Not really TBH.  360 is up (and it's great work due to MS to be sure) and PS3 is slightly down as the 360 is the closest to a recent big change (Kinect) while PS3 is now trending against it's own previous big spike (the Slim/price cut).  There's nothing unexpected about it.  In fact if the 360, as the only console still riding a recent peak wasn't up YOY it would be troubling.

Nothing material has changed with regard to 360/PS3 worldwide (360 stronger in US, PS3 stronger in Japan and PS3 somewhat stronger in EMEAA) and there is no sign of the deadlock changing.  A price cut will push the PS3 up again YOY and no doubt when Kinect boost fades and 360 starts to go down YOY MS will price cut themselves to push another flip.

The only really interesting thing I see is the Wii dropping so fast outside the holidays - it always was very seasonal but it now looks like it's going to spend most of every year behind the HD consoles until the holidays when it stands a chance of reversing things.

The overall deadlock and closesness of sales looks here to stay and I'm thinking I'll probably cut back on posting in sales threads for a while as there is so little to really comment on other that noting another statistical tie or reminding people not to read too much into the Wii's drop in relation to its overall position and seasonal sales.

Things are so consistent week on week and most threads now just turn silly as the fans try and claim some sort of victory or change in the market that doesn't actually exist.

Not trying to be negative but really we're talking about a market that is currently almost tied every week worldwide and all the big cards seem to have been played, from Kinect most recently, to Move, to new models, to all the big exclusives combined with lots of creative bundling and big marketing drives.

The end result is a worldwide tie between HD consoles with the Wii dropping but still looking to have too much of a lead to be catchable even if the HD consoles did manage to consistently outsell it.

Looking at their respective time on the market it's clear the PS3/360 are locked in a virtual tie worldwide with strong dominance in individual markets.  Meanwhile the Wii does seem to have peaked but given it's lowered sales are so close to the HD consoles and it can still outsell them during the peak season it seems unlikely it's worldwide lead (both HW and SW) will ever be seriously threatended.

Actually, I guess what's most interesting of all is to be at this stage in a console generation and have such a contested, deadlocked picture - a far cry from previous generations where there always tended to be a fairly clear cut overall winner.

Ah ok, I got that wrong.

Well, it's not up heavily in EMEAA, but being just a bit up isn't a bad thing, especially considering that the Wii is heavily down and the PS3 is a bit down. But I agree, it's not solely because of the US numbers.

Also, that the Wii is skewing some peoples' view on things is something that already happened before the holiday season. Especially now as the Wii isn't 1st in any market currently some people forget to look at the whole situation a bit more in detail.

Well, I did not expect that, to be honest. I thought we'd have at least one more week of 360 > Wii > PS3.

Lol @ PSP! Poor thing!

- LittleBigPlanet 2 is showing legs !

- The PS360 and Wii are so close !

I agree.

Conegamer said: darthdevidem01 said: Conegamer said: darthdevidem01 said: M.U.G.E.N said: Conegamer said: Also, in a polite way, can someone, please explain to me... WHY IS THE WII DOOMED??? dunno (the word, not the mod), usually nintendo fans say that, might as well ask them :P Awesome post MUGEN-San (wanted to call you sama here but we have reserved that for just Kojima rite?)   Anyway no-one in this thread. Last year the people calling Wii doomed were hardly much in numbers and weren't very reliable posters (and okey-dokey was joking when he kept saying "Wii is finished" last year). Oh and I am using the actual definition of doom here as saying Wii has poor sales does not equal doomed, relative to past Wii sales its a opinion that can be argued to carry much weight.   They aren't saying "Wii is d00med" anymore, because you can get banned for it (ask Chibi) But, there is a lot of things like: "360-Nice PS3-Good Wii-Erm...despreately needs a price-cut IMO" May not be so prolific in this thread, but in other, similar threads, it's been a very clear pattern... But how does any of that lead to mean Wii is doomed. People are only saying that as Wii is down YOY by A LOT, so a price cut should stabilise things. How doesn't it lead to the fact that Wii is doomed? If you were to have a flow chart...   Console sells amazingly well, fastest selling home console of all time. Revolutionses gaming People who dislike the way Nintendo took the Wii from 2007-2009 want to find a way to call it a failure, however, in these years, it is impossible Wii enters its 4th year, lots of "hardcore" SW being shifted, sales drop Said fanboys from step 2 attack this fact and call it "doomed". They now have a reason Moderators catch on, call it "trolling/baiting", ban the word Fanboys are upset, look for a non-troll-ey (?) way of expressing their hatred for Nintendo They say Nintendo "needs a price-cut" or "new SW to ignite sales" Analyst who is upset he was wrong catches on, media listen World is against Nintendo, or so it seems, Nintendo fans join in The Wii is now doomed That's how I see it anyway (just to note, I don't mean to annoy or upset anyone, and I shouldn't hear. But that seems to me how this has been working as of late )

Again re-read my post about it not even being called doomed by reliable posters. The world isn't against nintendo, I dunno why it seems like that, DKCR, SMG2, Kirby Wii reception is proof enough when fabulous games from Nintendo come they will get the world with them (both critics, media and fans alike...barring exceptions which are again just exceptions). But as Wii is disappointing in sales people won't be quiet about it.

And now it is mostly Nintendo fans using the word Wii and doomed in the same sentence.

Everyone else is concerned about the massive YOY drops and thinks a price cut can fix that.

this just makes no sense, when you've sold as much as the wii has, who gives a shit if it drops off in sales? it's boung to happen, it would be like complaining the ps2 isn't selling well NOW

Is this the first time we can actually see a price-cut for a console, which is globally up YOY?

(X360 that is) the last "real" price cut was in September 2008!

Make a Xbox 360 250 GB for $199 and a Xbox 360 250 GB Kinect for $299
Reduce Kinect from $150 to $119 and you are fine for the next 2 years.

You seem to be overlooking some major overarching facts. Sure PS3 is down YOY in EMEAA but it's not by a large amount. This week it's only down 10k YOY in EMEAA. And the numbers that it was posting last year were genuinely dominating. Take a look at the same week back in 2008.

I'm sure you don't need this to remind you how well the Wii was doing back then. You mocked how little difference 360's YOY decline is in Japan and yet if the current trend continues Japan's YOY declines could end up canceling out its YOY increases in EMEAA. And PS3's YOY declines in Japan are so small it'll probably be almost eliminated once the silver PS3 model comes out over there.

Its nothing like that.

The Wii is dropping off while its competitors become more stronger than ever in the market.

PS2 is dropping off 4 years after its competitors stopped selling in the market. And then PS2 did see such drops back in the day its competitors were dropping too.

Huge difference.

Its not always "bound to happen" that you will drop off if you have amazing sales, isn't DS just the biggest proof of this for the last few years? Although it is dropping off now, but this DS drop off is the bound to happen type of one. Wii's drop off isn't really.

Its not a matter of LTD sales either, we know Wii has the top installed base, but when you see such massive drop offs you will see a outcry as this is a site to discuss sales.