Here are the April 2007 numbers for the US (via NPD...via NeoGAF): Nintendo DS 471k Wii 360k PlayStation 2 194k PlayStation Portable 183k Xbox 360 174k Game Boy Advance 84k PlayStation 3 82k GameCube 13k Wow @ PS3...and not a good wow. Top 10 Software Items- April 2007 Units NDS POKEMON DIAMOND VERSION NINTENDO OF AMERICA APR 2007 EVERYONE (E) 1.045 M NDS POKEMON PEARL VERSION NINTENDO OF AMERICA APR 2007 EVERYONE (E) 712K WII SUPER PAPER MARIO NINTENDO OF AMERICA APR 2007 EVERYONE (E) 352K WII PLAY W/ REMOTE NINTENDO OF AMERICA FEB 2007 EVERYONE (E) 249K 360 GUITAR HERO 2 W/ GUITAR ACTIVISION MAR 2007 TEEN (T) 197K PS2 GUITAR HERO 2 W/GUITAR ACTIVISION NOV 2006 TEEN (T) 142K 360 SPIDER-MAN 3 ACTIVISION APR 2007 TEEN (T) 117K PS2 SPIDER-MAN 3 ACTIVISION APR 2007 TEEN (T) 105K PS2 GOD OF WAR II SONY MAR 2007 MATURE (M) 101K PS2 MLB '07: THE SHOW SONY FEB 2007 EVERYONE (E) 79K LTD numbers from the NPD (just US sales): PS2 – 38.2 million GBA – 35.7 million GameCube – 11.7 million Nintendo DS – 10.9 million PSP – 7.4 million Xbox 360 – 5.4 million Wii – 2.5 million PS3 – 1.3 million
It's only gonna get worse as Halo 3, GTA IV and the rest come onboard for the 360. Live has become the differentiator.
Live is the differentiator between selling terribly and selling very badly? Or did I misunderstand you? It would be nice to see both systems turn it around by the end of the year with their big Fall lineups and much-needed price cuts (assuming both have a price cut, which I guess isn't a safe assumption).
This is gonna get ugly for Japanese video game industry. I will preface buy saying that Wii is the only "next gen" system I own and the only system I'd be playing for a while. But the tech in the system is pretty weak, including the remote (which is just a very good implementation of some very old technology). If PS3 lose out in this war, I don't see many other Japanese companies being able to come forth when the next gen (after this one) tech race come into the fore front with the type of money Sony is willing to pull in (and might not be willing to shell out again after this). As much of a Nintendo fan boy that I am, I will say that Nintendo will probably be a niche product seller after the Wii (just a feeling I have).
It's a slow month - not many new games right now. That said, there's plenty you can do on Live and jack crap you can do on PS3's online service. I think that Live is the differentiator in these "slow" months. Wii isn't exactly doing gangbusters right now either - it's just slow overall. My point was also that with the PS3 still selling like ass, and nothing tremendous coming up for it in the near term, what will it look like when Halo 3 comes in, etc. it's not gonna look good for the PS3 unless there's a huge price drop AND a Halo/Live buster.
You mean Japanese hardware companies (Sony and Nintendo) or Japanese companies in general (including software companies like Square-Enix, Konami, Namco-Bandai, etc.)? Regardless, I don't really see much of a problem for these companies outside of Sony (for obvious reasons). Even if the Wii's successor is a niche product, Nintendo still has their handheld business to keep them going strong. And in Japan, it seems like the culture may be switching over to handheld gaming over console gaming anyway. I'm not even sure if next-gen tech will necessarily be as expensive as the tech for the consoles that went into the 360/PS3. You most likely won't have a $150-$200 optical drive holding you down, that's for sure. I wasn't necessarily referring to just this month when I mentioned the poor sales for both platforms. And I'm sure there's a number of factors that are more important than Live when it comes to being the differentiator between the two platforms (price and software library being the obvious ones). It still has supply issues AFAIK, and even then, it is showing how poor 360 and PS3 sales are. Like Killzone and Home? OK, I'm joking, at least about KZ (and even if Home is successful, I don't know if it would necessarily be a Live buster). Like I said, both systems have some nice lineups in place for the Fall. Halo 3 will have a huge impact, but so will some games for the PS3 (none will probably have as much impact individually as Halo 3, but there are a number of titles that should have some power to move systems). That said, not much will happen for Sony w/o a price cut. They can have Halo 3, GTAIV, MGS4, GT5, etc., exclusive to the PS3, but sales will still be pretty poor (IMO) if they keep trying to sell it at $600, or probably even $500. They had some nice software these past few months (VF5, MotorStorm, Oblivion, etc.), but they certainly didn't move too much hardware (similar to the 360 situation last year actually...although more severe here of course).
