Japan: PS3 on the March, Wii slumps, Xbox 360 stagnates
It was surely only a matter of time before the incredible sales enjoyed by the Wii started to slump. And that has now started to happen, at least in Japan. This downturn for the Nintendo console has coincided with an increase in demand of the PS3, while the Xbox 360 continues to just simmer in its own pot of mediocrity.
The Wii has been an absolute phenomenon, selling better than anyone expected, bringing a whole new audience into gaming, and possibly changing the focus of the games industry for generations to come. But every console has its day, and it may be approaching midnight for the Wii.
There have been signs that the huge demand for the Nintendo console was starting to slow all year, but the sales figures seem to suggest it is too early to write it off just yet. But in Japan, even the sales figures are pointing towards a change occurring. Bad for Nintendo, good for Sony.
According to Reuters, the PS3 massively outsold the Wii during March.
Japanese Hardware Sales Figures – March
Sony PS3 – 146,948
Nintendo Wii – 99,335
Microsoft Xbox 360 – 43,172
The Xbox 360 is doing OK but not great. Certainly, Microsoft is selling enough units of its second-gen console to warrant having made the effort to try and interest the Japanese in giving the hardware a chance. But this story isn’t really about the Xbox 360.
The Playstation 3 has for the first time in 16 months outsold the Wii. That’s quite an achievement. Most are putting the success down to the release of Ryu Ga Gotoku 3 and Resident Evil 5, which finished first and second in the software sales chart respectively. But is there more at work here? Are the Japanese public finally realizing they need more than a Wii and their DS or PSP?
The downturn in sales of the Wii could be nothing more than market saturation. It could be that every Japanese gamer who wants a Wii now has one. If so, the same thing is likely to happen in other territories but with the relative size of the markets it’ll take a lot longer to see the results of such a trend.
Nintendo is unlikely to panic, especially because outside of Japan the Wii is still selling in much greater numbers than its competitors. But I can’t help thinking a slump in Wii sales in Japan mean the Wii 2 makes a much-earlier appearance than some people think.
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82 Responses to “Japan: PS3 on the March, Wii slumps, Xbox 360 stagnates”
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April 6th, 2009
Using Roman numerals and the “i” from the DSi, Nintendo have a few options for the name of the Wii 2…they could call it WII, WIIi, or Wiii.
Instead of calling the slim PS3 a PSthree, Sony should use the i and call it the PSi.
Never would pounds per square inch have had such an apt use….
April 6th, 2009
It’s nice to see the japanese have finally put their nun chucks down but what about the rest of the world?
April 6th, 2009
hahahaha nun chucks
April 6th, 2009
Opening Day 2009!!!!
April 6th, 2009
this is out of the blue but don’t u think it’s funny how 360 has to patton it’s exclusives while ps3rd exclusives are so powerful that 360 couldn’t run them at the right fps and such…flame on!!!
April 6th, 2009
dudes i go to my word press thing but theres no option to have a gravator?
April 6th, 2009
i have a full blown word press account… anyway to link the two?
April 6th, 2009
kevo, what language is ‘patton’ derived from? I don’t speak retard.
And if I were you, I wouldn’t want to compare things such as resolution etc. Two multiplatformers that come to mind are Bioshock and GTAIV. Both were in HD on the 360 (i.e 720p or higher), yet neither of them were HD on the PS3rd.
How about you fuck off somewhere else, you pathetic excuse for a troll?
April 7th, 2009
Mick, i am pretty sure they link via the email address used.
April 7th, 2009
sorry harry, You practically have a language degree speaking retard. GTA4 was not HD on either.
How about NG sigma being 1080p on the ps3 while NG2 was 545p on the 360.
heres to a “great looking” NG2 sigma.
April 7th, 2009
YOU HAVE TO GO TO GRAVATAR and then create an account… then… something something…
April 7th, 2009
Don’t make me go all “waterboy” on ur ass harry…
April 7th, 2009
You’ve called this a few too many times to be taken seriously Dave.
Do we get a full apology when Wii kills PS3 in Japan sales figures next month?
April 7th, 2009
Sorry phranctoast, GTA4 was indeed HD on 360, 720p native resolution as opposed to 640p on the PS3 (//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_IV). Would you like some salt with that foot?
Have fun with Ninja Gaiden when it comes out, it’s actually a fun game, I finished it last year.
And don’t try to compare my grasp on the English language with kevo’s. I may say some silly shit, but I never butchered my own language.
Kevo, leave my donkey out of this.
April 7th, 2009
GATORADE …..
April 7th, 2009
H2O!
