Wii still kicking hell out of PlayStation 3
Sony’s recent performance woes in the videogames market seem to be showing no signs of abating just yet, regardless of the considerable European expectations being placed on its new(ish) soon-to-be-released PlayStation 3. More pointedly, and not at all surprisingly, reports circulating this week are indicating that Nintendo’s hugely popular and innovative Wii console is actually outselling the relatively stagnant PlayStation 3 by approximately 3-to-1.
A Reuters report has indicated that Nintendo managed to shift some 405,000 units of the Wii throughout the month of January in the Japanese region, while, by comparison, Sony was only able to wave a fond goodbye to a mere 148,000 units of its PlayStation 3, a difference of around 3-to-1.
This latest illumination of Sony’s continued poor performance in Japan, traditionally a secure sales patch for its videogame offerings, comes hot on the heels of retailers hacking 20% of the price of 20GB PS3s in an effort to whip up more fevered interest in Sony’s latest piece of hardware. More worryingly for Sony is that talk of static stock in Japan has now also crossed the Pacific and is beginning to spread across North America – while the Nintendo Wii remains a definite hot property in both hugely influential regions.
In an accumulative sense, sales of the Wii in Japan now stand at around 1.4 million units, while sales of the PlayStation 3 are touching 614,000, and NexGenWars.com shows that global Wii sales are at 4.45 million, while the PS3 is ranked at a mere 1.37 million. The sudden drop off in sales experienced by the PS3 soon after its Japanese and US launches has led to whispered (and constantly refuted) talk of an official price cut, although Sony (finally) seems to be accepting, or at least considering, an inevitable future on a product the company is already losing money through in terms of massive production costs not recouped at retail.
Hirokazu Hamamura, president of publisher Enterbrain told Reuters:
“There could be a price cut for the PS3 by the end of the year [2007], and more software titles will hit the market. I expect the PS3 to be doing better after a while.”
However, any corporate belief still invested in Sony’s claims that consumers would flock to the supposedly superior power and Blu-ray drive of the PlayStation 3 – despite its high(est) retail ticket price – is likely to ebb away come 23 March, when European consumers will be facing a hardware launch where only the top-priced (425 GBP) 60GB model will be available.
“There could be a price cut for the PS3 by the end of the year [2007], and more software titles will hit the market. I expect the PS3 to be doing better after a while.”
I this is something that is likely to happen
sales would be higher if you could actually find any in europe.
http://www.wiipreorder.co.uk/
that says everything
Even if the PS3 is a superior product, the fact that we parents have to buy a new game platform (or 2) every year precludes us from forking out $800.00 w/o even having any games. It is too high to give for a present, and it is too high for a 13-17 year old to really buy. Personally, we bought the XBox last month and the Wii this month. We had to stand in line forever to get a CHANCE to buy a Wii! Plus the Wii is so fun! I spent 3 hours bowling in my 13 year old’s room yesterday! It is soooo fun!!!
I have said it, and I will say it again. Sony under estimated there consumers. They assumed that since the PS2 was a success, that the PS3 would do the same. But they also thought no matter what price they put on it, people would fork it out. true the gaming market is a huge industry, but the core is still aimed at 10-18 years of age, which last time I checked, a 16 year old didn’t have 600 dollars to blow on a system. So by putting such a high price tag on the system, it scared off that core demographic. So I think at this point a price cut is the only hope for sony if they plan to stay afloat.
There once was a product named Betamax - coincidentally released by the same company - Sony. It was a superior product to the VHS in every way, except price. The Betamax died a sad death. Apparently, Sony did not learn from that ridiculous fiasco?
Yup, I made exactly the same comparison roughly about 1 year ago and also included in the comparison the upcoming Blu-Ray HD-DVD war.
dont forget that the umd’s are being phased out at many store’s as well.
“Nintendo managed to shift some 405,000 units of the Wii throughout the month of January in the Japanese region, while, by comparison, Sony was only able to wave a fond goodbye to a mere 148,000 units of its PlayStation 3, a difference of almost 4-to-1.”
Can these people not do math? This is actually a difference of less than 3-to-1. Still impressive though.
You beat me to it Jordan. I saw the same story printed at nintendojo. This mistake/spin, seems the result of bias. It detracts from the impact of a good story for the Wii.
Nope, just poor fact checking on my part…now duly corrected. Apologies (even though I am a ‘little’ guilty of bias too). *toothy grin*
i think the reference to 4-1 refers to the previous week when Wii sold over 80,000 while PS3 sold around 20,0000
‘Wii console is actually outselling the relatively stagnant PlayStation 3 by approximately 3-to-1.’
it is not they who cannot do maths me thinks, but you who cannot read.
it might be too late if they drop the ps3 price at years end. sony just drop it to 250 i might think about it lol
Wii. Is an inovation. For those person who study marketing should know that Inovation is what keeps a company alive. Also as part of the marketing campaing is the price. The technology used to make Wii cost more than the PS3 alone. Do you believe that a movement sensor is cheap nowadays? Why don’t you ask NASA how much they spend developing movement sensors for their robots. Of course the cost will be reflected in the how much we are going to pay for the newest games.
Yeah but there is also a massive difference in the accuracy of the systems the Wii will use compared to the ones NASA would use.
Why not just buy a Ford Fiesta and try to tell me it’s the same as a Ferrari Enzo, I mean they are both cars right?
Anyway point being you have a small point but I will need some convincing that the montion sensors Nintendo are using are up to the quality required for an organisation like NASA.
NASA, these are the guys that spent millions of dollars developing and manufacturing a pen which could still write in the zero gravity of space.
Wheras the Russians just used a pencil. Gotta love those Yanks.
sorry boys, but i read at a Press Release that it costs approx. $180 to make and built the Wii. Nintendo Sells it for 2x or more of the original price. out of the money they make, there will be more softwares and even better development of the next hardware. brilliant ha?