Think back 3 or 4 years ago. Imagine trying to convince someone that Nintendo was going to catch Sony in Japan’s stock market. Phew!
Nintendo briefly zipped past Sony in market capitalization on Monday to become one of Japan’s 10 most valuable companies as it elbows the PlayStation maker out of its decade-long dominance of the game industry.
Nintendo’s Wii game console has outsold Sony’s PlayStation 3 by three to one in Japan and by more than two to one in the United States so far this year, according to game magazine publisher Enterbrain and research firm NPD.
Demand for its DS handheld game players also far outstripped that for Sony’s PlayStation Portable.
Of course, this comes from Sony’s incompetence as much as Nintendo’s shrewdness.
I Love My Nintendo Wii. if i have ANY complaint it’s that the graphics aren’t even close to decent and there’s no Dolby Digital sound. But then the PSone had worse graphics than the Nintendo 64. Sony capitalized by having fun games
I’d still rather have the PS3 over the Xbox 360 any day of the week
Nintendo has always said that they’re not even positioning themselves in the same competition as PS3 and 360. Yet, they’re dominating console, handheld and software week after week. Sometimes I think the market news has a more realistic view of things than actual gaming websites.
Kudos Nintendo! They have the whole family involved now! Great Job!
Well, considering they market towards EVERYONE, is this really suprising? Sure, if you have money to throw around, a Playstation 3’s a need, but if you’re that rich, you’ll buy all three consoles anyway. Most gamers buy a PS3 or Xbox 360 and a Wii as well. So either way, Nintendo wins.
It isn’t money, it’s game play. Once you have spent some time looking at a TV screen with a gun barrel sticking out and the background changing as you push the buttons, it gets old. No matter how pretty and detailed the background picture is.
I don’t know if I would take market cap. as evidence of a console winner. The irony about the PS3 is that it is cheap in comparison to a tricked out Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 elite, which goes for $499, lacks a HD DVD player. Toss in $200 for that, and the Xbox 360 console goes for $699, which is $100 more than the PS3. FWIW, the xbox 360 elite is sold out everywhere.
Because of the Wii controller, playing games on the Wii is more fun, but there are some games not available for it and I personally bought the PS3 more for the blu ray than gaming. Also, with the latest PS3 update, regular DVDs are now upscaled to hi-def.
I had to laugh when I heard Leo on Twit say he was paying $1200 for the dual HD DVD blu ray player. Why do that when you can pay $800 for a PS3 and Xbox 360 HD DVD add on?
I wouldn’t count out the PS3 yet, but if I were Sony, I would make a PS3 without a hard drive and blu ray player to compete with the Xbox 360 core model and Wii. To me, that was Sony’s big mistake, a lack of choices. They priced themselves out of the low end market.
Sony sold 1.2 million PS3s and 2.8 million PS2 in the US over the first 5 months of this year. That’s 4 million Sony consoles. If you assume $599 for the PS3 and $100 for the PS2, that’s what, $1 billion in revenues.
Nintendo’s pushed out 2.1 million Wii units in the same period. The Wii is basically a rehash of the game cube, comparable more to the PS2 than the PS3… and it’s not outselling the PS2. At $250 each, that’s $525 million.
The XBox 360 is selling somewhere between the PS3 and Wii numbers… at $400 a pop, so generating less revenue.
I’m just not sure how people are seeing Sony as losing out, here.
fiction can be fun
And here all along I thought the article was about market value, not revenue on gaming consoles.
What about Sony
What about Sony TVs, DVD players, and other electronics where Nintendo isn’t even in the game? Is Samsung cleaning Sony’s clock there too?
#6, Jason:
According to Wikipedia, the PS3 has sold 3.6 million units worldwide (since launch). Now, assume $599 for each console, which means ~$2.16b in revenue. However, each unit was initially estimated to cost ~$840 to produce, so let’s assume a $200 loss per unit. Roughly, that means Sony is running at a $750m loss right now. Indeed, it has been reported that Sony Games had a $1.97b loss for the fiscal year that ended March 31.
Nintendo, on the other hand, has sold 7.96 million Wiis. At $250 each, that’s nearly $2.0b in revenue. Unlike Sony, Nintendo is selling the Wii at a profit, so it’s safe to assume Nintendo has made at least a couple hundred million dollars of pure profit.
