PlayStation 3 overtakes Wii in Japan, now about twice in a blue moon
By Ross Miller 
posted April 7th 2009 6:49AM
posted April 7th 2009 6:49AM
posted April 7th 2009 6:49AM
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Improper grammar in that last sentence, there. Tut tut.
Yes, apparently
YOU + ARE = YOU'RE
is too hard.
PS3 will overtakes wii in April too (in japan), Ever heard of that game called Final fantasy XIII Engadget? its one of the most wanted Games for jps
Its demo coming to the PS3 Only(and the game itself too only for the ps3 in japan) mid april and it comes with FF7AC Movie on Blu ray (DVD version sold Millions~ in japan alone)
Its not a Trend or luck , its called logic and business~ plus Sony might price cut the PS3 in May and don't forget Tales of vesperia was just announced for the PS3 with too many extras,FULLY voiced and too many other stuff, many people who love RPGS will get the PS3 with FF13 Demo release~
Wii is already super cheap in japan and the ps3 is double its price kinda, once the PS3 is around 299$ it will sell like hot pancakes
Japan was PS1/PS2 Fans only in the past generations they didnt care about the gamecube or the N64 (mario galaxy bombed in japan) and its only selling stuff like wii sport and wii fit/wii play etc, the wii have no chance to survive in japan and by the time Dragon quest X arrive (2012 at best.... look howlong it toke for DQ9 on DS or FFXIII) its gonna be too late for the wii, they used all there cards already
If sony release the PS3 Slim in japan with price cut+BC back and FFXIII Game bundled for 299$ its already over in 2009
Japanese people love tiny and small things like there wii and hate big consoles , so the PS3 Slim should fix that~
And the year of the PS3 is starting out very good so far.
Year of the PS3? Wasn't that supposed to be 2008? And 2007?
And it was.
2008 was very equal. 2007 was kinda lost. But who cares about the past?
My point is that people have been making that claim ever since the very beginning.
Although I am a PS3 owner myself, personally I do not believe the system with be nearly as successful as its predecessors. And honestly I feel that a bit of humility is needed.
There's still at least 7 years to go... don't call it out yet.
Keep in mind that when they said it had a ten year life span, they didn't mean anything different from what they had already planned on doing with the PS2. In fact they specifically said that the PS2 had a ten year life span.
In other words it's at least 7 years until being officially discontinued. Not 7 until being succeeded.
Of course the PS2 is still enjoying a fair bit of success. But I have to wonder if that would have been the case if the PS3 launched at a more reasonable price point?
Year of the PS3 will only happen when they drop the price.
The year of the PS3? Just because they sold better in one market region on a given month?
Wii still has well over 2 times as much overall sales, and over 2 times as much weekly sales worldwide
only reason PS3 is gaining ground in Japan is because of one or two games of interest being released and the market for Wii has gotten saturated
Plothole: The only way to have released the PS3 at a lower price point would have been to make it a PS2.5. IE add the hard drive, wireless controller, and PSN, but with only marginal graphics improvements and no Blu-ray.
Would that have been a success like the Wii, or would it have been crushed even worse by the XBox 360? Hard to say, but I'm thinking the latter.
I am tired of people talking about Ps3 needs a price drop. What? if they drop the price everyone who already got one is going get another one, return the one they've got to get it again? Those who wanted one already have one or has an Xbox360 and don't want one and for those who still waiting their purchase won't change much specially if Sony have to drop the price. IMO.
@Jon Acheson
You seem to be forgetting that the Xbox 360 is similar in power, and yet launched for about 200 less.
I still am unsure if blu-ray makes enough of a difference to warrant the additional cost it put on the system.
Year of the PS3 my ass. When that tank gets even close to selling 50 million then you can even mention such thing.
Plothole: The 360 doesn't include a number of features the PS3 has, particularly Wifi and Blu-ray. Without sounding like a fanboy, I think it is safe to say some quality control corners were cut as well.
Its more like the year of everyone already owns a wii or two.
this is actually not that great of a thing for sony, if any thing, a bad start would make sony work even harder, now their sitting on this blip on the radar confidence, or maybe it is a start to an overall trend, but I dought it, unless the Nintendo does something stupid,
Consoles sold isnt an indicator of a consoles success. Its the attach rate.
Whats the point of selling 50 million consoles when people buy next to no games for it. It Nintendos case they make money on each console sold but thats not the norm.
Id say the Xbox 360 is the most successful console in this generation.
I don't know... 2 games per console in the attach rate ARE bundled with the system...
Attach rate is irrelevant (unless, for accounting purposes, you really need to sell X games per system to make back losses on the original sale - something which may still be the case for Sony, though it's not clear). The total number of games sold is a more useful metric.
If you're a console manufacturer or game developer, would you prefer to have an attach rate of 10:1, but only 1000 consoles sold, or an attach rate of 2:1 but with a million consoles sold?
Wii and PS3 have almost exactly the same attach rate, so in this context it's particularly irrelevant. Although I don't know what the Japan-specific attach rate or copies-sold numbers are for either platform, and since this is a story about Japan, that would be more relevant.
