mike_intellivision said:
BTFeather55 said:
mike_intellivision said:
Well, I think that most people realize that the die has been cast for this generation.
For the PS3 to catch the Wii, selling at its current rate, it would take almost 3-1/2 years -- even if the Wii did not sell one more console in that time.
Sony has made many missteps this generation -- from arrogance, to price, to features (e.g., no rumble originally, removing backward compatibility). It went with a very technologically heavy product to support a new format. It worked in that respect (BR-DVD beat out HD-DVD). But it did not succeed as a gaming system.
Also, other threads have discussed the great PS3 resurgence in Japan vis-a-vis the Wii. But it appears to be a software driven bump as the Wii sales have been constant while PS3 (and Xbox 360) sales have fallen off recently.
http://vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=Wii®1=Japan&cons2=PS3®2=Japan&cons3=X360®3=Japan&start=39810&end=39901
So no one fears discussion of a Sony PS3 comeback. But no one today take's it seriously.
Mike from Morgantown |
Well software drives hardware sales so maybe the Japanese are waking up to the fact that most PS3 software is better than Wii software just as they did beginning in late 2007 with the PSP. And even though your post says PS3 sales have fallen off, it still beat the Wii by a couple of thousand units this week. And for the fifth week in a row. Maybe they can get some quality shovelware out in the coming weeks for PS3 as Nintendo often does for Wii and DS to pad its sales from falling off too much in the near future.
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It is true that software drives sales -- but only for a short time. That is what is called a spike. Long-term sales are driven by other factors (as well as quality of the software). New models, for example, drives handheld sales.
http://vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=DS®1=Japan&cons2=PSP®2=Japan&cons3=GBA®3=Japan&start=39089&end=39901
If I am not misiterpting this chart, the time in the middle when the PSP outsold the DS was the model upgrade for the latter.
And software announcements and releases are cylical. If you want to see the power of software, check the DS sales in Japan in a couple of months when DQ IX is released.
Mike from Morgantown
Lifetime sales in Japan: Wii 7M, PS3 3M, Xbox 360 1M.
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Software sales don't drive console sales for the short term.
Look at the PS1 and PS2. Their sales were totally driven by their software. It's quality and amount.
The PSP had the best selling game in Japan in 2008 with Monster Hunter which sold 2.4 million copies and there the turnaround started when the slim released as you indicated but it was also due to Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII releasing at almost the same time. Crisis Core has sold 2 million copies worldwide and introduced to the Japanese the idea that the PSP was a game system as viable as any other.
Of course, Monster Hunter and Crisis Core and their sales have led to the appearance of many more big games coming to the PSP in Japan over the last year. Dragon Quest IX will be huge, but so will Final Fantasy XIII Agito and the two Kingdom Hearts games coming to the PSP. And unlike many Square games that appear on DS that are remakes, the ones coming to the PSP are brand new games developed exclusively for PSP
