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Nintendo’s Wii opening a big lead in sales over Sony’s PlayStation 3

February 1, 2008
By Ken Worsley


Back in early December, we reported that Sony’s PlayStation 3 had outsold Nintendo’s Wii gaming console for the first time ever in November 2007. Back then, in the four weeks ending November 25, Sony moved 183,217 PS3 units in Japan, while Nintendo sold 159,193 of its Wii consoles. At the time, Sony’s 10% price cut was credited with pushing its sales over Nintendo’s, and the was some speculation as to whether or not the market for game consoles would switch to Sony’s favor.

That, however, does not seem to be the case. In December, Nintendo again outsold Sony. Enterbrain is now reporting that in the four weeks ending January 27, Nintendo opened a wide gap in sales figures, moving 479,931 units of the Wii versus Sony’s 165,719 PlayStation 3 shipments.

Why the sudden jump in Wii sales? Without a doubt, the “Wii Fit” has been a huge factor in Nintendo’s regained dominance. The piece of “exercise” hardware, which has not yet been on sale for ten weeks, is showing sales of 1.2 million units. If hardware is to become the factor adding alpha to sales figures in 2008, Sony might be in for some real trouble.

Hardware aside, Nintendo still seems poised to dominate on the software front. With the latest title featuring the Super Mario Brothers, “Super Smash Brothers Brawl,” released yesterday, Nintendo is starting to look unstoppable in the near-term. The market seems to agree: Sony shares fell just over 8% in today’s trading in Tokyo.

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Comments

4 Responses to “Nintendo’s Wii opening a big lead in sales over Sony’s PlayStation 3”

  1. Vimy on February 1st, 2008 8:18 pm

    I think the equation is very simple–the Wii is so much more fun to play, and playability trumps awesome graphics every time.

    I’ve played both consoles and the Wii wins hands down. The PS3 has far superior graphics, but what kills it, in my opinion, is the online play. I find it far too clunky (the interface varies way to much from game to game for my tastes), and buggy.

  2. WG on February 1st, 2008 10:05 pm

    Agreed on the online play. We’re going to wait a bit for a really fluid online play platform. The Wii was a bit fun, but I do like the better graphics…Wii won’t be able to do anything like the new Gran Turismo.

  3. Ken Worsley on February 1st, 2008 11:49 pm

    Am I the only person who finds the Wii horribly annoying? When I want to work out, I go to the gym, where they have proper equipment. Selling workout equipment for the Wii is just bogus, as studies have shown. It just seems to me that video game consoles are about great graphics and games that rock. Hell, I still play Doom 2.

  4. John S on February 3rd, 2008 3:01 pm

    I only used it once but it was fun. Definitely more fun with a group, like the golf game. But the online part helps the group aspect, since you’ll always find someone to play against.

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