PS2 exceeded 100M, Xbox and GC didn't come close.
Why? Though they go hand in hand, it was the number of games.
PS2 2,041 games released.
Xbox 888.
GC 651. 1/3 the games that PS2 had.
And when the PS3 was coming out in Nov 2006, developers were going to only develope for it, remember? And maybe do some ports over to the X360.
Ummm... look at number of the games released now. With the hype for develeopers to do PS3, and X360 having a year to have games built for it.
PS3 233 games.
X360 321. Better.
Wii 370. 50% more games than PS3.
Sure for hardcore, PS3's and X360's games are better. No question about that. The question is how hard core are those 100M+ PS2 fans? All of them? No. 1/3 of them. Yes, or close enough (ie, like the hard core games, don't like the hard core prices). In the middle then. And how many will do the PSWii? Versus waiting for the price of the PS3 to drop to $249, but while they're waiting, going ahead and buying the Wii, or an X360? And then never getting around to buying the PS3 because the next gen boxes are coming out.
All in all. PS3 sales die off in 6 more years, whether Sony wants to keep making them or not. 60-70M sales, since it will die off faster than the PS2. Definitely not getting 2,000 games made for it.
Torturing the numbers. Hear them scream.
