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McDonaldsGuy on 28 February 2015
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Ka-pi96 said:
McDonaldsGuy said:
Ka-pi96 said:

The PS2 appealed to a broader audience than the Wii did, that's why it got 150m+ sales while the Wii was only just over 100m. PS2 was mainstream, Wii was just hardcore Nintendo fans and casuals.

The Wii died out quickly, that's why. The PS2 appealed to PS1 fans but had a broader audience because it released in more countries and more people had disposable income. For example, Europe well recovered after the Communism debacle. The NES barely got a release in Europe, but the PS1/PS2 came out at the right time.

PS2 did not create any new gamers like the Wii did. If anything, the PS2 was increasing gaming stigma. Just look at this way - the Wii was so mainstream it had a spot in the Oscars. The PS2 would never even dream of that.

So the NES didn't really even save console gaming then, or are you one of those 'globally in the US' people?

From 5th gen to 6th gen there was a 62.75m (42%) increase in sales. From 6th to 7th there was only a 50.86m (24%) increase in sales. Looks to me like PS2 boosted it more, especially since the 360 and PS3 had a hand in that increase while the PS2s competition really didn't do much to help out.

The PS2 didn't create new gamers, however. The PS2 still mainly appealed to the male 14-35 demographic that the PS1 did. The Wii expanded it to new demographics. That's how the Wii saved gaming.

The NES barely got a release in Europe because in the 80s it was still recovering and dealing with Communism. Europe just wasn't ready, but if it was, the NES would have sold well there. Europe didn't become a valuable market in terms of sales til the mid 90s.