Nintendo Wii to outsell PS3 and Xbox 360 combined in 2009
By Dave Parrack
We all know what an incredible success the Wii has been since its launch, and what a surprise that success is to everyone up to and including Nintendo itself. But surely it can’t last forever can it? Surely the vastly more powerful PS3 and Xbox 360 will start to outsell it won’t they?
Not according to industry analyst Daniel Ernst of Hudson Square Research, who has predicted that the Wii will outsell the PS3 and Xbox 360 combined over the course of the 2009 fiscal year.
The fiscal year runs from March 2008 to March 2009, so we have just entered it. According to GameDaily, Ernst has published his fiscal outlook for the next twelve months, and has predicted that Microsoft will sell 11.2 million units of the Xbox 360, Sony will sell 12.5 million PS3s while Nintendo will sell 23 million Wiis.
He said:
“Microsoft got the jump on the industry with a one-year head start, but nine months after its launch, the Nintendo Wii overtook the Xbox 360 on a global basis.”
“While the PS3, has struggled out of the gate, we note that since last fall, the console has been outselling the Xbox 360 in Europe, and in the first two months of this year has even outsold the Xbox 360 on its home turf, in the U.S. (In Japan, overtaking the Xbox 360 was almost immediate).”
“With its strong slate of software scheduled for the coming year, we expect a material acceleration for the PS3 this year, but we believe the Wii will sell more than the PS3 and Xbox 360 combined this year.”
As much as I wonder how long this run of demand for the Wii can continue, it certainly seems like carrying on for the foreseeable future.
While the supply problems may be over in most parts of the world, except bizarrely in North America for whatever reason (and there are a few conspiracy theories doing the rounds), stocks are still being eagerly snapped up by people of all ages.
Nintendo really is on to a winner. For starters they are the only one of the big three to actually make money on the hardware, meaning that the poor software sales, when compared to the PS3 and Xbox 360, don’t really matter so much.
The big N also know that when demand does eventually wane, it can be ready and waiting with the Wii 2 or whatever it ends up being called, as it hasn’t spent such a huge amount of time and money developing the current generation console, and unlike Sony and Microsoft, don’t need 10 year lifespans to justify the effort.
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April 4th, 2008
I know five families including my own that have a Wii. I know of five families that have a Wii sitting gathering dust while other game units in the house are watching movies and downloading content and gaming on the internet with other friends and families.
Everything now has HD or is switching in 2009. The Wii just doesn’t fit into the future.
April 5th, 2008
I know five families including my own that have a Wii. I know of five families that have fun playing the Wii on a regular basis while other game units gather dust.
Everything now is about having fun. The PS3 and X360 just don’t fit into the future.
April 5th, 2008
I have the wii too, and its much more fun than anything I imagined it would be. PLus hd is awesome, I got my nintendo wii hd pack from wiipeddler.com since its still sold out everywhere and I don’t feel like waiting on line for 8hrs
April 5th, 2008
I think this just goes to show that visuals can only go so far, it’s gameplay that really win the day. The Wii has got us off our seats and enjoying family fun, it deserves to sell well.
April 6th, 2008
Raise your hand how many times you read a rabid fanboy use the “I own a (place console name here) and it’s sitting gathering dust in my house” comment.
That little comment ALWAYS comes from someone that:
1. Doesn’t actually own that console he disses.
2. Lacks the brain power to realized that EVERY GAME CONSOLE STARTS TO GATHER DUST THE MOMENT YOU PULL IT OUT FROM THE BOX.
Sheesh… inbred fool.
April 7th, 2008
@ Laura, wow, someone with intelligence, so rare it’s a super power these days, welcome to the club.
April 7th, 2008
Hahah. I was making fun of Shadow-Keeper’s lame argument (hence: Light-Giver). Notice how my post is almost the same? xD
April 8th, 2008
this could happen. the pricing of the wii just makes it too hard to pass up.
April 8th, 2008
laura - you know it’s bad when Mou calls you “intelligence”. The term “collects dust” is a term gamers use when they don’t use an item very often, ie; games with poor replay value, ps3, ps3 online, etc… For instance, you don’t actually think canines and felines are falling when someone says, “it’s raining cats and dogs”, do you? I”m just embarrassed you’re on a gaming site and had to have that explained to you. hope this helps.
April 8th, 2008
Heres my story….
On Christmas 2007 i got a Nintendo Wii had some real fun with it for 3 days because i got pokemon battle revolution also for wii. I got bored around Jan. 3 2008. I didn’t see any good games or fun games worth buying but i waited until March 9 and got Super Smash Bros Brawl. It was really fun and i got on wi-fi as soon as i got it……played it….it sucked. “Poof” there went my wii experience and now im bored as hell with it. I am saving up to get a Xbox 360. Thats my story
April 11th, 2008
Unknown, doesn’t sound like you made much of an effort to find any good games. The fact that you bought Pokemon Battle Revolution at all shows that your choice of games is somewhat suspect.
If you want to know some games worth buying, here is a list of games I own that are awesome:
Super Mario Galaxy
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Super Smash Bros Brawl
No More Heroes
Zak and Wiki
I don’t know why you didn’t enjoy Brawl, but there are plenty of awesome games on the Wii. Mario Kart Wii will be out in a few more weeks.
April 22nd, 2008
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