“Sony’s new PlayStation 3 video game has gone from top dog to underdog in record time,” Mike Snider reports for USA Today.
“Despite the buildup and hype around its arrival in November, the PS3 has been outsold so far — at a rate of almost 2-to-1 — by the Nintendo Wii,” Snider reports. “In February, the Wii was the top-selling console video game system with an estimated 335,000 sold, outpacing the Microsoft Xbox 360 (228,000) and the PS3 (127,000), according to The NPD Group.”
“Nintendo’s $250 Wii, released the same week as the PS3 ($500-$600), has sold about 1.9 million so far, compared with 1.1 million PS3s,” Snider reports.
Snider reports, “Billy Pidgeon of IDC, in Framingham, Mass., expects the Wii to sell more than 16 million systems worldwide this year, compared with 10 million each for the PS3 and 360.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “iCrane” for the heads up.]
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I miss Infocom text adventures. Give me Zork any day over yet another shooter.
Oh will people stop equating the Wii with being for kids please? I had a party at my house, of mainly people in their early 30s, mostly none gamers, and we set up the Wii for them to play. Guess what, it was the focal point of the whole party – everyone loved it.
Wii is a truly inclusive gaming system, as it doesn’t involve mastering how to press one of 30 buttons on a controller like PS3 and Xbox. In fact the most popular game at our party (Wii Sports Tennis) doesn’t even require a single button press to play.
Of course the PS3 is being outsold. The Wii is more than 50% cheaper.
The PS3 is more than just a game console.
Sony (Like Apple) is going for the living room market. It’s a movie player, game player, and will be more as they add features.
Sony’s PS2 sold over 100,000,000 units. Sony knows what it’s doing. I’m sure they’d like PS3 sales be to a little more brisk than what they are, but there is a bigger picture that most analysts are missing.
Yes, Sony’s PS2 sold over 100,000,000 units. However here’s another fact: No console maker has ever dominated sales for more than 2 generations.
And the PS2 was only $199 not $600. Big difference. I’m not going to spend that kind of money on game system for myself and my 14 year old son who loves his PS2 said it was ridiculous that the PS3 cost so much and he wasn’t interested. He’d settle for and XBox 360 for the money, but is perfectly content with his PS2. It’s about to die on us and we’ll probably just buy a used one to replace it just so we can continue playing Guitar Here II.
Around town here, there are PS3s everywhere, they can’t give them away. Good luck finding a wii though. I’ve been looking for a couple of weeks now, the wife wants one.
You’re late to the party MDN, NPD came out on Thursday!
Still, always good to see M$’s useless shitty failbox get trashed in the market.
Did you know that the failbox is a total flop in Japan? It’s awesome!
Amen!
“Hardcore” gamers are total asshats. Get a life.
I hope the Wii *dominates* this round of the console wars–they deserve it, since they’re the only ones who are doing anything truly innovative in the gaming space.
I first saw the Wii the other night at a friend’s home.
He has three young daughters. While I am not necessarily saying
that it is just for kids, watching themplay the thing made
me totally laugh out loud. Very entertaining even when you are not
playing. Just watching them flail around cracked me up.
Sony is going for more than the gamer market.
Why is that so hard to see?
Believe me. Blu-Ray movies look great on my HDTV.
I love my PS3 for the movies and the couple games I have.
The price will come down (remember the cost of the original iPod and the original PS2 and the original PlayStation).
For those hanging on to the delusion that it’s only a matter of time, that, any moment now, the PlayStation 3 is going ZOOM from behind and take over the number one spot, allow me to crush your dreams.
First off, I don’t believe any ESTABLISHED console has come from behind to take over the top spot. Certainly not one this far behind. When two consoles launch at the same time, and one goes ahead, it gets the momentum and generally stays there.
Secondly, the PlayStation 2’s incredible dominance came, not from the “hardcore” gamers, who are a minority, but from the mainstream, who bought the system because…
— it was reasonably priced
— it was drowning in games (played all PS1 games), and…
— it was a cheap DVD player at the time the format was taking off.
This time around, Sony’s lost the mainstream. The PS3 is expensive, there aren’t a lot of games yet, and Blu-Ray hasn’t yet achieved enough traction for that to be a big selling point. The mainstream has decided they like the Wii. That leaves Microsoft and Sony to fight over the hardcore types.
Sony will survive to make a PS4. But they can forget about this generation. Barring some incredible blunder, Nintendo’s got it wrapped up.
I’ll buy a Wii when they get porn games for it.
But, I wonder what you will be doing with that Wii controller?????
Nintendo will always have a substantial base because it owns franchises like Mario and Zelda. PS3 has much better specs, and Wii doesn’t even have DVD capability yet, let alone Blueray.
“However here’s another fact: No console maker has ever dominated sales for more than 2 generations.”
Well… No console maker has made systems that are backward compatible for more then two generations, until PS3 that is. Remember that there is real PS2 hardware inside every PS3, so it’s not like that emulated BS by MS.
I predict that ultimately Wii and PS3 will have even marketshare and MS’ crapBox will be a distant 3rd.
Maybe we have to let go of the notion that in order for Nintendo to win, Sony has to lose. I know several people who want a PS3 or 360 AND a Wii.
Peace.
“From where I sit:
1.9 mil x 250 = 475 million
1.1 mil x 500 = 550 million
hmmmm…. If I were looking to invest?”
I guess you would invest in Dell over Apple then. Dell took far more money than Apple, yet Apple made as much profit.
