Honestly Im not entirely sure why people are so insistent on trying to make 8th gen seem like a failure.  WiiU may be down but XBO and PS4 are up in the early months.

First off we are going to look at two things.  X360 had no competition and was boasting a $400 pricetag where as the Xbox One and PS4 launched together which are in direct competition yet both Xbox One and PS4 has managed to pass their predecessors thanks to a HUGE launch.


Well then you may be like well XBO was down in january to X360 and that is where the $500 pricetag along with being in direct competiion with PS4 comes in yet in February XBO was only down by 9k and IN march it appears XBO will be above or match X360 regardless of these reasons.  So XBO not only had the huge launch but it appears to be going roughly the same speed as X360 after the first holiday. 

But wait there is more!  Every single launch whether it be X360, PS3, or the wii all had exceptionally better 2nd holidays.  For example Wii sold over 4m in december of 2007.  Every console sold nearly double their 2nd holiday. If this happens again in the 8th gen there will be monster holidays this year for PS4 and XBO.

Im not going to speak much about the PS4 as we all know it is a monster at this very moment so this leaves the WiiU.  And yes it is struggling but as for people saying 8th gen as a whole is?  That appears to be wrong thus far with PS4 and XBO both outselling their predecessors in the early months.




Xbox 360 Hardware sold by Month

November 2005 - 350,847

December 2005 - 827,420

January 2006 - 518,227

February 2006 - 330,928

March - 396, 504

Total 2.4m by the end of March

Xbox One Hardware sold by month

November 2013 - 1,564,197

December - 1,509,465

January -  284,389

February -  321,220

March (two Weeks) - 229,547

Total - 3.9m

PS3 Hardware Sales by Month

November 2006 - 394,937

December 2006 - 857,103

January 2007 - 380,096

February - 240,586

March - 984,653

Total: 2.8m


PS4 Hardware Sales by Month

November 2013 - 2,101,114

December 2013 - 2,311,502

January 2014 - 710,946

February - 954,463

March(Two Weeks) - 264,976

Total: 6.3m

Wii Hardware Sold by Month

November 2006 - 529,658

December 2006 - 2,425,123

January 2007 - 1,052,368

February 2007 - 901,683

March 2007 - 929,224

Total - 5.8m

WiiU Hardware sold by Month

November 2012 - 472,099

December 2012 - 1,775,117

January 2013 - 279,851

February - 2013 - 139,355

March 2013 - 220,850

Total: 2.9m

"Honestly Im not entirely sure why people are so insistent on trying to make 8th gen seem like a failure. WiiU may be down but XBO and PS4 are up in the early months."
You've already answered your question right there. Take a look at the people who insist that the 8th gen is a failure.

Well, you can start by comparing the different consoles, more specifically comparing the consoles in 1st, 2nd and 3rd place during their respective first spring. This shows the trend for the spring to be Wii>PS4, PS3>X1 and X360>WiiU. And I am quite sure the difference will be even larger during the next quarter (apr-Jun).

People are going to point to the fact that 7th gen sold over 260m hardware between the three home consoles, and that this generation is a failure if it contracts and sells less. This generation is inevitably going to have less sales. Tens of millions of people bought a Wii that have no interest in buying consoles again plus this generation will almost certainly be shorter.

I agree with your post, overall the home console market looks healthy right now, and hopefully Wii U can improve and start pulling it's weight.

Both generation 6 and 7 had some things going for them: PS2 and PS3 helped push consoles to people who might not be totally into gaming thanks to DVD and Bluray. Also, Wii had an appeal to alot of people not remotely interested in gaming. Now, no console offers something extremely necessary for non-gamers, and have massive competition from the tablet/smartphone market.

I believe that is mainly a problem with Nintendo rather than Sony and MSFT.  XBO and PS4 is outracking their predecessors and after the holidays XBO is tracking similar to X360 where as PS4 is blowing PS3 out of the water.  Are they really expected to pick up the slack of the WiiU?

From what it appears there will be 10's of millions less consoles sold as a whole but that appears to be largely because there is really only two consoles that are even being competitive at the moment and this is because Nintendo making big mistakes over the last few years.

As for PS4/XBO doing well theyre likely to get even better.  PS4 and XBO really only has a few big games atm and when XBO drops price and PS4/XBO both announce and release more games along with holiday deals theyre going to keep going.  Whether they pass PS3/X360 is a different story as i dont think any of us can see what is going to happen 10 years from now.  Calling doom within 5 months seems a little much to me.

I agree that it is way too early to call "doom". I have been skeptical about this generation even before they sold one console but I truly hope I am proven wrong :). There have been some signs that WiiU might pick up speed, PS4 holding its own and X1 gaining ground, but I will remain skeptical until they really take of.

Well im going to hope youre wrong too then :P lol

From my assessment the hardcore has grown and the casuals has shrunk. The Wii Craze obviosly isnt coming back but that is because the wii being popular and the ps4 being popular are for two very different reason. 

In 2007, the PS2 outsold either the 360 or PS3. can the same be said for the PS3 or 360 against the One and PS4 in 2014?

Why do you think it will be a shorter generation? If anything I get the sense 7-8 years could become the new normal and could even see companies try to stretch it out more.