Wii now #1, Xbox 360 barely #2, PS3 distant #3 |
The holiday season isn’t even here yet and nextgen console gaming has a new reigning champ. Move on over Xbox 360, the Nintendo Wii is here.
via Financial Times and sales figures from Enterbrain in Japan, NPD Group of the US and GfK of German:
According to sales data from each console’s launch through to the end of July (or the end of August in Japan), consumers have bought 9m Wiis, 8.9m Xbox units and 3.7m PS3s.
The rankings as you see them now are the way it is going to stay through this coming holiday season. What can gamers look forward to over the next few months?
Nintendo Wii through the holidays
On the Wii, I’m personally looking forward to the release of many light gun specific games and Wii fitness is certain to be a hit with both the younger trying to be fit and older needing to be fit crowd.
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 has Halo 3 arriving later this month which in the FPS genre is the only title they need. They also have the best online experience by far of the three and will continue to exploit this weakness in the Wii and PS3 as long as they can. Their library keeps growing and growing making it that much harder for the others to catch up. Did I mention they have started adding Neo-GEO titles to Xbox Live like Fatal Fury Special (yes).
PS3
Today This week Heavenly Sword became available, Lair is already out, and more gaming treats are on the way, boosting their stable of native 1080p titles. When it comes to native 1080p gaming, the PS3 is excelling. At some point this Fall Sony promised to release a beta of their secret online weapon: HOME. This will provide a virtual world interface to replace the tired existing interface. I’m excited to see how and/or if this is used to the PS3 full potential. It seems like Sony is starting to realize that the PS3 isn’t just a great movie player (Blu-ray) but is being purchased for the gaming prowess.
No matter which console you own or if you are fortunate enough to own all three, gaming life is good. None of these companies — ok, well, maybe Sony — should be licking their wounds. While it might seem like Nintendo is the victor, let’s not forget the last time Nintendo was on top was some 17 years ago with the NES and SNES. This battle is far from over and nobody stays on top forever.
I fully expect holiday 2008 to be the true war of the nextgen gaming systems because by then none of the consoles will be new, the gaming libraries will be more filled out and the online connectivity should be in full force. Nintendo who once looked foolish for not competing in having the best hardware is looking brilliant at the moment. Nintendo has reminded with the Wii that games which appeal to a broad demographic, so-called casual gaming, is a huge market.
Update 7:47pm PST: Square Enix has announced they will produce an RPG called Infinite Undiscovery for the Xbox 360. They were the last major Japanese game developer holdout for the Xbox 360. This is huge news for the Xbox 360 and most certainly a blow to Sony.
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I had no idea the Wii was doing that well, they almost tripled the PS3, when the PS3 was released last november it was a stompede.
People were fighting to get one, I would have thought that they would have the lead, probably due to initial price tag.
Comment by Kevin — September 13, 2007 @ 3:44 pm PST
[…] of the gaming industry that it once reserected. The Nintendo Wii in less than a year is already the best selling home console on the market. Just sneaking ahead of the Xbox […]
Pingback by PrimeScape - Revised Edition » Nintendo’s Grand Plan(The Conversion Process) — September 13, 2007 @ 4:41 pm PST
Now the only question is if the Xbox 360 can *regain* the lead following the Halo 3 launch. Then this holiday season will truly be interesting.
Microsoft actually seems to have gotten lucky with releasing Halo 3 two years into the 360’s lifespan. They’ve gotten a fair number of people to buy it at the higher price previously (including myself, via a graduation gift) and now gotten it to a more palatable price for the mass market right before the launch of their Trojan horse. Halo 2 was released only a year before the 360 I believe, so I imagine that the majority of people purchasing it already had an Xbox.
As a Wii60 household, however, I’m glad with the prolonged competition…it can only mean better games and features for us in the future (maybe even a version of Madden my grandmother and I can play together on the Wii ;-] ).
Comment by Ravi — September 14, 2007 @ 2:03 pm PST