When the Wii and the PS3 was released, market analysts made the prediction that it would be a three way tie among the gaming consoles. Years since the current gen entered the market that prediction is starting to come true.

PS3 is starting to close the gap between the 360 and itself. Third party sales are also starting to pick up and world wide sales of many recent game releases on the PS3 are equal to that of the 360. However, development costs of the PS3 have put Sony's gaming division in the red in recent years. The PS3 slim have moved more consoles but it still cost more to make than sell. It might be a while before it can recover its losses.

While the original xbox put Microsoft in the red, the 360 has finally turned a profit in the last couple of years. But, with high failure rates and PS3 catching up with its install base, Microsoft will lose its early dominance.

Wii has the largest install base out of each Console manufacturer, but when it comes to software, only their first party titles have been selling. But one thing is clear about Nintendo is since while the company only deals in the gaming market (while Sony and Microsoft have other venues for revenue), Nintendo need to make profit on every Wii sold. Every console they sold have brought in profit for the company (unlike the 360 and PS3).

When the PS3 finally does close the gap of the 360, its unlikely that its going to outsell it. By that point the market will be too saturated with 360s and PS3s to make a difference. Not to mention the era of third party titles that define a console are over. Most publishers are now going multiplatform. First party titles like God of War and Halo are what will be thought of when considering a console.

Dimiss it as my opinion if you want but what are your thoughts? Does this seem accurate?

Just trying to be realistic.

You make a lot of sense. Thank you for your contribution to this site. Please continue to post these messages.

Yes.

p.s. Wii lovers will hate you for disregarding the systems massive lead :)

Don't believe the lies.  There is no gap.  It's a 3-way tie.  If you don't understand this well known fact, read the OP again.

I think in terms of market share, there is a clear winner (Nintendo) and a clear loser (Sony) with MS being somewhere in the middle there. I say this because Sony had ~70% of the market last gen and Nintendo had ~18% (IIRC). If you look at the market share pie now, Nintendo has seen the biggest gain, and Sony the biggest loss.

Understandably Market Share is not the ONLY definition of winning, but I'm sure Nintendo is very pleased with their results and Sony is well, not so much.

I'll let time play out. We never know what'll happen.

Being the voice of the community I have to have my voice heard, the ps3 is unstoppable it will take 2nd place. The wii has been losing stamina with no real significant title released in months, so its sales has been declining year on year. who knows what will happen but things will be interesting no doubt.

Carl2291 out

Only one thing to note with software sales, although yes Nintendo have by far the best performing titles on their platforms

The current software sales (according to vgchartz and a decent estimate) are sitting at:

Which means even with a sizeable removal of firsrt party software from wii its 3rd party software sales are compareable to the other two platforms.

As to the rest, more than likely the PS3 and 360 will even out, Wii is the only unknown that is either they manage to regain momentum or we see where their new stable point will land.

It's somewhat accurate.  Except its not only first party titles on the Wii that sell.  That's a myth.  Also, due to the much lower development costs o nthe Wii, a game can sell much lower amounts of units and still make higher profits than a game on the 360/PS3.  Games like Zack and Wiki or Blom Blox, while initially seeming like a 'failure', actually made their company a profit.  And more recent titles like Little Kings Story, Muramasa and etc are doing the same thing.  No they aren't selling 5-12 MILLION like Nintendos titles, but they are still making a profit.  Whereas even a low budget 360/PS3 title needs to sell 250,000-500,000 copies just to break even.

Don't be fooled.  The Wii is going to immerge from this gen the far leader.  The PS3 closing the gap on the 360 mostly is just causing further market competition between the 'HD' consoles.  The only effect Nintendo feels is a lower sales rate of their consoles, while their software is unaffected.

Obviously we won't have a 6th generation style victory with one console selling 7x more than the competition.

Defining success is something that is not universal. Person A might measure it by saying "this game has to sell at least 5m" Person B might see it as "this game has to be profitable" Person C might think "this game should sell 500k and break even"

life is confusing -.-