Global SW&HW up! (15th September)

[CChaos]

Dallinor said:

CChaos said:

pezus said:

CChaos said:
Not to split hairs, but feeling all proud that the PS3 is outselling the Wii by any amount seems a little pointless, doesn't it? Not only is it a holiday console these days, but it's been known that the new iteration would be coming out soon even before the official date was given. I'm surprised the Wii has been selling anything at all for the past couple of months.

The Wii started to fade way before they announced the Wii U. 

Well...yeah, because it's the same age as the PS3, has sold almost a hundred million units, nobody really wants them anymore and hasn't really had anything too spectacular come out for it in, well, a year?

It's like feeling all proud because you just outran a guy in a wheelchair, that's all.

I guess it's a matter of perspective.

Rewind back the clock a few years and the very notion of the numbers looking like they are now would be deemed utterly ridiculous. You would literally be laughed at by a large portion of the community on this site.

Back then the sky was the limit for the Wii and we had some wild predictions of it selling in excess of 300 million units. The terms 'blue ocean strategy' and 'innovation' were bandied about and the PS3 was the console that was going to end the playstation line and force Sony out of the console hardware business forever.

Fast forward a few years:

15th September 2012:

PS3: 124,415

Wii: 38,312

It's a bit of a shocker.

Aye, true enough, the Wii started strong and went for broke, though wild speculation is never well tempered by reality. Ever. People say things that they feel are right (their opinion) but almost never end up true. What matters is that the Wii and PS3 alike are currently on the far end of their generation and the Wii just isn't getting the support anymore because Nintendo is focused on the WiiU and because the harder core gamers didn't see much point in buying it anymore. 96 million units later, the Wii has run its course. Nothing killed it, as it simply withered, went its way and Nintendo has done nothing to make it otherwise. Meanwhile, the 360 and PS3 get constant new support and new high profile games, thus keeping them from their own twilights. Thus the numbers as they stand.

Also, I don't really think anyone except the doomsayers ever figured the PS3 would be the final Sony system. It's a foolish idea, really, and even at its worst is was still selling reasonably well. I mean, the PS3 was never bad for sales. These days it, like the 360, aren't exactly setting records, but, that's just what happens.

Honestly though, it's not really a shocker at all. It is exactly as it has worked for ages in business. New product comes out after old product has slowly gone the way of the dinosaur, the numbers getting lower and lower, even lower than competitors, until the new thing comes out. I mean, the tech business is almost impossible to predict even a year out, but to think that Sony and Microsoft, who are both known for their long term plans, wouldn't keep up the interest in their investments even as Nintendo focused on getting their new console out first (which was never a surprise, because they're just catching up and getting past the 360 and PS3 now) would be pretty serious fallacy.