wraggster
March 6th, 2013, 01:02
PlayStation 3, the Sony system that has been lagging behind its competitors for seven years straight, might end up being the best selling console of the current generation.http://cdn.medialib.computerandvideogames.com/screens/dir_2978/image_297838_thumb_wide300.jpg (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/viewer.php?mode=article&id=297838)
Instinctively, it seems unfathomable. The games industry marked PlayStation 3 down as a multi-threaded $600 mess of a device back in 2007 when Sony was busy firing those responsible for it (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/162847/ken-kutaragi-bails-out/)
. In the years that followed, Sony spent much of its time trying to wring profitability out of the system more than anything else. Eventually, when the PS3 was finally making steady progress, any faint praise was drowned out by a year-defining catastrophe known as the PSN hack (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/299419/psn-failure-update-personal-information-stolen-admits-sony/)
.But here we are today, with an estimated 77 million PS3s sold worldwide (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/385811/ps3-lifetime-shipments-reportedly-overtake-xbox-360/), about 23 million units behind the market leader, the Wii - and enough potential in the console to carry on past Nintendo's high-flying system.http://cdn.medialib.computerandvideogames.com/screens/dir_2982/image_298290_thumb_wide620.jpg (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/viewer.php?mode=article&id=298290)
Annual sales comparisons show the Wii boomed then lagged while the PS2 and PS3 have grown steadily
Let's get the clearest fact out of the way: the Wii is not going to sell many more units.Nintendo's revolutionary motion controlled device has performed in a polar opposite manner to the PS3; it sparked hysteria at launch (in one twelve month period it sold a staggering 25 million systems worldwide) but its momentum has slowed significantly.Nintendo could only sell five million Wiis in the 12 months leading up to the Wii U's launch, and Nintendo has in fact downgraded its global Wii sales expectations for the current fiscal year to about 4 million units.And an even more affordable new Wii Mini (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/393490/wii-mini-price-uk-retailers-start-at-pound80/) system has failed to pick up momentum, only managing to shift about 36,000 units since its release on December 7 across Canada.Piers Harding-Rolls, a senior principal analyst at IHS Screen Digest, explained to CVG that said Wii sales "have stalled because the system isn't a connected media device so it doesn't tend to pick up long-tail sales"."In addition, Nintendo relies on first party content and doesn't have the breadth of third-party support to sustain a console once it made the switch to Wii U," he added.http://www.computerandvideogames.com/394385/features/stranger-than-fiction-is-ps3-about-to-win-the-console-sales-war/
Instinctively, it seems unfathomable. The games industry marked PlayStation 3 down as a multi-threaded $600 mess of a device back in 2007 when Sony was busy firing those responsible for it (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/162847/ken-kutaragi-bails-out/)
. In the years that followed, Sony spent much of its time trying to wring profitability out of the system more than anything else. Eventually, when the PS3 was finally making steady progress, any faint praise was drowned out by a year-defining catastrophe known as the PSN hack (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/299419/psn-failure-update-personal-information-stolen-admits-sony/)
.But here we are today, with an estimated 77 million PS3s sold worldwide (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/385811/ps3-lifetime-shipments-reportedly-overtake-xbox-360/), about 23 million units behind the market leader, the Wii - and enough potential in the console to carry on past Nintendo's high-flying system.http://cdn.medialib.computerandvideogames.com/screens/dir_2982/image_298290_thumb_wide620.jpg (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/viewer.php?mode=article&id=298290)
Annual sales comparisons show the Wii boomed then lagged while the PS2 and PS3 have grown steadily
Let's get the clearest fact out of the way: the Wii is not going to sell many more units.Nintendo's revolutionary motion controlled device has performed in a polar opposite manner to the PS3; it sparked hysteria at launch (in one twelve month period it sold a staggering 25 million systems worldwide) but its momentum has slowed significantly.Nintendo could only sell five million Wiis in the 12 months leading up to the Wii U's launch, and Nintendo has in fact downgraded its global Wii sales expectations for the current fiscal year to about 4 million units.And an even more affordable new Wii Mini (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/393490/wii-mini-price-uk-retailers-start-at-pound80/) system has failed to pick up momentum, only managing to shift about 36,000 units since its release on December 7 across Canada.Piers Harding-Rolls, a senior principal analyst at IHS Screen Digest, explained to CVG that said Wii sales "have stalled because the system isn't a connected media device so it doesn't tend to pick up long-tail sales"."In addition, Nintendo relies on first party content and doesn't have the breadth of third-party support to sustain a console once it made the switch to Wii U," he added.http://www.computerandvideogames.com/394385/features/stranger-than-fiction-is-ps3-about-to-win-the-console-sales-war/