Just before the recession was officially announced, many thought that the games industry was recession proof. Not a great deal has changed since then, sales have remained high, consoles are being sold in there millions and the Wii is still out of stock.

As the recession progresses, what will be the first platform to go?

Although the Playstation 3 hasn’t lived up to the projected sales following the Playstation 2, Sony will still continue to pour money into the system in order to improve the UI, the PSN and ultimately to shift consoles. Although Sony did announce a 1.04 billion dollar loss, sighting “factors including the slowdown of the global economy, the appreciation of the yen and the decline in the Japanese stock market” to be the cause of this. They have and will continue to put time, money and resources into the top line console.

Along with the Playstation 3 the other ‘hardcore’ gamers console is the Xbox 360. Microsoft’s big hitting console has been fairly consistently selling more systems than its HD counterpart. With already a huge install base and online gaming thriving it’s difficult to see this change anytime soon. The Xbox 360 is enriched with hardcore gamers who have a passion for gaming and no matter how harsh the environment will still go out and buy games. It’s sensible to suggest that these two consoles will be the last to go due to their hardcore fan base.

As for the Wii, its fan base is made up of mainly ‘casual’ gamers. Gaming for the ‘casual’ is more of a luxury than a passion, therefore when harder economic times come they are more likely drop the hobby as its not an essential product, and thus resulting in decreasing sales of games and hardware. With more and more shovel-ware made everyday for the Wii, the hardcore Nintendo fans (or what’s left of them) are becoming evermore frustrated with Nintendo’s lack of ambition to provide games for the hardcore. Obviously this would take harsh economic times to reach these extremes, but it could be assumed that the first console to go this generation will be the Wii.

 Tell me what you think? Dont agree, then post which console you think will go first.

DISCUSSSSS

Article Link ----> http://www.sanctuary4gamers.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=646:which-console-would-be-the-first-to-go&catid=14:general-gaming&Itemid=80

I don't really think any of the consoles are in danger of going. Wii may be slowing down, and it's true that casuals are less likely to go buy software, but as long as they introduce a few huge casual traps a year and sell 20 million plus copies, they are going to be fine.

On the other hand, I think Nintendo is in the worst position for moving into the next gen despite their huge amount of success. I would guess that the huge majority of 360 and PS3 owners take gaming seriously enough that they would definitely replace their consoles when an upgrade is released. Nintendo's huge market share is the result of capturing casuals in droves, and a large part of that is because the Wii was something new and novel. I'm not convinced, though, that they have captured the casual market to the point that a large majority of their users would go out and buy a new Wii2 or whatever. They struck gold with the Wii, but I don't know how many of the casuals they lured in are actually interested in consoles enough to go spend a few hundred more dollars to replace the Wii which, if software sales aren't lying, they aren't going out and buying a large variety of games for anyway.

None

This. Instead of one going you just won't see a new one coming...For quite a while.

PS3
Odds are against it

simple as that!!!!

xbox i'm thinking for sure.....they seem to be talking more next gen than sony or ninty, but we may just see upgrades for quite awhile rather than some huge overhaul. I don't think any of them are in a hurry. they want to milk this gen as long as they can, and i think that is right in line with the consumers. It seems they aren't as willing for next gen consoles to come out as they used to be......consoles are pricey these days.

I'd actually say Microsoft. I mean, Xbox has a much smaller role in Microsoft overall, and if times got tough for Microsoft as a whole, that division would be the first on the chopping block, probably. Nintendo won't go down unless the whole company went bankrupt, which would be very, very hard even if their console sales collapsed overnight. PlayStation is a key brand for Sony, and will probably be more central to the company in light of their recent restructuring.