back to article Nintendo Wii widens sales gap with Sony PS3

Sony's PlayStation 3 is falling further behind Nintendo's Wii in the Japanese sales stakes, the latest figures from local market watcher Enterbrain have revealed. nintendo wii Nintendo's Wii: outselling PS3 5:1 In April, Nintendo sold around four times as many Wiis as Sonys sold PS3s. The following month, that ratio had …

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  1. Jim Cosser

    Its a games issue

    Its just lack of games for the PS3, the Wii is a cool gimmick but it wont last. The PS3 has some hardcore hardware and gets better with every software update with streaming movies from my PC over wireless network etc.

    As soon as the big titles hit the PS3 and start making use of the hardware it will shift more consoles.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Nintendo Wiiiiii's all the way to the bank

    (What's the numbers for Xbox 360 in Japan then?)

    611k Wiis US+Japan

    174k Xbox360s + 120k ps3

    So Wii is outselling the other consoles combined by more than 2 to 1.

    I'm not surprised, I went to a party last Saturday, they had a Wii Tennis competition as a drunken party game, lots of people left wanting a Wii (pun intended). That thing is selling itself.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Sony blown it this time...

    I would be interested to see if there has been any upsurge in sales of the Xbox 360 since the Wii was realsed.

    The reason being that I've never had a console before, I have always been a PC gamer. However, in January I got a Wii and my whole family plays it, which is quite something, it is great fun.

    As a result of having the Wii I have got into console gaming. Last month I went out and bought an Xbox 360, this is such a great piece of kit, the games are good, the console is great fun and the acheivement and gamerscore systems are fantastically addictive.

    So, thanks to the Wii, Microsoft got a sale as well, it would be interesting to see if I am the only one. I have no intention of buying a PS3, it doesn't interest me and I don't see anything it will give me over the Wii and 360.

  4. Cavan

    a price that makes what-the-heck impulse buying easy.

    Not only the price of the console; but with cheaper games £25-£35 on some sites. it knocks the other consoles for 6. In addition with the new games winging their way; paper mario, mario galaxy, strikers, golf, mario party. innovative games like cooking mama koorinpapa, trauma centre, big brain academy.

  5. Martine Croxall

    It prints Yendollareurosterlings

    Nintendo are now the rightful owners of the entire world. BOW DOWN and stroke their puppies.

  6. Joe K

    Obvious

    Until the PS3 hits the £299 barrier its nothing more than a VERY expensive gadget for the well-off geeks.

    Even then, it won't make much of a mainstream splash till it goes to £199, which could be years away.

    What a disaster.

  7. Graham Jordan

    Maybe its just me

    But i fail to see the interest in the Wii. A friend of mine has one, the Wii sports is fun, as is the Wario... what ever its called... But what else can you really do with it and its shitty graphics? Sure its all about the gameplay but anyone who ever loved FFVII and tried it on a 32" or above HD tv will tell you its bloody difficult to get into it, i had to take my ps2 upstairs on my 14" to really appreciate it.

    Dont get me wrong, i applaud Nintendo's ground breaking innovation but seriously, how long will it keep up when serious power is absent?

  8. Krystan Honour

    Sony, be careful.

    Sony need to wake up and smell the coffee. I am in their target audience, I have a disposable income that exceeds most people and I point blank refuse to pay the 425 pounds or so for a PS3. Sony need to rethink their strategy, I've waited and held off buying a 360 in favour of the PS3, but unless the price comes down shortly I will not buy one.

    My decision is also made easier because the only reason I ever stayed with sony was because they maintained backwards compatibility. The fact that other territories have this and we do not yet we pay more for the machine, is in my opinion sonys biggest mistake.

    If they value their market they'll start paying attention or they'll go the same way other console manufacturers have. They don't have a divine right to be at the top, and they behave like they do.

  9. Hugh_Pym

    paradigm shift

    The Xbox360 and PS3 show what the technology can do. The wii shows what the technology can do for you. Sony and MS are going for the high end (rich) gamers that don't 'tune' a PC. That is quite a limited market.

