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Wii Outselling PS3 in Japan
saintory writes "Apparently the Japanese console consumers are sinking their teeth into the modest Wii and are not as interested in the power-packed PS3. In fact, the Wii is outselling Sony's new console by a factor of almost 2:1. The number of PS3s sold into the Japanese market (466,716) falls well short of the million Sony had planned for the end of 2006. 989,118 Wii consoles have been sold in Japan in the same time span. From the article: 'Both Sony and Nintendo are projecting selling 6 million consoles by the end of March. Sony expects to start shipping the PS3 to Europe sometime that month as well. Straggling far behind Sony and Nintendo in the Enterbrain survey was Microsoft's Xbox 360, which had sold 290,467 since its Japan debut in December 2005. Selling machines in large numbers is crucial in the gaming business because it encourages software companies to make more games to play on the machines, which in turn boosts console sales.'"
Fun games + lower price point = happy consumers
Seems to me that they should just start shipping the consoles that aren't selling in the US and Japan to Europe.
The Wii is only outselling the PS3 in Japan because the small stature of the average Japanese gamer makes it extremely dangerous for them to attempt to wield the phenomenal gaming power contained within the PS3.
No, of course not. why?
Because Sony has not made as many PS3s as Nintendo has made Wiis. Rather simple isn't it?
Are we surprised that the 360 is tanking? nope, because it doesn't apeal to the japanese market (and it does not have the fanbase that Nintendo and Sony have).
The real question is how will the number end up once sony gets production going at a decent speed?
Other peopel have pointed out (and after research I now have to agree) that the PS3 isn't selling in the USA (if any one wants ot buy a PS3, Circuit City has 60gig versions in stock). Yet is is still a chalange (though not impossible) to buy a Wii despite much higher production levels.
Do Or Do Not, There Is No Spoon, There Is Only Zuul. Everything in the above post is probably opinion.
"According to the report, Sony has yet to officially comment on the figures released by Enterbrain, noting only that there may be a discrepancy between the number of units sold and the number of PlayStation 3 consoles that were shipped within Japan."
Yes Sony, you can't compare "sold" with "shipped" - even though that's what you do every time you try to show the DS isn't beating the PSP globally.
The electronics consumer base in Japan has historically tended towards choosing revolutionary products in lieu of evolutionary alternatives. It's a very welcoming market for novel products.
It is certainly no longer a supply issue as PS3s are sitting on shelves all over Japan.
i sh-in-japan-part-ii-226243.php
k -sluggish-in-japan-225907.php
http://kotaku.com/gaming/top/ps3-sales-look-slugg
http://kotaku.com/gaming/top/those-ps3s-sales-loo
There's no chance that one of these three companies will fail in the hardware market this round, in the way that Sega did a few rounds ago.
But, I think there'll be a shift in the leadership, for those people who want to "rank" the leaders in the console market. The ingredients for this ranking draw on units sold, profit, and critical success, but isn't directly tied to any one of them.
My prediction for current generation:
1. Nintendo
2. Microsoft
3. Sony
For argument's sake, I'm going to claim that last generation was:
1. Sony
2. Microsoft
3. Nintendo
I know, I know, Microsoft lost money on every sale, while Nintendo made a healthy profit. Nintendo, though, had trouble finding and capitalizing on breakout games, and their console had difficulty penetrating the adult market.
Now, next round, what do you think the odds are that one of these three companies will fail, or that a newcomer will push one of them out of the top three? Is the next Nokia going to "N Gage" gamers and knock off Sony? Will Nintendo's "It's the gameplay, stupid" philosophy wear out? Will Microsoft decide to stop hemorraging cash, or *gasp* manage to make a profit? Turn in 2009 to find out!
It doesn't hurt to be nice.
But 989,118 : 466,716 is UNDER the 2:1 ratio for small values of 2. The 2 could be 1.5, it could be 1.7, whatever. And then let's look at the one. Maybe they rounded the 1 down from its true value of 1.3. I'm just saying, you're taking too rigid of a definition of 1 and 2.
