Kim: Xbox, PS3 and Wii war continues until one hits 100 million sales
By Dave Parrack
The console war continues apace, with the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Wii all still in with a shout of being the ultimate victor. And according to Microsoft’s Shane Kim, this state of affairs will continue until one of the three contenders hits 100 million sales.
You may have noticed that we here at GAMER.BLORGE (it’s capitalised in the same way that DAVE PARRACK is) focus our attention towards the current generation console war. Oh sure, we write about games and media bitching about our hobby too, but the main thrust of the site is the ongoing battle between the three main home consoles.
So I was ecstatic to read this morning that Shane Kim, corporate vice president of Microsoft and head of the company’s internal games studios, has declared that the war is far from over, despite some claiming Nintendo already has it in the bag, and will carry on for a good long while yet.
He was talking to Wired about a number of things related to gaming, including territorial differences, the Wii Remote style Xbox 360 controller, upcoming games, and Xbox Live. But the most interesting thing he spoke about was the current state of the console war.
“Now, if you don’t get 10 million units in Japan, can you get to 100 million units overall? I’d love to get 90 million units and have that problem. That’s what we’re really trying to focus on. I think it’s way too early to declare a winner. Some guys were trying to declare Nintendo the winner of this generation last night.”
“I think it’s way too early [to call]. [We can call it] when somebody’s well on their way to reaching 100 million units.”
“This is only the third year of our existence and only the second year of Sony and Nintendo’s existence. Are we just amusing ourselves by trying to declare a winner and loser while the customers are still out there deciding?”
He then went on to dismiss Sony by claiming they only won the last generation by being able to build on the success of the previous one. And as he rightly points out, they are now in third place, and not able to crow like they formerly could.
Kim does make some good points and I certainly think it is too early to declare a winner in this generation’s console war quite yet. All three of the home consoles have a chance at this point of coming out on top, as we still have at least three years left until we see the next gen emerge.
However, if we’re talking about who is most likely to reach 100 million consoles sales first (if anyone), then Nintendo is looking the most likely at this point with the Wii. While the Xbox 360 and PS3 may find their markets drying up, Nintendo has the casual gaming fraternity to turn to, and that is a bottomless pit of consumers.
Related:
Stumble It!
Tips N4G
May 21st, 2008
I know that the PS2 has huge sale #’s but is it because most people bought it 2 to 3 times already? Everyone I know bought it at leat twice since it first launched. Their first one craped out and now there on there second one because it’s so affordable and they have a lot of games for the PS2 already. I just wonder what the total market of gamers is in the whole world. Because I thought most gamers would have moved on to the new generation of consoles by now. Maybe it will cap out after 2009. I just don’t believe that the PS2 sold that many consoles to just 1 customer each. I know there were tons of re-buys.
May 21st, 2008
All I’m really saying is; Is there really 100 Million gamers out there that will buy one of the 3 consoles on the market? Or are these repeat buyers or multi-console buyers?
May 21st, 2008
@CAD, while I do believe that there are people that had to buy more than one system, I also believe that there are more than 100 million gamers on earth.
May 21st, 2008
http://xboxer.tv/2008/05/richard_gaywood_banned_from_xb_1.html
xD
Microsoft is homophobic xD !!!
Shane Kim is a traitor to his country… he has betrayed mother Japan… he must be dealt with… NEVER WORK FOR ENEMIES OF THE EAST young grasshopper…. the devil west will get you with their strip club.. their pamelas anderson voo doo…
May 21st, 2008
Interesting point on the PS2… there should be a similar repeat in this gen’s sales when the redesigns come down. Speaking of sales numbers, could almost 25% or more of the Wii’s sales be in reseller stock right now? Ebay has almost 20x more auctions for new Wii’s than the other consoles, and it looks like the number of it’s resellers (the guys/gals that stock retail before real customers) and auctions for new consoles are only increasing over time.
http://gamernow.blogspot.com/
May 21st, 2008
Carl,
It is my opinion that the “Buy a Wii - get bored - sell it on eBay” trend will only increase over time. I will be surprised if the console keeps up its retail numbers through 2009.
-Arvis
May 21st, 2008
oh come on shane kim… 100 million units? i dont buy it.
May 21st, 2008
diesel
PS2 sold well over the 100000000 mark. This is why I asked if that is a realistic # of gamers when most people are on the second or thrid PS2
May 21st, 2008
Arvis, I’d buy that for a dollar except for the fact that the numbers I was talking about are for new consoles specifically, not used ones.
May 21st, 2008
Carl,
Interesting.
*muses*
I’ve often thought that, in a couple years or less, we’ll see a slow flood of used Wii consoles up for grabs all over the internet. This seems to be an oft-repeated phrase for this generation of gaming but: “Time Will Tell.”
-Arvis
May 21st, 2008
I think its speculation at this point.
One could say there are simply more Wii auctions because there are many many people trying to make a quick $ by reselling them for above shelf price.
It still manages to shift 700k a month, 2000 auctions isn’t even a dent in that, even if there were ten times that amount its still not a big dent.
The ‘casual’ (hate that term) market is eating up the wii, and will eat up wii fit.
/me loves my wii.
May 22nd, 2008
same could be said for xbox360…. how many of those are re-bought units?
May 22nd, 2008
Right, how many 360 “new” consoles sold numbers are due to RROD?
And sorry Dave, Wii isn’t IN this generation of consoles. You should be comparing it to its real competition, PS2 and Xbox. Just because Nintendo was what, 7 years late to market, doesn’t mean the Wii competes with PS3 and X360. IMNSHO, they appeal to TOTALLY different buyer audience. Gamers don’t look at current gen games and decide “oh I’ll get the Wii”. Different markets completely.
May 22nd, 2008
sorry, Kim…but the days of 100 millon consoles selling in one gen, by one maker, is just about over… and you can thank your boy Robbie Bach for that one and the $400 launch price.
you (MS, SONY) priced yourselves out of most gamers budgets. now shut up and get the price down to $199, THEN we’ll talk…
May 22nd, 2008
spidey - since ms is fixing 360 for free, they don’t count the replacements as sales as the consumer does not go to the retailer to make the sale.
sony was smart last gen. by ignoring the problem, forcing the gamer to buy more than one ps2, it padded their sales numbers really nicely.
ms doesn’t have this advantage.
May 22nd, 2008
Spidy
Why would you re-buy a console that has 3 year warrenty. That makes no sense.