HappySqurriel on 11 June 2007
In the videogame industry change occurs on 5 to 7 year intervals mainly because momentium builds for a platform until it becomes difficult to stop; after that momentium is there it is only slowed (in 5 to 7 years) after the next generation has began. Lots of analysts, companies and gamers have assumed that the performance improvement was what drove the adoption of hardware in the next generation but the Wii demonstrates that it is the gameplay improvements that have typically come from advanced hardware that drove adoption of hardware.
For the most part there are two things that will (potentially) prevent the Wii bubble from bursting:
- Games; The Wii started out with the smallest library of games and has steadily added games at a faster rate than the competition. Pretty soon the Wii could have more upcomming games than either the PS3 or XBox 360.
- Price; The price of the Wii puts in in a position where it has (practically) no direct competition. At $250 vs. $400 vs. $600 many people have the choice of a Wii or nothing, soon enough it will (likely) be $200 vs. $300 vs. $500 which would still mean that the probability of losing Wii sales to the XBox 360 or PS3 would be pretty slim.