    The wii is going for everyone else. The price is reasonable and apparently not subsidised for game sales. It is fun to play on without years of practice and it has an internet access (which covers 90% of what people use a home PC for. I know its not great viewing web pages on a standard TV but the if Wii2 comes out with HD TV output (and you know it will) then there is little reason to spend your hard earned cash on a buggy, virus ridden wintel PC with a bloaty OS.

  10. Matthew Sinclair

    Sony has a nasty pickle on their hands.

    I hear all these excuses....

    Sony has a lack of games... Sony needs to lower their prices...

    Its neither.

    The problem is Sony should have never have done this in the first place.

    For every one of their PS3's they manufactuer... they loose a few hundred in costs. In other words.... to lower the price is to loose even more money!

    Nintendo soars in sales not due to popularity..but due to the fact they make about 80 bucks back give or take on manufacturering costs.... so they have actual revenue.

    I'm sure games have some affect on this market as well.. I won't deny that... but the true cause is one that most people don't take into account.

    Sony losing a ton of money on the PS3.... so much so that it killed their profit margin.

    I seriosuly doubt they will have any way to recover from it just by lowering prices... let alone making more games! For all I know.... that market will drop into Nintendo's lap.

  11. Eric Van Haesendonck

    Too expensive

    Honestly, there is no way I could justify this for a game only machine (Ok my gaming PC cost more, but I use it to record DVB-T, manage my music, surf the web, manage my mails, transcode video, create content with GIMP and ejay, record and edit my podcast, burn DVDs, upscale my DVDs to my HDTV etc...). Sony needs to either give the PS3 real computer functionality by bundling YDL with it and porting apps to it or lower the price if it wants to compete as a game machine.

    If they price it as a computer they need to deliver better computer functionality than what is now availlable, otherwise price it as a console!

  12. Zac

    Something a Little Different

    Nintendo deserve the success: they've moved away from the usual thumb bashing, big graphics machines and totally turned the console world on its head.

    Nintendo has always been about playability for me (how many people here remember drunken 4 player Goldeneye on the N64? Simple, but so fun). The Wii has just increased the fun factor. I had 4 mates, all hardened PC game geeks, playing Wii for hours laughing like mad and all said at the end of the night, "I'm getting one!".

    Any console that my Mum, in her 50s, can play has been created by people who seriously know what they're doing and where the gaming world is heading. All Sony and Micro$hite can do is spread rumours of the danger of people throwing the controllers about.

    Fellow Reg monkeys, give the Wii a try as you won't be disappointed (unless you can't get hold of one as the shops have all run out)

    Z

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not the games - the cost.

    Buy PS3 (ouch). Now replace telly with HD telly (double ouch). If you already have second telly for games you now need 2 (One for the console and you're not going to put up with the lesser one for films now.....) ouch, ouch, ouch.

    It's a lot of money for what in the shop demonstrations, to me, looks like an increased pixel count.

    Add in that PS3 / Xbox games are "more of the same with better graphics" and Wii games are both revolutionary and immersive because of the gameplay system and you start to wonder why anyone buys a PS3.

    A lot of the comments here so far seem to boil down to "the PS3's better 'cos I bought one and I can't be wrong". More fool thee......

    TeeCee

  14. CrackedButter

    @Graham Jordan

    The market has spoken, Graphics are not an issue if they're good enough. Only the geeks care about such stuff, just like the discussion of graphics with the PSP and the Gameboy lite, nobody cares. I would have thought in this case that price, fun and playability take preference.

  15. Steve-SCB

    So many reasons why the Wii is better

    Its suitable for the whole family, we have never had a games console like it before.

    - the controllers make sense, even the grandparents get it and can play the games

    - its small and unobtrusive, not in your face (Apple style)

    - there's no wires for the controllers (so its allowed in the lounge)

    - it'll play all of the back catalogue of game-cube games (which are now cheaper to buy since the Wii appeared)

    - free stuff (Wii channels) keeps getting added by the on-line upgrades

    - it didn't cost more than the original game cube did for early adopters

    Overall its succeeding because its is a complete design. All the aspects of the system are well thought out.