(360 isn't relevant to this discussion, but has a somewhat higher attach rate than PS3/Wii.)
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/new...hp?story=20988
November 6, 2008
(first 23 months)
3rd party
5.2 - Xbox 360
4.4 - PlayStation 3
3.1 - Wii
Overall
6.6 - Xbox 360
5.5 - Wii
5.3 - PlayStation 3
The only reason the 360 is that much higher is because of the extra year on the market. When looking at the studies we are talking about the Wii and the the PS3 at 5 and then the 360 at 6. The extra year without competition helped it to get two more numbers but obviously any system with a year head start would be higher.
And I love the tone of the article
Media create
February
PS3: 87,000
Wii: 76,000
March
PS3: 116,000
Wii: 70,000
the PS3 outsells the wii for two months in a row, yet somehow the article seems as if this is some sort of small victory.
If you are paying attention though, it isn't the PS3 that is selling more (it is on par with last years performance) it is that the Wii is selling much less.
But however you want to spin it engadget....... have fun.
Why isnt price factored in this? PS3 is about twice the Wii price over here, so theoretically it should only make 1/2 the sales to be as successfull. Also, if someone chooses a PS3 over a Wii at twice the price, it's probably twice as good, otherwise it will not warrent the extra.
Who buys consoles anyway. Or can afford! PC forever!!
In the US. This article is about Japanese sales where the 360 is a distant third.
Hein,
That is not how economics works.
No company keeps track of success based on the metric that you are suggesting.
who needs to buy games when you can download them :D
That's good news for Sony...for now.... But, when Monster Hunter 3 arrives on the Wii.... I think PS3 and Xbox will not be able to catch up...
What about when the day Final Fantasy XIII and FF Versus XIII comes out in Japan ?
The Wii and the 360 won't be able to catch the PS3's tail for a few weeks.
Exactly, I agree with you. Let's hope it'll be back and forth like this so better games can evolve that fully utilize power of the consoles...especially the PS3...
Arrrgggghhhhh, how do people who are SO grammatically challenged get jobs with engadget? Are you all related? Is it 'who you know' before 'what you know' ?
It's a typo, get over yourself.
That should read: "It's a typo. Get over yourself."
Actually, most style sheets for journalism recommend avoiding contractions. It should read, "It is a typo. Get over yourself."
The "enjoy you victory" bit is probably a typo. The "knowledge that your still totally kicking" is a flat-out grammatical error. Two mistakes in the space of one sentence doesn't make the staff look particularly thorough.
Mainly because everyone who wanted a Wii now has one.
People have been saying that about the PS2 for 5 years now.
Disk Read Error: the hidden secret to the continuing success of PS2 hardware sales.
RROD: the hidden secret to the continuing success of Xbox360 hardware sales.
Who cares? I mean, for all you people who enjoy pinning your flag to certain consoles...does the fact less people are playing the one you don't own make your game playing more enjoyable? Is Gears Of War a better game and more enjoyable because you know for a fact no PS3 owners are playing it while you are? Or have I got this wrong and you're all actually Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo share owners?
I play Call Of Duty 4 on the PC and last I checked the most you can get on a map is 50...and that sucks so I go for 32 max...so why would I care if several MILLION more people play it on the 360?! I'm only looking for another 31.
Someone explain this partisanship to me please.
People feel that they have to justify their cash outlay for their console, so they constantly seek ways to prove that their console is 'better' than others, so that they feel they made the right choice. It's the same with virtually every electrical product.
Plus, if you're looking for 31 other people from all over the world, chances are half of them will be asleep when you want to play :-P.
All I get all day, no matter the time, is "Server Full" and that's knowing the majority of people are playing on XBox Live, not the PC. There's never a time when there are not a few thousand people for me to play against. It's all just aimless posturing.
To be fair, if one console is significantly better than the other (or if certain games are exclusive to certain consoles, which is increasingly likely to happen if one console gains a large advantage in sales (although I imagine we're talking like 3-4x here)), then the people with the 'better' console are likely to get a better gaming experience (i.e., have more fun). Additionally, games are likely to be developed for the more popular console first and then ported to the others, a fact which I find increasingly annoying since PC ports (I'm a PC gamer) always seem to come off worst :-(.
The result of a Console Sales Failure may result that some consumers having a console that lack games. It's like having a Atari Jaguar.
@Sewershark
Do you REALISTICALLY see the any of the consoles being abandoned this late in the game?
Companies may not abandon their consoles right now, but no one want to ride a dead horse. And you must keep that in mind that, if a certain product goes wrong, other companies (game companies, on this case) will stop working with that product.
Just because no next-gen console have been totally defeated yet, does not mean they will not be in a possible future.
I'm not a professional, but I really don't think that any console will die, especially the PS3.
I thought the headline meant overall, not monthly. I about crapped my pants.
Good for you, PS3! I just got Little Big Planet about a week ago and it is overwhelmingly entertaining.
Tes, because people with no lives or achievements get their self-esteem by affiliation.
devilman539, below, being a PRIME example.
Not sure this really means anything considering almost every family in that country already bought a Wii within the first 6 months so its pretty easy to overtake them in sales if everyone already has one.