Right now, there are few areas that Sony or Microsoft can claim victory over Nintendo in. But for Microsoft, one of those areas has been revenue, for a long time now. Even after Wii has passed them in worldwide install base and monthly unit software sales, higher hardware and software prices keeps 360 ahead in dollar spend, at least in America.
But this is about to end. First of all, two high-price, high-profile releases for Wii should eradicate any revenue advantage 360 has. Wii Fit has been a smash hit in Japan, and Rock Band has been a smash hit on 360. Both games drop on Wii in America in the next few months. Certainly, 360 will see GTAIV in this period, but Wii will see Mario Kart, which will drive additional peripheral sales as well. Then sometime this year, 360 should see another price drop in America. And lastly, Wii should see increased hardware production, boosting sales of everything. In total, Wii should end up with a substantial revenue advantage.
We know that 360's American hardware install base lead is also going to end at some point this year. The attach rate argument seems to have been disappearing since Cmas 07 sales numbers came out. With the death of the revenue defense, I'm not really sure what the next standard of success for 360 will become. Some combination of 3rd party attach rate, 3rd party revenue and online revenue or attach rate? Watch out for insultingly stupid standards like "revenue attach rate" or even "average sale price."
"[Our former customers] are unable to find software which they WANT to play."
"The way to solve this problem lies in how to communicate what kind of games [they CAN play]."
Satoru Iwata, Nintendo President. Only slightly paraphrased.
