I agree with the overall mood of the article but not with all of the sub-points.

Why Speculate on something that didn't happen?

This is almost a really good article, but we already see lots of little quibbles to be found.

Compared to what we usually get from game journos, this really is pretty good, though.

This is just retarded. I'm not going to argue with someone who would post a point such as that.

Software sales in 2006: 6.4B

Software sales in 2007: 8.6B

http://origin.arstechnica.com/news.media/video-game-sales-1.png

I said you could argue that, I didn't say I was one of them. But I could just as easily say that its pointless to argue with someone who would post something like "the market would be expanding without the Wii" That's just retarded.

it's been shown before that the market would grow by at least 1$ YoY.
I would go and show you te work myself but there's no real point.

Substitute the wii with another gamecube, and revenue would still be up YOY.

Without Wii sales would be down significantly compared with last gen.

Exactly. That's all I'm saying.

Also, prof, only looking at revenue can be very misleading. Inflation, increased prices all of these things can increase revenue while dealing with declining interest.

Like, you ever notice how Summer blockbuster movies are always breaking opening weekend box office records? Well in NY where I live, ticket prices are ridiculously high (12$), and now longer have matinee showings (cheaper) When prices are so high you don't need as many customers. I hope this makes sense, my brains fried from this Chemistry class.

you guys are defining things the way you would like them to be defined in order to prove your point.

Puffy, you're talking about sales, and darius, you're saying the same thing.
The industry is based on revenue, not on profits.
It is based on how much people spend, how much is tied up in the industry. Sure there would be less sales, but the market would be bigger.
You do have a very good point, both of you, but my statement is 100% accurate. You're looking at the idea tangentially.

I actually agree with theprof00. Without the Wii, a lot of people would have probably bought alternative game systems (whether that means a Gamecube 2, 360 Arcade, a DS, or whatever). There's a small chance that it might have shrunk, just because the expensive HD consoles presented such a huge barrier at the start of the generation, but most likely the videogame market would have grown at least a little bit.

I don't think that anybody is disputing that the Wii drove some major growth that wouldn't have happened without it, though.