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January Game Sales Explode, Wii Dominates
njkid1, as he does from time to time, passed us a link to a story on the GameDaily site. Today they're discussing the January NPD numbers for the games industry. In short, they're terrific. Software sales totaled $549 million for the month, up a staggering 53 percent over last year. Hardware sales were brisk as well, with the Wii selling around 436,000 units. Trailing behind were Microsoft and Sony, with 360 hitting 294,000 units sold and the PS3 selling 244,000 units. January had an extra week, which resulted in 'inflated' sales, but even after normalizing the data things were tremendous for the games industry in a month where there's normally a post-holiday slump.
Sales wise, Sony has a problem. They've sold fewer units than either of their competitors and they're selling them at a slower rate, which means that gulf will only increase. If this continues, more and more franchises that were exclusive to Sony will move to become multi platform. Assassin's Creed, GTA, and VF have already done so. The PS3 may be a great system with great games, but from a sales perspective their situation is dire.
If Nintendo keeps numbers like this up though, the PS3/360 debate becomes moot. They would be the undisputed sales leader by the middle of next year. Even the PS2 rarely broke 400,000 units during a non-holiday-season month. And who knows what they Wii sales figures would be if they could keep up with demand.
I picked up Madden over Christmas, and I was quite impressed; in fact it's the first Madden that's impressed me since the 16 bit era (I always liked the NFL 2K/ESPN sports more). I wish more sports titles come out and are able to execute as well. I'm definitely interested in a dedicated tennis/golf game, and I'm a bit concerned that I haven't heard of any coming out. I hope it's not due to the lack of accuracy of the wiimote. The Wii has a ton of potential, I just hope the Wii lives up to it.
Sadly, PS/2 was yet another victim of USB, which doesn't care what you plug into it, the electrical slut.
Yeah, the biggest story is the differential between the 360 and the ps3. Sony can't be liking that the gulf between the ps3 their self-proclaimed "competitor" is getting even wider.
On a positive note, the PS3 has passed up the 3DO in sales (*thumbs up!*)
Another hidden story, from the article:
"And the PS2 also continues to outperform the PS3; Sony's six-year-old system sold 299K units."
With the Wii's success, one could only hope that developers will start paying more attention to gameplay innovation rather than graphical innovation. I think the success of Nintendo's new console underscores a revolution that has been waiting to take place in the gaming industry: an emphasis on playability and fun over impressive visuals. Now, if we could just combine next-gen visuals with next-gen gameplay -- a gamers' nirvana!
Are you seriously trying to spin the fact that Sony has fewer units on the market than both the Wii and the 360 and is selling them at a slower pace as a good thing? Are you really lumping in PS2 units with PS3 units to inflate the numbers? Are you actually stating that Naughty Dog's game, the one that has only one screenshot available and no name, is "insane" and "people are going nuts over right now"? I call shill
If Nintendo's ahead by the middle of next year, they're going to stay there. Console sales are a matter of momentum. Selling a lot of consoles attracts developers, which make the console more attractive to customers, which sells more consoles. While it's certainly possible for one to come from far behind and take the lead with some killer app that appears long after launch, I can't remember any instances of that happening.
Ita erat quando hic adveni.
I resist my temptation to ignore AC...
"Oh give the fanboy bullshit a rest!"
What is it with this "fanboy" ad hominem nonsense? It must really sting to see wimpy Nintendo kicking your techno-powerhouse asses all over the schoolyard.
I have owned a PSX and PS2 and loved both. I considered myself a dedicated Sony customer until they tried to sell Blu-ray to me through an incremental-improvement (don't start citing the specs, I'm taking playability) game platform. If I was in the market for a Blu-ray player, I would consider PS3 a bargain. I'm not, though, so it looks to me like an overpriced boondoggle offering no real gains. I probably will buy a PS3 some day to get a bargain blu-ray player and keep my PSX/PS2 library playable. Plus there's bound to be some must-have game for the platform (probably the next Wipeout) that will drive me. Right now I simply have no reason.