    Unfortunately some 3rd party games do not really take advantage of the graphics capability available (i.e. Spiderman 3), but they are more playable with the Wii controller than other ports.

  16. Joe Cooper

    Hardware

    The PS3's hardware really, really isn't that important in practice. You have to remember that for the previous two generations as well, the technological top dog wasn't reflected in sales.

    The PSX and PS2 were both bottom of the barrel in graphics but top in sales. I dunno what possessed Sony into thinking it suddenly mattered more.

    Remember the Nintendo 64 and the X-Box, and how they dominated sales? Nope, me niether...

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    wii xbox ps3

    As somone has mentioned above, the other consoles could potentially do very well out of wii converting new gamers. I suspect the xbox 360 might do better from this as it has a more similar ethos/asthetic to the wii than the ps3. Its also cheaper and is well know for its online play.

    When all the hype was building up for this generation of consoles I assumed I would get a ps3, but basically I would get whatever I thought would become the dominant console (& thus get the most support.)

    But the ps3 is.... expensive but hasn't really got anything else yet. The wii has wiimote, VC, wii sports, mario galaxy in the pipeline... The xbox has xbox live and halo3 in the pipeline. Basically the ps3 hasn't sold itself.

    The ps2 was a good, solid console, and its still great fun, it was also priced appropiately.

    I don't think the improvement of graphics from, say

    xbox-->xbox 360 has as big an effect on gameplay as previous generations have done. Most people are pretty happy with the ps2's graphics. The wii is *capable* of significantly more than that... But with the ethos of prioritising gameplay over graphics it hasn't been fully utilised yet.

    The fact is, we've got a 360 and a wii in the bar & every night there are loads of people gathered round playing mario strikers and wii sports. And that will really help sell consoles.

    If Blu-ray really takes off then the ps3 might have its fortunes improve. At the moment though from what I've seen people are apathetic or wary of HDDVD/BR.

    Its still really too early to guess what will happen in this generation, but as a guess, i would think proportions would be more even but the market itself would grow. I would predict the wii will get a large portion, like the DS, the 360 probably following as a 'gamer' console and the ps3 will probably survive as a high power wonderhorse like the xbox from the last generation.

  18. James

    Wii - something that has been missing for a while.

    Looking at the success of Guitar Hero on the PS2 should have pointed out to Sony and the industry in general that any game that’s easy to pick up, fun to play & multiplayer will sell a LOT.

    The best Wii games hit this spot on and with the added bonus of making everybody laugh at the ridicules motions that you must do to play – you simply can’t take Wii playing overly seriously, which is why I think it appeals to may more gamers.

    I have taken my Wii to many of my friends and EVERYBODY plays. Which is very odd as many of my friends other-halves would never pick up a console controller as the games where too serious and us men have a habit of talking them as such.

    Graphic are for PC users who will spend thousands on getting a lot better graphics than the PS3 can ever dream of, with lots of games that take full advantage of this and have been using displays, that everybody seems to have forgotten, are a lot higher res than HD will ever be.

    Simply put the Unique selling Points for each are

    Wii = Fun

    X-box = Serious

    PC = Graphics

    PS3 = None

    A massive OUPS goes out to Sony and vulture sorry venture capitalists are starting to notice.

  19. Daniel Ballado-Torres

    Wii and PS3

    Well, I have to say that sadly, I support the PS3 camp ... but 3 weeks ago I had my first experience with a Wii... and I have to say that it ROCKS!

    For the first time in my entire life, I was able to master a fighting game (Dragon Ball Z Budokai whatever) because ... it doesn't use funky weird movement combinations (double reverse ball! while pressing all buttons with your toes!) to use the "special powers" ... I only had to do simple movements with my arms!!! Needless to say, it was also another first when I beat *all* of my buddies, who are much more experienced on fighting games than me.