April 7th, 2009
is it there?
April 7th, 2009
awwwww… i went to gravatar or watever and signed up the email i use here and i put a picture up and i saved it
April 7th, 2009
NICE ITS THERE!!!
April 7th, 2009
GATORADE ……
April 7th, 2009
@Harry
Wiki said it is so it has to be true!
LOL Thats funny.
April 7th, 2009
ncaissie does have a point Harry ??
April 7th, 2009
You don’t need Wiki to prove that. That was fact from the games launch.
April 7th, 2009
Link ??
Not saying I don’t believe yas, but a reputable link would help !!
April 7th, 2009
I agree with Spidey.
Prove it!
April 7th, 2009
Lack of good games finally is catching up to the Wii. The Wii and PS3 might go back and forth this year in Japan… but with the release of FF XIII at the end of the year, I think Sony will beat the Wii for total 2009 sales.
April 7th, 2009
://playstation.joystiq.com/2008/04/29/counting-pixels-gta-iv-runs-at-630p/
You ladies satisfied yet? Or should I keep googling ‘GTA4 native resolution’?
April 7th, 2009
phranctoast has gone awfully quiet on this post. It takes a big man to try to be a forum bully, but it takes a bigger man to put his hand up and admit that he is wrong.
April 7th, 2009
What a ridiculous joke all this “the PS3 is so powerful it can do what Xbox can’t” b*llocks is.
Even the flashiest looker PS3 has to date (Killzone 2) turns out to be well within Xboxs’ abilities.
“Guerrilla Games and Sony claim that the sci-fi first-person shooter is an impossible technical feat for the Xbox 360 console, not true says Christian Allen.
It’s all a matter of “console exclusivity,” noting that the technological differences between the rival platforms “aren’t all that much”. If the teams “were motivated” it would be on Xbox 360 too.
Halo could just as easily be done on PlayStation 3, but of course it won’t be because Microsoft owns the property.
Read it and weep PS3 fanboys……
“Oh yeah, Killzone 2 could totally be done on 360 if Guerrilla wanted to. The tech is there, if the team and the publishers were motivated, they could do it, just like Halo could come to PS3 if MS didn’t own it,” ex-Bungie man Allen tells HipHopGame.
“The tech differences between the PS3 and the 360 aren’t all that much; it’s really about the delivery of content.”
Does Mr Allen honestly expect us to believe a giant corporation would spin facts in such a manner as to selfishly promote their own product?”
http://www.strategyinformer.com/news/3880/killzone-2-could-totally-be-done-on-xbox-360-says-ex-bungie-dev
April 7th, 2009
Its weird how you people go to such lengths to prove that the 360 is more powerful just because you think that it runs on a higher resolution on the 360 when in fact, reviewers like Gamespot clearly stated in their reviews that GtaIV looked better on the Ps3.
And why are you coming back with the same GTAIV has low resolution on the Ps3 argument?
Try a real argument. Like this one.
Show me one game on the 360 that can match Killzone 2 or Uncharted on graphics.
But you know what?, you can’t show me because they don’t exist.
But I’m sure instead of trying to name games that look remotely as good as killzone2 you’re gonna say
“Gta IV runs on 640p on the PS3 and even though reviewers who played both versions say it looks better on the Ps3, I disagree”
April 7th, 2009
hamburger
You’re left clutching mere opinion.
The fact is (as I just shpwed) even your beloeved KX2 can be easily done on Xbox.
As I have always said the differences between the 2 consoles are minute.
That leaves the PS3 fanboys desperately trying to justify the additional cost of the PS3.
Enjoy your video player.
LOL
April 7th, 2009
See, now why bother making a decent post, and then putting some pathetic crap in it like ‘Enjoy your video player.’
Why not say ps3rd a few times in there too? You know, spice it up a little?
I have to say, the funn thing about the whole 630 vs 720 is, you really gonna notice the staggering differance 90 pixels on the top and bottom of your screen is going to make? You also have to remember there are other technologies at work here too (aliasing type etc.) so its not just ‘OMG my resolution PNZORZALORZ JOOOZ!’
Oh and congratulations Kevo. It only took 5 posts but you derailed this one into another ‘MY CoNsOleZ MOARRRRR PowerfulZ than yourZZZ’ debate. Nice
April 7th, 2009
“The fact is (as I just shpwed) even your beloeved KX2 can be easily done on Xbox.”
-WTF? I scrolled up and I don’t see that… DVD9 doesn’t have the space for the textures that were used for each level on KZ2 (2 GB each) – fact. So it would be possible but you would need a few discs for the campaign and a few more for the multilayer.
