Console Sales -- Engadget

console sales posts

Nintendo Wii sets record as fastest-selling console in the US

by Donald Melanson, posted Jun 12th 2009 at 4:13PM

The Wii has already set more than its share of sales records, but it looks like Nintendo has now claimed another big one, with the latest NPD figures indicating that the Wii has become the fastest-selling console ever in the United States. That milestone was apparently marked when the Wii sailed past 20 million consoles sold after just 31 months on the market, although that number is of course just a small part of the more than 50 million consoles shipped worldwide which, incidentally, has already made the Wii the fastest-selling console in the world.

[Via Joystiq]

Microsoft touts 30 million Xbox 360s sold, 20 million Xbox LIVE members

by Donald Melanson, posted May 28th 2009 at 8:29PM

Sony may have been the first to claim the 20 million users number, but most will no doubt agree that Microsoft has a considerably stronger claim to that title, as their just-announced 20 million users apparently includes only "active members," and doesn't include users that have simply signed up to use their online forums. Even less debatable are Microsoft's latest sales numbers for the console, which now officially top 30 million worldwide. As Microsoft points out, that translates to a whopping $14.5 billion in sales across all Xbox 360 categories, or an impressive $5.9 billion in game sales for third-party publishers. Other tidbits include the fact that Xbox 360 users own 8.3 titles each on average, and that Xbox LIVE has seen a 136% increase in new members since the launch of the New Xbox Experience last year.

Nintendo shares fall after surprising drop in Wii demand

by Donald Melanson, posted Apr 17th 2009 at 1:26PM

Nintendo may have been denying any rumors of a Wii price cut earlier this month, but it looks like it could possibly be reconsidering its options if this latest sales trend keeps up. Apparently, sales in the U.S. for the month of March clocked in at around 601,000 consoles, or about a 17% drop from a year earlier. During the same period, however, Xbox 360 sales were reportedly up a healthy 26%, while PlayStation 3 sales dipped 15% -- although, in sheer numbers, both were still well behind the Wii. That unsurprisingly didn't make investors too happy, with Nintendo shares falling 6.6% on the Osaka Securities Exchange after the news broke, which accounted for it's biggest drop in more than two months. Also contributing to the sell-off was a 19% drop in Nintendo DS sales compared to the previous year, although the company seems to be betting pretty heavily that the DSi will quickly turn those numbers around.

Nintendo president squashes talk of Wii price cuts

by Donald Melanson, posted Apr 9th 2009 at 6:25PM

Incredible as it sounds, it looks like Nintendo isn't planning on slashing the price of the console it can still barely keep on store shelves. That word comes straight from Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, who's attempting to clamp down on recent speculation that a Wii price cut could be in the offing, which seemed at least a tad more plausible considering that the manufacturing costs for the console have supposedly dropped significantly since its launch. According to Iwata, rather than trying to drive up sales numbers even further with a price cut, Nintendo will instead be putting "more energy and time into making better entertainment so that our products are going to remain in the top position in our customer's wish lists" -- and now with Disc Dog, in the top position in our hearts.

Console numbers released: Xbox 360 tops 10M US sales, 9.2M PS3s sold worldwide last year

by Nilay Patel, posted May 14th 2008 at 8:33PM

Microsoft is making some noise today about the Xbox 360's sales numbers -- it's the first of this generation of consoles to top 10M sales in the US. That's well ahead of the Wii, which stands at 8.8M, and the PS3, which has under half the 360's installed base at 4.1M units sold. Worldwide, the 360 is also doing quite well: Microsoft says it's moved 19M consoles total, and that 12 million people are signed up for Xbox Live. That's behind the Wii's global sales of 25M units, but Microsoft isn't exactly content with second place -- it's making a point to say that the 360 has the " largest global install base of any current gen, high definition gaming console." Take that, Mario. Meanwhile, the PS3s doing quite nicely for itself as well: in addition to outselling the 360 in both the US and Europe, Sony says worldwide sales were up an astounding 156 percent last year with a total of 9.2M units coming off shelves, and that it expects to sell another 10M consoles by March 2009. Looks like the console race is hitting the next level -- any bets on how things will shake out in a year?

[Via Joystiq]

Read - 360 sales
Read - PS3 sales

Total Wii sales surpass the Xbox 360 worldwide?

by Paul Miller, posted Aug 23rd 2007 at 10:59AM

The idea of Wii sales passing up the Xbox 360 has seemed almost inevitable in the past months, as its motion-sensing gameplay and lovable pricetag have found plenty of fans in the Americas, Europe and especially in the Wii's native Japan. So far no official numbers have hit that have the Wii past its Microsoft rival, but Vgchartz.com's own homebrew numbers, gleaned from retailers worldwide, project the Wii is slightly ahead at 10.57 million consoles sold, compared to the 360's 10.51 million. These numbers are meant to project consoles sold, not consoles shipped, which gives the sold out Wii a slight edge. There's no telling when we'll get official numbers to know all this for sure, and the 360 still has a comfortable lead over the Wii in both Europe and the States, but it's looking like we'll have a new market leader in town soon enough.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]