Hmm. I knew it would struggle, but I honestly didn't think the PS3 would be getting hit this bad. It is now getting hammered in both US and Japan. I still find it hard to believe that, with the Playstation brand being as well known as it is, that they won't bounce back at least in some way. Still though...the PS3 is in a world of hurt right now. The Wii is just selling everything they put on the shelves. And Halo 3 is on the horizon.
hey rc you still got a psp? i just fixed my lcd screen after about 6 months of it sitting there broken. from what i've seen looking around there's lots of good homebrew stuff(ps1 emulation) out for it since the last time i played it. what's the good psp sites?
I don't think Sony will lose big this gen. As long as the 360 does poorly in Asia and the Wii plays in 480p, Sony is beating itself with its price. As for Nintendo being a niche product, I guess the Wii is a niche product, but I don't think they'll take the cautious approach again once the new techs this generation matures (optical media, high def resolution, graphics card architecture). Instead, the burden to broaden with quirky gameplay gimmicks is upon Microsoft and Sony. The games market is too lucrative, and they have insane profit margins from their first party games for them to willingly abandon everything and become a niche product seller.
seoncd reply...who are these 82k people buying the GBA? Do they not know that the phat DS is available for just another 10 or 20 bux???
With sales this weak for the PS3, is their any chance that the next Gran Turismo or Tourist Trophy comes out on 360? I keep telling myself that I'll spring for a PS3 when those come out, but I really don't want to buy a failing system.
Wow those ps3 numbers are suprisingly bad. On the other hand I'm not that suprised at all. I just got a PS3 and its a big dissapointment. Things can only get better for the PS3 (hopefully).
not sure about tourist trophy but gran turismo is an in house game which is owned by Sony so there's zero chance of that going to 360. i dont think the system will fail, but it's in for some lean times till the AAA software titles start coming out.
I haven't really followed the homebrew stuff for the PSP in a long time. I got tired of keeping track of the firmware updates, although I suppose it might have gotten easier since I last checked (maybe Sony is giving up?). I usually just pay attention to the (UMD) games coming out for the PSP, as well as any officially supported services. As hotballa said, GT is developed by a Sony-owned studio (and Tourist Trophy is developed by the same studio), so it will not be going anywhere. The only major PS3-exclusives that I can think of which might go to the 360 are MGS4, Final Fantasy XIII, and Final Fantasy Versus XIII. All the other major exclusives are developed and/or published by Sony. Well...unless you want to count the new Winning Eleven/PES game, but that's a little different. Speaking of GT, I'm curious to see how Sony releases the game. The tentative release for GT5 is Spring 2008 IIRC, but there was talk of releasing GT5 Prologue this Fall I believe.
It better. I know some analysts are predicting a price cut this summer, which I'm sure Sony is considering given how poor these sales are. Of course, they may just cut the the price by $30-$50, which I'm sure will get the job done.
wow, at this point, I'm not sure there's much Sony can do. They aren't fighting for second place, they are fighting to be a respectable 3rd place. Even if they cut down the price 200 bucks(not going to happen), I don't think they'd be making that much more of a dent in the sales numbers until they get the heavy-hitter games. And if the sales continue, the heavy hitter 3rd parties WILL jump ship. And sony's 1st party offerings aren't enough. Hopefully they do have a big price cut soon, because the sooner they do it, the sooner MS and N follow with their undercut. I really thought the playstation name + the technology would hold up the system more than it has. But neither of those hold up when they price themselves out.