But keep telling yourself that FF XIII will only be on four DVDs lol.
April 7th, 2009
360 users don’t mind disc swapping, so let’s chalk that off as being a problem.
April 7th, 2009
Ah SW, you keep coming back time and again…
-Arvis
April 7th, 2009
Your ps3rd fanboy arguements clearly aren’t convincing gamers as the ps3rd is last in the console race.
April 7th, 2009
Great lengths?? It was the PS3rdbots (hehe) who were requesting multiple links to back up my claim, something which I did. If anything, it’s the PS3rdbots who were going at great lengths to disprove my claim.
Anyway, if you are tired of the GTA4 resolution argument, we can always argue about the graphics in Fallout 3. I am not sure if the resolution between the two console versions are the same, but the graphical quality between the two platforms is very noticeable. Noticeable enough that the PS3rd version was scored lower than the superior 360 version.
April 7th, 2009
*FACEPALM*
we have had this argument before… and we… well I came to the same conclusion… just because a developer makes a multiplatform game that looks better on one console… doesnt mean that the other console is weak…
Im interested to know how people come up with things like “killzone 2 could totally be done on the xbox” or “mgs 4 could totally be done on the xbox”… how bout you stop flapping your gums and do it… make the game… then Ill believe you… just because I say Halo 3 can be made in the PS3 doesnt mean it will… doesnt mean that the 360 is “weaker” or has “less POWAH”
we dance around the same subjects… its so depressing… we have had all these arguments before… devs and PR people open their mouths… and then we act like a loyal puppy dog and try to vindicate them…
how bout the devs and the PR people stop flapping their gums… I only want you gums flapping on my crotch… nowhere else…
yes I went there… because Im “edgy”… tell you fwends…
April 7th, 2009
what about your nipples?
April 7th, 2009
I think this might be more applicable here, so copy-paste-time!
“OMG I srsly peed a little from CADCONs responses. How come proud PS3 owners never trip the fuck out and resort to name calling and neo-con style bullshit campaigns when they get called out on their lies?
Oh yeah, its because we don’t have to, we actually have some substance behind the confidence in our chosen console.
There is no shame in enjoying the lower tech end of gaming… I don’t know ANY wii owners who put their dukes up anytime someone points out the inadequacy of their console. Because they like what they own, and don’t fool themselves into thinking they are on the cutting edge of anything.
Unlike the Xbots.”
April 7th, 2009
“OMG I srsly peed a little from CADCONs responses. How come proud PS3 owners never trip the fuck out and resort to name calling and neo-con style bullshit campaigns when they get called out on their lies?”
JofaMang obviously puts his head in the sand when Ivan and hamburger decide to call people names. Or maybe he thinks they’re justified?
At any rate, if he was so ’secure’ with his console of choice, he wouldn’t be posting on here claiming he’s secure with it. Any sort of insult directed to his console of choice would have not affected him. However he felt the need to post a response…
April 7th, 2009
Harry as you will see below (cut and paste of your link) They don’t state “fact” (note they use the word “apparently”) it is mere opinion, and in the same column they state that even with the “apparent” lack of pixels, the ps3rd version still looks better than 360, which again is opinion.
I appreciate your effort though
And my nipples are just fine.
Quote: Picking up the PS3 version of GTA IV, so you can get as many pixels onto your TV as possible? Well, that’s apparently not what’s happening. According to the pixel counters at the Beyond 3D forums, the PS3 version doesn’t run at 1080p. Heck, it doesn’t run at 720p. Rather, it runs at 640p — still enough to be “HD,” but far from the “full HD” experience Sony usually touts.
Pixel hunters were enraged when it was discovered Halo 3 ran at a lower resolution on Xbox 360 than advertised. However, should people stay away from the PS3 version? Probably not. Many Beyond 3D users note that in spite of the lesser resolution, the superior effects of the PS3 version gives it the visual edge: “the PS3 version looks nicer IMO. Everything just blends in nicely and makes a seamless contrast between front objects and background objects.
April 7th, 2009
I might though…. I don’t like the hazed, washed out look on the new games (on ps3 and 360)
Apparently this is a “cutting edge” new effect……
Well it sucks developers …. sharp clear effects please.
April 7th, 2009
darkwhitehair:
“we have had this argument before… and we… well I came to the same conclusion… just because a developer makes a multiplatform game that looks better on one console… doesnt mean that the other console is weak…”
Quite right dwh.
Just because one dev optimises a game for one console (probably with financial inducement) does not mean sqat about the max tech abilities of any other console.