    Funny thing though ... some of them actually hate the Wii interface for fighting games. As for me, I might actually start playing more fighting games if they go down this trend.

    I only own a PSX ... and I might buy a PS3 because of Metal Gear Solid 4 ... but the cost over here (a whopping MXN 13000 or US$ 1250) is too steep for my income at the time. I would say that the price is what kills the console; ironically, the PSX smash hit was the combo of a cheap console + very good games.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Sony obviously forgot how they've beaten Sega

    Contrary to popular belief, Saturn was more powerful than Playstation... only it was much harder to program due to its multitude of processors (including two main ones, each less powerful than PS' one but more powerful when combined -- however, all ported games used just one as otherwise full redesign and rewrite of the code was required so most games ended up crappier on more powerful hardware) and lack of C libraries early in its life + it cost more!

    Early Saturn -- $299, Playstation release price -- $199. Guess who won? Sega couldn't lower it's price because it had more complex hardware and was already loosing money...

    Hmmm... hard to program, expensive, complex hardware that cannot be sold for less as already losing money on every sale... sounds familiar?

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Sony definately needs to lower their prices

    At RM3200, anyone with sense will definitely go for either a PC or a cheaper console.

    Also, last I heard the PS3 is still not officially released here. Only way you're getting one is by means of parallel import (hence the RM3200 price those import shops will slit your neck with - not that Sony's official stuff is cheaper anyway).

    > Nintendo are now the rightful owners of the entire world. BOW DOWN and stroke

    > their puppies.

    I don't mind doing that. Better than stroking Sony's.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    XNA Toolkit

    I forgot to add in my earlier comment that another factor on buying the 360 was the XNA toolkit that Microsoft have made available. I am starting to write some games for the 360, great fun!

  23. Rich

    RE: paradigm shift

    Hugh there is a Wii Component Video Cable which makes it look a lot better on a HD TV incase you were unaware.

    And Go Wii!!! I hope they bring more to the UK. As soon as I go to buy one its out of stock, it gets boring phoning all the stores :o(

  24. Michael Corkery

    I'm a Sony user for many years

    Had the ps, ps2, have a psp, my phone is sony ericsson (810i, excellent phone), and I still use my old dsc-t3 digital camera for a fun pocket digital.

    Now I've established that, I think it's fair to say that Nintendo deserve their success for innovating and giving the world cheap cheerful fun rather than high end processing. I'm about as likely to buy a wii as a ps3.

    I do think that in two to three years, things will have shifted, as the wii dates more and more, while the ps3 has room to recover if it gets the killer apps it needs. That said, there's no reason Nintendo can't come out with some new ideas for the wii, or maybe a Xii, a nex-gen better spec version for slightly more in a few years.

    Sony have put themselves in a difficult spot by finally being the one to price high - and by screwing europe on release, build, and price. They've miffed me enough that I won't buy until it has at least a few more great games, WITH online gaming.

    In their defence though, the poster earlier who pointed to the Wii as a revenue stream while others lose on sales - the wii is exceptional in the console market, and that's exactly why Nintendo deserve credit. However it's hard to replicat enovelty, and it will slide technologically faster. If the ps3 or Xbox360 get wide enough suppor,t the money is in licensing and publishing games, which can return big if played right. They just play to a bigger strategy.

    So enjoy the Wii, it may not be a laster, but it's a great kick in the pants for traditional console design! :)

  25. Warren Griffiths

    I have neither.............

    I read with interest all the news on Sonys PS3 and the XBox 360 and it still makes me laugh. I do not have a games console and have only briefly owned one for 3 weeks before burglars stole it and was never replaced. That was a PS2 and frankly, I was bored before I even started. All this oooooh the PS3 has gigapixell transformatting instead of shadow forcing doogle plops is ridiculous. WHO CARES?!? Stick it on your 32" Bog standard LCD at home and it all looks the same anyway. Plus, if the game is written poorly (which most are) then it doesn't use the technology to the full anyway! Any muppet knows that - just look at Windows Vista. Yes, the games are improving all the time and yes, there is interactivity over Broadband internet but at the end of the day, you have a peice of plastic in your hand, a silly headset on your head and you are frantically pressing buttons to 'kill', 'outrun' or 'out drive' an opponent whom you will probably never meet. Some social activity that is.