I bought a Wii and I love it. I owned the original NES until around 1990, bought a GC to play Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Melee (before it was ported) but other than that have never been particularly partial to Nintendo. I bought a Wii because it looked like *fun* for me and my wife and kids to play together and it is!
So, if anyone needs to give the "fanboy bullshit" a rest, it's all you jackasses claiming the Wii is a fan phenomenon. It is winning because it is selling to fans and to new customers of all kinds, whether they are existing gamers or not. It is winning because it is a blast to play, just like Pac Man or Doom are still fun, in all their pixelated glory.
Trouble making decisions? Just flip for it.
February's numbers should be interesting.
From Kotaku:
s -wii-continue-to-print-yen-237481.php
http://kotaku.com/gaming/nintendo/hardware-wars-d
Here are the current hardware sales in the land of the rising sun for the week of February 4th to the 11th.
* Nintendo DS Lite - 201,177
* Wii - 78,550
* PSP - 32,175
* PLAYSTATION 3 - 23,431
* PlayStation 2 - 16,033
* Xbox 360 - 4,811
* Game Boy Advance SP - 980
* Game Boy micro - 884
I rather like the comment which noted the following:
Wii Sales > PSP sales + PS3 sales + PS2 sales + 360 sales + GBA sales + Micro sales
DS Sales > Wii Sales + PSP sales + PS3 sales + PS2 sales + 360 sales + GBA sales + Micro sales
Wow! Did I just get called a Nintendo zealot?
I don't even own a Nintendo! I own an Xbox 360 which is pretty neat, an old PS2 that I don't play any more, and a PSP which I haven't played after the first couple of months of getting it. (Talk about unfulfilled expectations!)
The last piece of Nintendo equipment I owned was an old—THE ORIGINAL!—Nintendo Entertainment System console, which I sold used over 15 years ago.
The reason I want a Wii so badly is because 1) I have an Xbox 360, and though it's fun to play with sometimes, it's really not that special, 2) I have seen absolutely nothing from the PS3 that merits any attention whatsoever (let alone $600 of my hard-earned cash!), and 3) the Wii looks like a lot of fun and a lot different from the ho-hum games that I'm so bored with now. Maybe I'm wrong, but according to what my friends who have managed to procure one say, I'm not.
Heh. A guy who hasn't owned a Nintendo console in over a decade and a half gets called a zealot because he wants a Wii and points out how well they're selling. That's a good one.
When was the last time Nintendo sold 500,000 consoles per month during a non-holiday season in just North America? Dude, that is a LOT of consoles. So many that the Wii has sold almost half as many units as the XBox 360 has sold in its entire lifetime. So many that Nintendo has already sold about 1/4 of the units that the Gamecube sold in its entire lifetime.
Think about that. 1/4 the number of Gamecubes in 1/4 of a year. Wow. I'd hate to be the guy who management is leaning on to improve Nintendo's production capacity.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
This is not troubling for Sony - let's check Xbox 360 last year at this time. Gamasutra reports that last January 2006 Xbox 360 sold approximately 250,000 units, about the same as PS3 this year. That's without a competitor with an excellent games library or a competitor which is the newest fad and phenomenon that outsold you 2:1. In fact, this January the Xbox only sold 40,000 more than last January. And that's without the supply issue that last year's sales displayed. So basically, the 360 isn't exactly red hot either. If the 360 was so amazing, it'd be killing the PS3. As it is, it's barely holding on.
Who says there can only be one winner?
I think the Wii is something entirely different and if done correctly Sony could still retain their core gamer generation market who like fast action zillions of polygons and l337 skills whilst Nintendo will exist happily with their more family oriented gaming set.
Its capturing an entire class of gamers which just wouldn't even have purchased a console before, its a similar story with the DS - you have people playing on these things that wouldn't even consider another game system.
I cannot ever imagine my parents owning any playstation or xbox, but I think Nintendo might just have themselves another sale based upon their reaction to our Wii when they played last night.
liqbase