UK Retailer predicts biggest Christmas ever for PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii
By Dave Parrack
UK games retailer Gamestation are so confident of huge sales in both hardware and software this holiday season that they have seen fit to predict the “biggest Christmas ever”.
The games industry is perfectly placed to tidy up this Christmas, with sales of all three next gen home consoles and the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP poised to boom. Whatever your console of choice, this holiday season will see a bunch of great games coming out, and could see a whole new swathe of fans get in to gaming.
That’s certainly what Jeremy Gerkin, joint MD of Gamestation thinks, as he told GamesIndustry:
“We’ve got the PS3 in two different sizes, the Wii – availability might be a little bit difficult so people are getting them in early – the 360 and the Elite 360, and then the DS. So from a hardware perspective it’s by far the best year ever. And there’s a really exciting line-up of games as well”.
Jeremy goes on to praise Nintendo for their marketing of the Wii and the fact it’s still the console most in demand a year after it’s release.
“It’s (Nintendo) doing all it can to produce the Wii as quick as it can,”
“It’s been amazing how they’ve managed to keep the interest in it. A year after release and as soon as we get them we sell them.”
“We haven’t got a situation where we’ve got them and we’re stuck with them for six months. They come in and go out on the same day. When it first came out we wondered if Nintendo could keep the interest going but they have certainly managed it. It’s an amazing job.”
He’s right. Even if you can’t stand the Wii and think it’s a waste of time, money and electrical components, you’ve got to admit Nintendo have done brilliantly to get the machine to where it is.
Not only has it sold by the bucket load, it is still in demand with people of all ages wanting a piece of the action. It also appeals more to a wider range of gamers than both the Xbox 360 and PS3, with both casual and hardcore gamers finding something to play on the machine.
Gerkin also spoke about the PS3 and how Sony’s new two tier strategy has affected sales:
“If anything it’s demonstrated what good value the 60GB version is,”
“What we expected initially was that we were going to sell a boat load of 40GB models but that’s not what has happened.”
“Customers have walked in and seen the GBP 279 price and then seen that the GBP 349 price is exceptional value. By bringing out a cheaper model it’s improved the sales of the higher-priced model. It’s great for the industry because it’s another format for people to get behind.”
Again, that’s interesting as it kind of shows Sony’s new strategy is working for sales, although maybe not in the way they had first intended it to.
What is clear is that with the recent wave of price drops and new bundle deals, this Christmas is going to be a bumper one for gamers and the games industry alike. Whatever your weapon of choice, this is all something we can agree is good, no?
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on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 at 3:18 pm
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October 24th, 2007
Good article - kudos Dave. One think I think bear mentioning is the Wii software sales though. While hardware is going fine, software sales are horrible, with an average of 1.3 sold per console. Unless this changes soon, there is going to be serious issues with publishers (third party of course) and they will simply drop it in waves.. even if its cheap to develop for, if you cant sell products, you may as well be throwing money in the bin.