So tell me now, exactly which company is doing best?
Eye candy only goes so far. Yeah, I’ve seen PS3 football games on 16:9 high-def at a local ‘martket’ that we all hate. The game looked really good, it did — but not for the $2000 it would cost to own the game and HDTV.
Sherman, set the way-back machine to 1993. My first apartment with 2 other guys. They had a NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis. Being bachelors (but not weird uncle types), we knew many neighborhood boys and girls since we were outside a lot, tinkering with boats and jet-skis and 4-wheelers and such. The kids started dropping by for video gaming, which we got a kick out of. We like ice cream sandwiches and freezies and the same stuff the kids did, so what the heck? Well, they loved the games, and we got a kick out of watching ’em.
One day, I broke out my old ColecoVision w/ Atari add-on. OMFG, these kids were in love! Since I had about 3 dozen games, they played endlessly. NES, SNES, Genesis – HECK NO, ATARI!!!! Wow, they love Atari 2600 Tank Combat – remember that one?! Atari football was a hit too, as well as Coleco Baseball. One day, 4 of them traded-off played Ken Uston’s Blackjack/Poker from noon until their parents called to retrieve them around 9pm.
Games don’t have to be pretty or groovy or hip to be fun. Heck, look at Tiddlywinks or Quarters – silly activities that require a bit of skill, a bit of luck, and some alcohol for the latter. Games simply have to be fun and engrossing and (here’s the big one) enduring to be enjoyed by all ages for all time.
That’s your Game Philosophy 101 for the day, but you already knew that.
2.8 million PS2. Which outsell the Wii and the X-Box 360. And have more than made back their development costs, so have to be selling at a profit.
I think it’s stuff other than the consoles that’s hurting Sony. Samsung and LG have to be making gains in other areas where Sony had traditionally dominated. It’s just sexy to blame the PS3 for their woes right now.
#14
“I think it’s stuff other than the consoles that’s hurting Sony”
How about Sony treating its customers as if they were less than dirt?
Funny to see the blind PS3 fanboys rushing to defend their tired, old, expensive paperweight, oops I mean gaming console.
Look, the PS3 is a dead platform, the Wii360 is dominating it…the only argument these ps3 dopes has now is ‘it plays BluRay!’
Give it up – your console sucks.
16,
Wait…You need to add something…
ADD the 360 to this list.
REALLY,
the only people that Jumped,
As the Early adaptors….Better then the neibhors…I got it FIRST…
And those that THINK that graphics MAKE a game.
How many of you understand that..
The GAME…is about 7-10% of 1 CDROM, and the other 90% is just graphics… Think about DOOM, half life, Interstate 72/86, MOO 1/2…
If the game SUCKS it dont matter the graphics….IT SUCKS…
AND…
To much Hardware and SOFTWARE is being released as BETAWARE…
3 forms are Wares developement.
Alpha…is concept
Beta is finding the final flaws
Then comercial release. Its done, and we may add extras.
Even the iPhone is required to have a FORCED reconfig at SALE.
You dont BUY NOTHING form the First 6 months from release….FIX it first, and read ALOT of forums before you buy anything.
NOTHING, is ALL pro’s…there has to be con’s… Until i can see BOTH sides, I WILL NOT buy a product.
I have to wonder about the alleged “incompetence” of one of the largest consumer electronics corporations on planet earth. The Nintendo Wii is a fun machine. Nintendo has always made some fun games. In fact, I was one of those rabid Nintendo fanboys up until Final Fantasy 7 came out for the original Playstation and I thought, “hmm…maybe I could buy both!”
I have owned every Nintendo system and also every Sony system since then. I always buy the Nintendo machine to play the exclusive games, and I get the latest Playstation for the same reason.
However, there are still great games coming out for the PS2 almost 7 years after its launch. I won’t be ready to call the PS3 a “failure” until sometime in 2010.
Oh, did I mention I also own a 360? I hate to sound pompous, but the great thing about being a grownup is having the money to buy the things you want.
18-
Yes, you do sound pompous. Being a grown up also involves making good decisions. Buying a PS3 is simply not a good decision. There is no compelling, exclusive software for the console to make buying the PS3 a good decision.
Why anyone would want to buy this thing other than to have an overpriced and bulky bluray player is beyond me (and the countless other people who have turned to the Wii360 concept in droves).