    However the Wii is something else. No Giga plops, terra pixels, nano polygonning comparisons here because it doesn't need it. It has become a social gaming event where friends can actually see, touch and talk to each other have a good time. Blimey, you can even have a drink with them and make a night of it. My point is it comes down to this. Some nerdy, geeky, I want the (perceivable) best whatever it takes bod is only interested in its performance and fancy named processors and couldn't care less about its playability etc.And thats where Sony have fallen down. These people are usually 12 and rely on parents who, being ADULTS, can obviously see that £425 to be locked in your bedroom for eternity is a fruitless waste of money. The Wii at half the price is playable by all and the return on investment is far greater.

    Do you know. I have convinced myself to buy one now. How manys that now then? 6 squillion 3 hundred and ninety - one now..........

  26. Highlander

    Console Envy

    I'm reading a lot of comments here from people who clearly don't have a PS3 but desperately want one. To hide their envy, (perhaps it's jealousy because they already blew their wad on a nice shiny 360?) they bleat on and on about Sony being bad, or PS3 being too expensive or crap. Then there are the somewhat irrational comments that go something like x360 is teh best, Wii roxx and PS3 is carp!

    How about some justification for you comments people? I could easily say PS3 rocks, Wii is kiddy crap that looks dated already and is capable of no more than my 6 year old PS2. I could also point out that the Xbox360 Premium and Elite come closer to costing what a PS3 does, but offer nothing like the capability. Can you play HD-DVD or BluRay on your 360? No. Go spend another $199 for that pleasure. Oh, wait suddenly it's as expensive as the PS3, but wait what's this? No wireless networking? Backwards compatibility that is little more than a joke.

    Come on people, get real. I have a PS3, it's really no bigger than the old original PS2, so all this bull about it being so huge is simply that, bull. Heavy? Hmmm.... yes, but so is my DVR, guess what, I lug neither of them around on my back every day, so I don't really notice the weight of it either. Wireless controller is nice, wireless networking is nice. BluRay playback is awesome. Upscaled games and DVDs are awesome. In fact playing some of the later PS2 games, especially if you're new to them, looks so good, you could be forgiven for thinking that the game had in some way been re-worked for PS3. Yes, the upscaling is that good.

    I haven't seen terribly many posters anywhere that actually have a PS3 and have a problem with the unit, the function or the price. Yes, $600 is steep, but I spent $1000 building a modest PC last year. If I'd spec'd it up for gaming I could have added at least another $500 to the bill, and that's without an HD playback device. So, cost is somewhat relative. I also remember back in the 80s, some 20 years ago, people paid 399pounds sterling for BBC Micros, and they paid (if memory serves) up to 199 pounds sterling for Spectrums, C64s and those bloody Amstrads. That was 20+ years of inflation ago, God alone knows how much that is in todays money. Cost is relative.

    You know that the worst cost is/was? The HDMI cable. Had I been stupid I'd have paid over $100 for a 'Monster' cable, or $50 for a Sony one, of $20-30 for a store bought 'generic' one. Even Belkins are in the $50 range for crying out loud. I got clever went to NewEgg.com and for a nice simple $4.99 plus shipping I got (in 3 days) a nice 6ft HDMI cable that works perfectly. If you want to bitch about the cost of something, pick your targets with more care. PS3 is a very good piece of hardware for the money, stop being sheep led around by Microsoft or Nintendo and evaluate the machine not the marketing. If you really must complain about the cost of console related items, please pick on the HDMI cable folks, they are printing money. $130 for a 8 foot HDMI cable? What is it made from braided plantinum? Ha!

  27. Giles Jones Gold badge

    That's who point

    People on here don't have a PS3 largely. Why? 400UKP is a lot for a games console.

    A Wii is 179UKP, 400-179 leaves a lot of money for games.

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