Wii Shines, Xbox 360 Tanks
Chicago (IL) - Big announcements at E3 cannot hide that Microsoft had a rough June with its game console : Nintendo’s Wii surpassed the Xbox 360 as the most sold current game console in the U.S. every other game console, including the PSP and Nintendo DS, sold more units. Has the Xbox 360 lost its appeal ?
NPD’s June game console sales numbers hold every indication that Microsoft is increasingly under pressure by its rivals. For the first time in its life-cycle, it has lost its title as most-sold current-gen game console to Nintendo’s Wii. According to NPD, the Wii has now sold 11,008,200 units while the Xbox 360 stands at 10,465,900 units.
The PS3 still trails the two with cumulative sales 4,851,100 units, but Sony sold close to twice as many PS3s in June as Microsoft sold Xbox 360s : NPD said that U.S. retail reported sales of 405,500 PS3s and 219,800 Xbox 360s. Nintendo leads the way with sales of 666,700 Wiis. It took Nintendo only 20 months to catch up with Microsoft and nix the Xbox 360s 12-month lead.
Even portable consoles were selling at a higher pace than the Xbox 360 - the Nintendo DS moved 783,000 units and the Playstation Portable 337,400.
The best selling game title of the month was Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3 ; 774,600 units), followed by Guitar Hero On Tour (DS ; 422,300) and Ninja Gaiden II (Xbox 360 ; 372,200). Nintendo’s Wii Fit with Balance Board had a successful start with 372,200 units, followed by the Wii Play with Remote with 359,100 units.
Microsoft recently announced a temporary price cut of its Xbox 360 (20 GB) console to $299, while the device is being phased out and replaced with a $349 60 GB version. Sony answered with an upgrade of its 40 GB PS3 to an 80 GB hard drive, which effectively could be interpreted by many buyers also as a $100 price cut of its existing and more functional 80 GB flagship console that currently sells for $499.
For a premium of $50, buyers not only get the newer console that is able of 1080p output, but also a larger hard drive and a Blu-ray drive. It is not difficult to see that Microsoft is already under pressure to introduce price cuts or system upgrades in the near future.
Nintendo’s Wii is playing in a different league.
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The Xbox 360 losing it's appeal? I think not!
From where I'm sitting, the slow down of sales is due to millions of people already owning the console. Why would we continuously buy a console we already own?
I personally feel that the rate of sales is meaningless once the console has been out a few years, because there are only so many units that can and will be bought before everybody who wants one, has one.
Mighty Monk,
>Why would we continuously buy a console we already own?
Sales should pick up with a price drop and or a game that people want.
Also, as children get older year after year – they’ll be old enough to have one. (What ever age that may be).
I didn't bother to get a net gen until the price AND GTA4 came out in a bundle.
There are still lots of people sitting on the fence waiting for their personal sweet spot to be touched.
With a good few hundred million to sell to there are still a lot of people who havn’t yet bought one.
I agree that the Hardcore-Console gamers would have picked up one ages ago.
Point taken, and I see what you mean. Maybe I was too hasty to comment before I thought it about enough
Now correct me if I'm wrong but the Xbox 360 is perfectly capable of 1080p output thanks to last year's Spring Update. At least that's what my Video Settings on my own console tell me, 1920x1080 with the VGA cable.
Also, the Xbox 360 Elite is $399 at the moment with a 120 GB hard drive, and the hard drive is available seperately which allows people to buy a Premium for the new cut price and upgrade at a future time if they want to, without having to rip the console open and void the warranty. So the only bonus is the Blu-ray drive if you take that argument, and personally I don't think Blu-ray is all it's hyped up to be.
At least they're revamping the 360's clumsy UI which should give it a new lease of life and bolster sales. Of course, the cleaner UI and avatar system are virtues that the Wii already possess, so they're playing catch-up, but its still a step in the right direction.
At least there not playing catch up in online gameplay, not to mention game sales.