PS3, Xbox 360 pass water on Wii
Nintendo market share slumped in 2010
The Sony PlayStation 3 was the world's most popular HD-capable games console in 2010, out-shipping Microsoft's Xbox 360 by 2.2m units.
But figures released by market watcher Strategy Analytics still put both of those machines behind Nintendo's Wii in the race to lead the fight to be the top selling current-generation console.
Some 43.7m current-gen consoles shipped in 2010, SA said. Just over 17m of them were Wiis. Unlike the Xbox and PS3, the Wii is only capable of standard-definition output. Sony shipped 14.42m PS3s. Microsoft shipped 12.24m Xbox 360s.
That put the three machines on current-generation console market shares of 39 per cent, 33 per cent and 28 per cent, respectively.
Compare that to 2009, when the Wii took 50 per cent of the market, the PS3 27 per cent and the Xbox 360 23 per cent. But shipments were three per cent higher back then: 45.01m consoles in all, itself down from 2008's peak shipments of 46.50m units.
During those years, the PS3 nibbled into the Wii's market share, but only last year did the Sony console and Microsoft's really begin to grab ground from Nintendo.
"Microsoft’s Kinect was clearly one of the winners in 2010," said Jia Wu, SA Senior Analyst. "In the second half of 2010, the Xbox 360’s market share for the first time exceeded the 30 per cent mark among the current generation fixed consoles, which was clearly driven by the Kinect launch."
When it comes to units shipments, both the PS3 and the 360 grew at double-digit rates between 2009 and 2010 - the Wii fell 24 per cent, SA said. ®
COMMENTS
verbose
"the race to lead the fight to be the top selling current-generation console"... wow, someone's winning the race to lead the fight to win the day to rule the roost of redundant redundancy.
Wii was designed
for the whole family. It was a piece of genius from Nintendo, developing something that slipped into it's own niche of something that was simple to use, graphically interesting and fun. Everyone in the family was welcome to play. It made you participate, instead of staring a screen pressing buttons, you leapt about, swung your arms and that's inherently funny to watch.
PS3 & Xbox 360 both went after the same, core, gamer audience. They boast better technology for playing games etc. They do, however, lack the universal appeal of the Wii. Nintendo has had years to become the leading family entertainment platform, and both Move & Kinect have had months to have any impact on that lead. It's more to do with saturation than any other reason I feel.
I'm a PS3 owner, without a Wii or 360, and I'm happy. I just think you can't honestly compare PS3 & 360 to the Wii, different horses for different courses. Wii doesn't have the core gamer appeal that the other two have, and the other two don't have the family appeal that the Wii has. I suspect most homes will go for the Wii over the other two, but if there's a gamer in the house, then he or she will have a 360 or PS3 (most likely as well as the Wii)
That's my tupennies worth anyway
Odd article
This article is worded and structured very oddly. It seems at pains to emphasise the gains made by Sony and Microsoft, while almost disguising the fact that Wii was still the best-selling console in 2010. "Nintendo market share slumped in 2010", indeed? From first place by a mile, to first place comfortably, more like.
"PS3, Xbox 360 pass water on Wii"
Really? They pissed on the Wii whichsold more? Perhaps my English or Maths skills are failing me by 17m units by the Wii is more than 14m units for the PS3 and more than the 12m unit for the 360, and the Wii continues to piss on the other two.
Hasn't the Wii hit saturation level yet?
@Tony Smith
Ownership is not directly related to bias. Like much of the wording in the article, your reply appears to be trying to get casual readers to infer a meaning which is not actually there. For example:
"The Sony PlayStation 3 was the world's most popular __HD-capable__ games console in 2010, out-shipping Microsoft's Xbox 360 by 2.2m units." HD-capabale HAD to be added to this statement to make it true, yet is a term likely to be skimmed over by the casual reader. The net result is unsuspecting readers entering the article with the impression that the Wii fell behind the other two consoles.
"Some 43.7m current-gen consoles shipped in 2010, SA said. Just over 17m of them were Wiis. __Unlike the Xbox and PS3, the Wii is only capable of standard-definition output.__ Sony shipped 14.42m PS3s. Microsoft shipped 12.24m Xbox 360s." The highlighted sentence has no place in this paragraph, because output capability is not related to shipment volumes. It serves only to support the bias introduced in the first paragraph. It would have made much more sense to include the highlighted sentence in the first paragraph, which would serve to clarify the meaning. The following is an example of a more clear opening paragraph:
"The Sony PlayStation 3 was the world's most popular HD-capable games console in 2010, out-shipping Microsoft's Xbox 360 by 2.2m units. However, the Nintendo Wii, which is only capable of standard-definition output, still outshipped both of the HD-capable consoles."
When read carefully and with effort, your article as written is factually correct. However, it is worded in such a way as to give a misleading impression to someone who does not spend time carefully weighing each sentence.
Because readers are selective, there IS an inherent bias in your industry -- not towards specific brands, but towards articles and headlines which show things happening (hence the dynamic terminology: "race to lead" what is now a 5-year old generation of consoles, for example) and since "Wii still outshipping competition" is a non-story, it would be only natural to rephrase the headline and article to highlight the changes. But that has to be balanced against providing a clear and readable article that is most likely to give all readers the correct impression. I think you missed the mark a little on that point.