“Im interested to know how people come up with things like “killzone 2 could totally be done on the xbox” or “mgs 4 could totally be done on the xbox”… how bout you stop flapping your gums and do it… make the game… then Ill believe you…”
I don’t need to.
One of their ex-team members who made the game said so.
I’m prepared to believe he might well have a damned sighjt more insight than the fanboys rolling in here to big-up the console of their choice
(and why is it always the PS3 gang?).
April 7th, 2009
“and why is it always the PS3 gang?”
You can’t be serious ……. really.
There are fools on both sides of the fence m8.
April 8th, 2009
as long as we don’t have Ivan on our side of the fence I’m happy. He’s one arse goblin we can do without.
April 8th, 2009
i dunno, i would have thought that kev/CAD/CON out weighed ivan/kevo… though… either way there all fools..
purple monkey dishwasher
April 8th, 2009
oh and arvis ive adopted your style of sign off… see you go
-Arivs
im am now going to go
purple monkey dishwasher
April 8th, 2009
it was just an opinion sheesh but SW what is ur psn??
April 8th, 2009
“-WTF? I scrolled up and I don’t see that… DVD9 doesn’t have the space for the textures that were used for each level on KZ2 (2 GB each) – fact. So it would be possible but you would need a few discs for the campaign and a few more for the multilayer.”
Crysis has better graphics and runs at a high resolution than any console game and yet it fits on a single DVD.
April 8th, 2009
lockdown and spideydog hamburger…everyone with ps3 psn??
April 8th, 2009
but isn’t pc more powerful than both consoles lol look how i left out the wii-tard
April 8th, 2009
Nope, because kev, CAD and CON can make sense. Ivan is pure dribble.
Good point about Crysis me_.
April 8th, 2009
but ivan is funny when you read his stuff…
and kev makes scene? “it doesn’t have follage, it doesn’t count”
April 8th, 2009
so if they can do it so well on a dvd on PC… why cant they do it on xbox 360 (serious question, not flame bait)
id say that some games are getting to computer-esk in graphics but they will never be equal… the computer has tech that keeps on evolving from month to month… where consoles are 6-7 years (10 in some cases) apart from up grades
April 8th, 2009
i find ivan annoying. Go to his website, he’s even made a dedication to me in his gamer pics.
April 8th, 2009
happy.. its still speculation… I dont know who said it… but how would a developer who has only worked with a PS3 know if the game can be ported to the 360?
and seriously? Crysis on the PC? before the Cryengine 3… could you play Crysis on a system that works on a $900 PC with high graphics and full HD?
if you can come up with a mathematical way to count GRAFIX! like Forza… then maybe Ill believe you… till then… I wont compare graphics of different games… cus thats just stupid…
April 8th, 2009
Ivan has a web site ????
April 8th, 2009
coolmoustache.com
April 8th, 2009
2girls1cup.com
hes the cup
April 8th, 2009
awww sw beat me to the punch…
April 8th, 2009
Harry you are one evil horrible little man …… I may have accidently clicked on your name and was forwarded to one of the most disgusting things I have every seen (far surpassing soggy sao’s)
April 8th, 2009
great work spidey… now im in a catch 22… i wanna look at what makes it so wrong, yet i know its going to be worse then watching kev attempt to make love to a man… WHY DO YOU HAVE TO SAY THESE THINGS… I WAS PERFECTLY FINE WITH NOT TOUCHING HIS NAME TILL NOW…
April 8th, 2009
Well, he does like being touched by blokes ???
April 8th, 2009
I just bought a PC that is more powerful then the PS3 and 360.
I just need to buy a game to try on it. Crisis plays ok but it open in a stupid window instead of full screen.
Does anyone know of a good game that I can test out my pc with?
Farcry runs great on full.
April 8th, 2009
uh…congrats to sony? it only took them 16 months to have one good month against the wii….ooooo..the end of the wii is near…lol…
April 8th, 2009
darkwhitehair:
“how would a developer who has only worked with a PS3 know if the game can be ported to the 360?”
Mere wriggling & straw-grasping, dwh.
How do you know exactly what he has or has not worked on at various points in his career?
I mean, he was only a ‘design team leader’ at Bungie afterall and ex-Red Storm and ex-Ubisoft
(who have made Xbox games).
I’m far more inclined to take notice of a known senior & experienced game dev than the baseless musings often encountered from the PS3 peanut galley here.
But, it’s a free board, you can continue the silly quibbling if you like.
Like most objective people in gaming he is only speaking the truth when he says “The tech differences between the PS3 and the 360 aren’t all that much; it’s really about the delivery of content.”
