Three Wii units sold for every PlayStation 3 in Japan

Ellie Gibson 09:37 (BST) 03/09/2007

But gap between consoles is narrowing

The latest Enterbrain figures have revealed that the Wii continues to outsell the PS3 in Japan by a healthy margin - but it seems the gap between the two consoles is beginning to narrow.

Bloomberg reports that in the four weeks ending August 26 Nintendo sold 245,653 Wii units, bringing the total now sold in the region to just over 3.4 million.

The figure for PS3 stood at 81,541 units, pushing lifetime sales past the 1.1 million mark. Just 11,288 Xbox 360 consoles were sold, with lifetime sales now at 442,290.

Wii outsold PS3 by 3 to 1 during August, but the ratio was 4 to 1 the previous month and 6 to 1 in May and June.

Between July and August Wii sales fell by 38 per cent, while Xbox 360 was down 37 per cent. The number of PlayStation 3 units sold dropped by 11 per cent.

Source: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=28266

This isn't a console vs console number, but about the numbers themselves. 

From the article, the words "begining to narrow", I think is being misleading.

How is 240,000 anywhere close to 80,000?

If I have $1 and you have $3, okay, that's narrow.

If I have $1000 and you have $3000. You have a lot more money than I do. 

Now, I have $80,000 and you have $240,000. I cannot see a narrowness here. 

(I guess I am just bored and picking on words, lol) 

The market share as a percentage is narrowing.

well they aren't you or me, and $3000 doesn't mean shit to them... what? you scared? =p

i saw various forms of this, and it is misleading... but not in the way you stated.
the gap between how many consoles sold each month has narrowed, narrowing is a process, not refering to single value... if Wii outsold ps3 by 300k one month, then 250k the next, then 200k the next, then the gap between how many more Wiis are sold than ps3s has narrowed.

What is misleading is the way the title is phrased: "gap between consoles narrowing" makes it sound like the ps3 sold more in the month than Wii, and is closing the LTD sales gap, which is very untrue.
also the articles seemed to focus more on the ratios than the numbers, which make it seem worse than it is. 'Wii was 6:1 to ps3 but now it's just 3:1' ...makes it look like Wii sales have halved, which although they have dropped a lot in Jp, they haven't halved, and WW sales are still as high as ever, [according to this site] something not mentioned at all.

most articles like this are misleading though, they just want a story.... 'Wii still sold out...still selling the same' is old news.

I wouldn't say the difference is narrowing. PS3 sales jumped from veryvery low to just low when Everybody's Golf was released, but they've been dropping ever since.

Yeah, agree, that definately is misleading, but I am suprised Wii sales in Japan have slumped by 38%, if that is true.

Honestly I think the choice of the word "narrowing" in reference to the "gap" is the missleading part. But I also take exception to their lack of facts.

The line about Wii being down 38% should have read like this:

"The Wii is down 38% coming off one of the best 4 week monthly periods its ever had in Japan due in large part to the release of titles like DQ: Swords, Mario Party 8, and Powerful Pro Baseball 14."

But that would not have fit their theory

 That's not the case.  The market share for Wii is still growing it just isn't growing at the same rapid pace.  For your statement to be correct, PS3 would have to be outselling Wii now.

All that has changed is the rate at which the gap itself widens has slowed.  It has reversed course or the sales gap narrowed by any means. 

I think the articles are worded that way to attract attention. Everyone knows by now that Wii has consistently been outselling PS3. A headline that reads "Wii outsells PS3 3-1" won't be much of news. But change it to "Sales Gap b/w Wii and PS3 narrows" then anyone who sees that would immediately stop and read out of curiousity to find out what could possibly have happened for PS3 to turn things around so dramatically. Only when you read the actual article do you realise the heading was totally inaccurate. Newspapers use such tactics all the time.

 Let's not forget the Wii had DQ:S in July...