Apology to Ubuntu forum.
You are forgetting one important thing:
Sony LOSES money on each PS3 sold, whereas nintendo GAINES money on each Wii sold.
Yes, I know there are games and all that, but still...if it takes selling 2.5 Wii's to match the price of one PS3, and EACH Wii is making a profit while that one PS3 loses money...which one do you think provides a better profit margin?
Net income means jack shit. I don't care if you bring in 2 billion a year if your costs are 4 billion. If my costs are 50,000, and I bring in 75,000, guess what: I have a higher profit margin, which means I have MADE more money than you.
Living With a Nerd
"Net income means jack shit. I don't care if you bring in 2 billion a year if your costs are 4 billion. If my costs are 50,000, and I bring in 75,000, guess what: I have a higher profit margin, which means I have MADE more money than you."
In this case the net income of company A is -$2billion while the net income of company B is $25,000. Net income is very important. In fact, net income is probably more important than profit margin in this case. I think you need to s/Net/Gross/ for your statement to make sense.
But when the red moon sets and the sun rises in the west, two monsters will appear to save the people.
Because the XBox simply doesn't have the kinds of games that Japanese gamers traditionally enjoy. That is, Japanese style RPGs such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, and dating sim style games.
The XBox software is very American, which isn't a bad thing at all, but it does mean that it doesn't sell well in Japan.
PS3:
- SIXAXIS controller, which if pronounced sloppily can sound like "sex-asses".
- Motion sensing adds some potential.
Sex joke quotient: 50.
Wii:
- Name is inherently a phallus joke.
- Controller is phallic object, and referred to as "Wii-mote".
- Phallic object is "motion sensitive"
- Phallic object vibrates.
Sex joke quotient: 1 billion.
Winner: Wii. Wii always wins.
The enemies of Democracy are
The main problem initially, was that the Xbox gained a reputation for being a haven for mostly shooters and sports games (which honestly, isn't far from the truth). What few RPGs that were on the system came from Western developers (Knights of the Old Republic, Fable, Jade Empire, Morrowind, etc.). Unfortunately for MS, Japanese gamers love their "Japanese-style" RPGs (a la Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, etc.) and there were virtually none on the system. So it's pretty obvious why the Xbox brand gets little love in Japan.
... then you might consider if other reasons are at play (nationalist tendencies, etc.).
That's changed a bit with the 360, thanks to MS attracting some big names. Mistwalker Studios, headed by the former Square honcho (and creator of Final Fantasy), has been developing some big exclusive RPGs for the 360. Blue Dragon just came out last month, and Lost Oddysey is on the way. (As a J-RPG fan myself, I keep track of these things)
While Blue Dragon sold a decent number of 360s, it's definately not enough. One game will not suddenly turn the console around, especially one that's brand new IP and from a new studio. Unfortunately for MS, it becomes somewhat of a chicken and egg problem. They'll need more developers to make "Japan-friendly" games, in order to attract more Japanese gamers. However, those developers aren't going to make games on a platform with a low user-base.
To an optimist, things are looking better. There are several more high-profile games coming in 2007 for the 360, including titles from Square-Enix, and another RPG from Mistwalker. Virtual Fighter 5, which is apparently a huge success in Japan, was recently announced to be coming to the 360 as well.
Personally, I see 2007 as a "do or die" year for the 360 in Japan. If even after all the developer-love, Japanese gamers still don't take to the console
-- jchenx
I think you're thinking of Blue Dragon, made by Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Quest and Dragon Ball. He's had very little to do with Final Fantasy.
Remember, I'm no Sony fanboy.
The words say no, but the painfully tortured logic is telling me YES!
Let's stop posting these worthless articles for the sake of the horde ok?
We need articles like this because it is immensely gratifying to kick Sony while they're down. The rootkit will not be forgotten or forgiven.