Obviously this hurts the PS3 fanclub enormously.
April 8th, 2009
kev,
Actually, its two good months. They beat the wii in February also.
On a positive note, the PS3 and the 360 sales overall month to month aren’t that far apart. Each console sold an average of about 100K more than their rival in their stronger respective territory.
April 8th, 2009
phranctoast
That doesn’t seem to be very positive for the PS3.
So, still absolutely no sign of them catching up on Xbox then?
April 8th, 2009
“Crysis has better graphics and runs at a high resolution than any console game and yet it fits on a single DVD.”
Correct me if I’m wrong (probably am, since I know zilch about PC gaming) but can’t you just compress the ever loving crap out of the game data on a PC-DVD and then, during install, it all de-compresses and the game actually runs off the hard-drive? I was under the impression that PC games don’t actually run off the disc itself. *shrugs*
-Arvis
April 8th, 2009
HH,
Depends on how you look at it. It’s holding it’s own against a system that was out for a year longer establishing it’s fanbase, which is also selling a sku at $200 cheaper than the cheapest ps3.
The usual fanboy doom and gloom BS about the Ps3 looks rather silly in this light.
Arvis
You are correct. DVD’s are compressed and unpacked on the HDD.
April 8th, 2009
“You are correct. DVD’s are compressed and unpacked on the HDD.”
Yes but you can only compress images so much before it starts to get lossy and most of the formats used are probably already compressed in some way or form. E.g try compressing an MP3 or JPG/PNG/TGA etc etc etc. It won’t happen.
So yes, if PC’s which run and are capable of far far higher resolutions that consoles can have gorgeous games like Crysis on a single disc (I don’t remember the install size) then it does make the ‘ WE NEED TEH BLURAY FOR HIG REZOR TEXTUREZZZZALORZZZ’ look a bit silly.
April 8th, 2009
happy…
so the PS3 and 360 has minute difference in hardware? thats the big news? we already knew that…
my problem is when people make stupid comments… this guy was obviously an important part in bungie… why the hell does he need to say shit like that? its not like Halo 3 and Killzone 2 are in direct competition…
it doesnt help with the fanboy drivel that I have to endure everyday… in fact its kinda stupid on his part…
April 8th, 2009
That’s seems weird to me, dwh.
If anything I’d say a senior dev coming out and publicly telling the truth
(that PS3 & Xbox are almost identical in ability)
is about as good an anti-fanboy set of comments as you can get
(and from a highly credible source to boot).
His comment about KZ2 & Halo 3
(that each system could easily handle the other’s game)
is simply saying what needed saying
(and what various fanboys have been in deep denial about – especially after all the recent hype & idiotic BS about KZ2 & the PS3).
Personally I thought it was worthwhile for those very reasons.
As you often say you are so much against the fanboy mentality I’m surprised you are so negative about it and his comments.
April 8th, 2009
It’s a pretty typical move actually… Something positive happening for the PS3 means a M$ rep will be talking shit in a matter of hours.
April 9th, 2009
What are you talking about Spidey? Scatlovers is a site dedicated to jazz music, isn’t it?
April 9th, 2009
i thought it would be along the lines of the song “scatman”… which is currently my msg tone
April 9th, 2009
bada bada beeeeee ba ba ba-da bop
April 9th, 2009
@SW He didn’t mean compress the pictures and video. He meant compress the entire disc like a zip file. And yes they do that when the package the application.
April 9th, 2009
Erm, I was under the impression thats exactly what I said… *shrug*
E.G, take half life one. Model, plus animations, plus TGA image for skin packaged into a .MDL file. But the TGA was already ‘compressed’ as much as it could be to begin with(if at all) so ‘packaging’ it into the MDL file really doesn’t decrease the file size significantly. Sure you may get some ‘code’ that gets compressed if its just like plain text, but the code makes up a tiny part of the final product so I didn’t really bother talking about it.
TGAs, JPEGs, MP3’s etc were just referenced as a ‘real world’ example.
April 9th, 2009
It’s a good question and I’m not sure of the details. One far better addressed to a software developer. All I’m aware of is DVD games unpacking on the PC and the folder size exceeds that of the original DVD.
April 9th, 2009
because he hasnt worked with a PS3… and he hasnt worked with Killzone 2… he has worked for Bungie… so the only thing he could say that would have any credibility is that Halo 3 could be done on the PS3…
now if a guerilla employee said that Killzone 2 could be done on the 360… then Id believe him… I dont care really… the more people play it… the more people enjoying it…