Posted on 05/21/2007 9:22:25 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.
Plus, you don’t have to worry about tons of MA and AO games for your Wii... Nintendo has been very good and watching what they will license for their hardware. Its one of the reasons I chose the Cube last time around.....
Nintendo focuses on group and party gaming, and while there are a few titles out there, kids shouldn’t play... they are far more conscious of what they will license.
If you have small children in particular, I can’t imagine letting any other console in the house.
I can't wait for this baby to come out.
The Nintendo A devlopment team has always made by far the best games out of anyone.
Shigeru Miyamoto is one of the most creative minds in the world that most Americans have never heard of.
I disagree with your first statement and agree with your second. Nintendo is changing the video game rules with the Wii.
Importantly, it makes money on the sale of its system, something neither Microsoft nor Sony can say. It has shown that better graphics and higher "horsepower" aren't the most important thing to lots of video game consumers, especially when they come with a $500+ price tag. Maybe even more importantly yet is that Nintendo is showing that that video games aren't just for college kids or young adults with too much money; the DS--and now the Wii--are attracting people to video games that have never even before considered buying these products.
Yea, people who have wives or girlfriends :) And kids.... and watch TV channels other than G4.
Seriously geeks, girls will actually play Wii games WITH YOU..... I know hard to imagine, but true.
I got to punch my wife out in boxing. She complained about a defective controller. I didn't complain -- I made sure that I didn't use that controller.
I hate G4. TechTV was so much better. I tune in occasionally, but not recently.
Absolutely fals, WII is not being purchases as a SECONDARY system to their 360 or PS3, if anything its the other way around.
Wii is selling to entirely new people, I guarantee you people are buying Wiis that don’t have PS3 or 360s and have no intentions of buying either of them.
The market breakdown of Wii will be as follows:
New/casual gamers will buy the Wii, and that’s it.
Intermediate gamers will have a Wii, and 1 other system
Hard Core gamers will buy all 3
In my son’s class for example, of those with new consoles EVERY ONE has a Wii.... 1 has a 360, and 0 have PS3s. Some want a 360 or a PS3, but to argue the Wii is primarily the augmentor is a false premise.
For someone who already has a 360 or PS3, and is an intermediate or higher gamer they will clearly buy a Wii as well.
See my #6.
The PS3 number actually represents a loss of around $73,000,000 for Sony. The Wii numbers reflect a profit of untold millions for Nintendo. The 360 also reflects a profit, but that profit is still paying off the losses the XBox original/360 had until late last year.
Actually, the funny thing is when my son’s in a mood, he’ll ask his mother to take out her Atari 2600 . . .
Readily available? Yes Wii is cheaper, but its not more readily available. I can pick up a 360 or PS3 off of the shelves of any store.... Wii’s are still selling out as soon as they go on sale....
Every store in this entire region that has a spot for a WII on their shelves are always EMPTY.... Nintendo can’t make them fast enough.. its crazy... been on the market 6 months, and you still can’t find on “in stock” anywhere.
I think you might be right. IIRC, the Blu Ray drive was one of the most expensive components in the PS3.
We watched an interesting show last night about how Nintendo won the rights for Tetris, for the Game Boy and their consoles, back in the 80’s.
I’ve been a PC gamer for years and just recently bought a 360 so I could play Halo2 and Call of Duty 3. I find that the 360 game controller compared to a keyboard and trackball mouse is like trying to run while wearing oversized galoshes. What a kludge. Half of playing on the 360 is redoing the action because the gamepad’s poor action got you killed.
Any used game shop like Game Crazy or Game Stop should have the Wii Sports disk for cheap.
Eurogamer says Metroid Prime will available on the 20th of August.
http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=76647
I’m not much of a FPS myself, but got a cube in 05 as a surpise gift, Picked up MP used for like $10, Great Game... nice mix of platform and shooting, and not so realistic that I have to worry about the psychological impact of it on the kids.
I am looking forward to the new MP as well.
I have a feeling though I’ll not be getting much time on the thing once Pokemon comes out and my kid can play head to head against anyone online 24/7
On the other hand, there were a couple of PS3's available at Best Buy in Brooklyn after Thanksgiving. The line at 6am was about 1 mile long. The folks were kidding themselves (and thought that the cops were lying to them.) The smart folks jumped off that line and onto the Toys R Us line (which was maybe 100 long) and got a Wii instead.
“I got to punch my wife out in boxing.”
Ahh yet another selling point for the wii.... Live Ralph Cramden’s dream, and not worry about going to jail.
I was flabbergasted that last week when I went to K-Mart they STILL didn’t have ANY wiis avaliable, it blows my mind, maybe Nintendo DOES have something this Console generation. Mind you I have never tried a Wii, though I would like to.
I have seen PS3’s on store shelves virtually since the release.. hell even on Christmas Eve when I was doing last minute shopping I found PS3s on store shelves and not moving... That was when it was abundantly clear to me that Sony was at too high a price point to have a successful overall launch.
I have yet to this day, to see a WII for sale on store shelves. I got mine by going into a Toys R us in MARCH on a Sat.. sales guy told us new shipment would be in tommorrow... so we were standing in line a 9:30 AM on a sunday before the store opened to buy one of the 50 or so they were getting. They were letting a few people in at a time to buy them before they officially opeened, we got one of them... By the time the store officially opened they were sold out.
That’s how it STILL is today with them, you cannot find a WII on store shelves anywhere in stock around here.
Its the craziest thing I’ve ever seen, I can ever remember anything having such strong demand for so long that was produced in such high numbers... I mean its now been out for 6 months and you still can’t find them in stock in local stores.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.