People need to keep in mind the Wii costs less than half of the PS3's hefty price tag. Of course more people are going to buy Wiis right now, it's cheaper. Not to say that the Wii's awesomeness isn't playing a big role, but keep in mind that Nintendo's biggest problem is finding 3rd party developers who make worthwhile games. The gamecube was a great system, but they had very few must-have games that were not from Nintendo. No matter how good the Wii is, good third party dev support is what wins console wars.
Before we all doom the PS3, let's wait until some of the big-name PS3 games come out later this year. Sony already knew they were going to take a loss at the outset of the PS3 market, so I think they're taking the long view. In Japan, when Final Fantasy XIII comes out, there is going to be a rabid fanbase that will purchase the console for that game alone. Others may hold off, but given the other big properties that will shortly follow, how can anyone avoid the PS3's gravity?
Also factor in the other part of the market... Blu-rays absolutely rock on a HDTV. LG is coming out with a dual-mode player, which means that given the choice, the consumer can be easily swayed towards Blu-ray simply by flooding (true) advertisements about the media's technical superiority. If Blu-ray pulls ahead, then the PS3 becomes much more attractive.
Slashdot. It's Not For Common Sense
Good games are going to be expensive to make, no matter what. I'd be curious to know what Zelda cost to develop versus, say, Oblivion.
I would be interested in the Zelda vs Oblivion costs, but when THQ states "it was far less expensive making games for Nintendo's console." and that "they could be as little as a third of the high-end next-gen titles... Maybe the range is a quarter to a half." I believe them.
I thought capitalizing on Breakout games was Atari's job.
No, it's because the PS3 is twice as good as the Wii, so every PS3 sold is like 2 Wiis sold.
--
make install -not war
Particle Man, Particle Man,
Bought his Wii from a guy named Stan,
He plays a game, Particle wins,
Particle Man.
Triangle Man, Triangle Man,
Kicks Particle's ass playing Bomberman Land,
Same result while beta-testing Th3 Plan,
Triangle Man.
Note - Triangle Man always wins.
Man, I picked the wrong week to stop drinking
You fool. The sun does rise and set. It sets in Arizona, in fact. Near Flagstaff. That's why the rocks there are so red. It goes out at it sets, though, and is only about the size of a quarter, so it doesn't crush anyone or anything.
It moves from east to west because of solar wind.
Christ man, didn't they teach you anything in school?
It's almost as if demand is elastic with respect to price! How strange! I wonder if they have a field of study devoted to predicting that kind of bizarre outcome.
My friend has a Wii and I've played several times, and this is what I told him regarding the PS3 vs Wii debate (full disclosure: I've never played a PS3):
When I first played a games console, oh, back in the halcyon days of 1992 or so, it was a Sega Mega Drive (aka "Genesis" in the US). It was a whole new experience for me, being able to interact with an onscreen character using a handheld controller. It was a new world and I loved it and was introduced to a whole wealth of other systems.
Fastforward 13 years and nothing has really changed. Games look better, are more imaginative and offer me more satisfying results than grabbing rings and power-ups. But the gaming concept itself is still pretty much the same. We all laze around on couches, plugged into the console, and gradually fall asleep in marathon gaming sessions.
2006: enter the Wii (no pun). I was a little skeptical after seeing the ads and the less-than-impressive graphics, but being there when my friend first plugged his Wii in was like being transported back to when I was 6 again. I was genuinely excited and amused playing WiiSports, with the new concept the controller had brought to my gaming.
The PS3 might look prettier and have more power. It even plays DVDs and other things I have no interest in. But what it doesn't have is a revolutionary new design that's been the most innovative thing (at least, in my personal gaming history) since I first started playing consoles. The Wii has got me up off the couch and really interacting with my games, while the PS3, however real it may look compared to the Wii's bobble-headed "Miis", is just another couch-sitting epic.