I think HD-DVD and BluRay will coexist like DVD+R and DVD-R do now, with the exception that they will never beat DVD. Together they will be to DVD like laserdisk was to VHS, a niche market.
Microsoft did not go with HD-DVD they went with the best option, DVD, like the more-advanced-than-console PC games are going to go with for the next several years.
This means when Sony finally drops the price from $600 to $500 microsoft will drop the 360 from $400 to $300. When PS3 costs $300 the 350 will cost $200. All while the 360 has (slightly) higher quality graphics due to its better GPU and more software due to its much bigger installed base. The PS3 can’t win.
The problem with both HD DVD and Blueray is say you buy a player for you home theater. Now you have 1 HD player and on the other hand you still have a DVD player in your bedroom, den, laptop computer for airline trips and your backyard, in your minivan ceiling, etc. So when you want to buy the latest movie you are better off getting the DVD version so you can play it everywhere. (Or you could get a HD-DVD/DVD hybrid.)
Besides, watching movies on a console is stupid. It wears out your console’s drive so you many years from now when you want to play your old games it dies an early death making your game library useless. Nintendo got it right, why wear out your $250 Wii watching movies when you can buy a $29 DVD player and set it next to the Wii for movies (or use the player you already probably have.)
>>>4) Even to this day 360 adoption in JAPAN is laughable, you don’t win a console war without winning Japan.
The PS3 is failing so bad in Japan it will not help it against the 360. Both are so near zero in sales it does not matter. The PS3 has a lot of ground to be catching up in total consoles sold. It is not catching up it is falling further behind the 360 each month. The Wii saved the 360 in that respect (Japan).
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