Question to those of you claiming that the PS3 will make up marketshare when the price comes down: What possible circumstances could exist that would allow Sony to drop thier prices, but would keep Nintendo from doing the same? Because that seems to be what you’re assuming will happen. Even if the price difference drops to $400 v. $200, the $200 console is still going to sell a lot better.
Also, to those of you claiming that Sony must know what they’re doing because they dominated the market: Flown Pan-Am recently?
I could be wrong on this, but aren’t PS2s STILL outselling all the other boxes out there?
Some months, yes, the PS2 has been outselling the new gen consoles. But it’s dirt cheap now. More to the point, however, the software support is drying up, so soon it won’t be making as much money from licensing games as the newer ones.
Anyone who’s played much golf and gotten the bug has to like/love the WiiSports version. And if you like that, buy TW Golf 07. Played it all weekend and said to my friend, “All we need is the bench seat out of a golf cart to sit on between shots.” Drawback, the Wii picked up onmy *#@ hook.
Okay, so the Wii’s resolution is less than the other two, so what, an experience is more than just sight – unless you’re a voyuer.
Back to Mac. The Wii sits right beside the G4 Mac Mini. Anyone come up with a way to share the PPC technology/hardware yet/
Everyone I know who has a Wii stopped playing on it after finishing Zelda (GameCube game). Lets face it folks, EVERY Wii game besides Zelda is terrible. Wii Sports is especially bad.
The Wii is for gamers who are happy with a “fun” control method. No matter how bad the games are, they’ll be happy that they have to actually swing their arms about.
And yeah Sony lose cash on every PS3 it sells so I wouldn’t go on about spouting sales figures and profits per unit sold.
Both Microsoft and Nintendo make profit on every console they sell (360 has been profitable for around 7 months now)
So all you idiots praising the Wii…. carry on loving your simple poor standard games… I’ve got me some Gears of War to indulge in (online gaming is fun!) you might experience it eventually.
“… Even if the price difference drops to $400 v. $200, the $200 console is still going to sell a lot better.”
Yes…but with the Wii unable to play DVDs and the PS3 being a Blu-Ray player with a built-in game system, with the PS3 would be a far better bargain at $400.
In fact, even today at the $600 price, one could say they were buying a $400 Blu-Ray Player and a $200 game system rolled into one. It’s worked so well for my son, I’m thinking of getting my own.
While I only play accasionally, I have (at sometime or another) played nearly every game system (except the 360) available in the U.S. I got bored with FPSs really quick with the first iteration of Doom. And, as far as I can tell, nothing has changed with them except the level of character and environmental detail. Whoop de do.
IMHO, the Wii has been the most fun since the original Nintendo.
P.S. and FWIW: My son’s Wii and PS3 both work flawlessly (so far) with our AirPort wireless network.
@Andy C.
“The reason the Wii is selling so well is because a) it’s cheap, b) most people don’t have HD TVs yet, c) it’s NOT HD, d) it’s competitors are double the price, e) it has an innovative/gimmicky new controller.”
You forgot to add e) It’s really fun & easy use.
Price helps – but the Wii is just fracking FUN to play!
MW “next” as in, my next console is gonna’ be a Wii
interesting the wide range of opinions and preferences noted in this thread. guess game consoles will do that. only time will tell which console of the three will be a winner and that will only be temporal because functions and features will drive the market forward. the 2 things 360 and ps3 have going for it is some degree of online upgradability. for example, sony announced today that download upgrade v1.60 will improve ps2 compatibility, bluetooth keyboard functionality, and a full on screen qwerty keyboard (replacing the annoying pda gui it intro’d with).
would venture that ps3 has the longest legs of the three because of the onboard blue ray and more integrated multimedia functions (hd video with hdmi/hd photo/5.1/7.1 audio). for prople compleaining about price, buying one of these now and not having to buy one or two iterations of something else as you migrate to a full hd/5.1 digital audio setup is a cost savings, plus you can get enjoyment of the full experience now. in case you haven’t checked, the cost of a 720p/hdmi lcd tv is $500 and a sony htib is $400 w/upconverting hdmi dvd. you would have paid $2000 for this just a year ago.
off topic-you’ll find the over air hd (including the over air piped through you cable or satellite will not begin to compare to a full digital/uncomtressed experience from a blue ray dvd. it’s better than sdtv, but calling it hd is a real stretch. also wouldn’t worry too much that buying blkue ray now is a risk. it will win because apple and sony support it and of all the movie studios, only one is exclusively hddvd, while four of the others are exclusively blue ray. also, because of ps3, blue ray player adoption is currently running 4 to 1 over hddvd and that’s before sony sells a couple million ps3’s in europe this month.
“Question to those of you claiming that the PS3 will make up marketshare when the price comes down: What possible circumstances could exist that would allow Sony to drop thier prices, but would keep Nintendo from doing the same?”
Answer:
BLUERAY. BR is brand spanking new tech and the price will go down at a greater rate than DVD based consoles because DVD reader production costs have stablised.
“P.S. and FWIW: My son’s Wii and PS3 both work flawlessly (so far) with our AirPort wireless network.”
MAN! Will you please adopt me?
“First off, I don’t believe any ESTABLISHED console has come from behind to take over the top spot.”
From Wikipedia:
“By 1992, Sega was enjoying a strong hold on the market, holding a 55% market share in North America. Faced with a slight recession in sales and a brief loss of market share to the SNES, Sega again looked to Sonic to rejuvenate sales. The release of the highly anticipated Sonic the Hedgehog 2, coinciding with an aggressive ad campaign that took shots at Nintendo, fueled Mega Drive sales a while longer and boosted Sega’s market share percentage back up, to an astounding 65%.”