Is the Wii on track to outsell the PS2?
Monday, July 16th, 2007 at 8:59am by Jack
As the final ripples from E3 subside this week (whether for good or for now remains to be seen), Nintendo president Satoru Iwata leaves us with some passing comments that he probably wouldn’t have been caught dead making even just four or so months ago.
“Sony’s PS2 sales of 100 million units is an extraordinary number that our home game console business has not achieved,” Iwata told Reuters. “But if we can make our bid to expand the gaming population a continued success, we could exceed that.”
He’s using an “if” statement there, but even still if the cards all fall into place with this Blue Ocean strategy, then there’s really no telling how many consoles will be sold. The DS, I’d argue, looks like it may have already passed the tipping point, so we’ll see where that little white (and onyx. and pearl. and pink …) gem can go from here, won’t we?
With more than 120 million units sold (except mine; I won mine from an after prom party in 1999), the PS2 defined a generation of gaming. Games were made first and foremost for the PS2, and then developers starting thinking about everything else. If the Wii were to take even half that number with this latest spate of consoles out today, then I think we’ll see some very interesting games indeed.
Is it the “death of the hardcore gamer” as I’ve been reading all over the place these days? Not really. Let’s be all grandiose and bombastic, shall we? Let’s call it the birth of some new innovation.
July 16th, 2007 at 9:29 am
I have ALWAYS hated the sales numbers for the PS2. For the most part, they were a lot like the 360 at the beginning. Many of my friends were forced to buy a new one because the previous, just plain died. I have some friends that have gone through about 6-8 PS2’s each. I for one, have never owned a PS2. (Possibly one of the few.) But it was mainly because Mario, Link, Samus & Co. have never been on the PS2. I have never liked the ‘turn-based’ RPG so all of the Final Fantasy’s have never been to my liking. I am much more accustomed to Zelda. I have never really liked the Gran Turismo series (graphics only) mainly because there were too many customizations needed for top-notch racing. Mario Kart more my style. [You control the car/kart, not the settings.] Finally, I have never really felt comfortable holding the controller. I know it is on the top of many ‘best controller’ charts, but I have never liked the L1, L2 and R1, R2. TOO MANY BUTTONS for your top fingers!
Anyways, it is pretty much a ‘no-brainer’ that the Wii is on pace to surpass the PS2, and not because of the ‘repeat buys’ like I had stated earlier. I still haven’t heard of too many Wii’s breaking down.
Oh, a little worldwide tidbit from our friends at VGChartz:
360 = 10.08m
Wii = 9.05m
PS3 = 3.69m
July 16th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
It’s a foregone conclusion that Wii will be the best-selling 7th-generation console by 2008, but if they want to hit 120 million before 2017, they’d better ramp up their production soon.
Does anyone have any numbers on the relative failure rates of Wii and PS2?
July 16th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
I own my fourth PS2
Well, Nintendo Wii has still a long way to go when Nintendo can’t ramp up the production…
July 16th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Jack, I think you rushed too fast by referring to the PS2 in the past tense… I bought my first PS2 about a month ago, and it was not because of past titles, but because of some developers are still cranking out original and exclusive games for the PS2 today!
July 16th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
As always, a great point, InvisibleMan. Touche
July 16th, 2007 at 7:30 pm
Yeah, my PS2’s only about a year old too.
I had been nodding quietly and agreeing with the people who say, “Nintendo can’t increase production because what if they make five times as many as they sell?” But the truth is, you don’t suddenly go from being sold out in July to overstock in January. At their present production rate, assuming demand never dies down, it would literally take them 10 years just to MAKE 120 million Wiis, never mind sell them through. They need to ramp it up more than they’ve done so far. They have the cash reserves to overshoot a little.
On the other hand, while Iwata may be talking about PS2 volumes, he may be thinking in terms of one of his earlier quotes when he said he didn’t ever want to lower the price of the Wii, and thought price wars were damaging to the industry. Deliberately producing slightly fewer Wiis than the market demands — not enough to make it impossible to find, just enough that they’re sold out immediately when they hit the shelves — would certainly accomplish that, at least for a while, wouldn’t it?
And having just enough out there to give everyone who wants one hope of getting one rather than just making them give up and buy a 360 (or something non-game-related)…. isn’t that a lot like what Google did with gmail invites? For a while, everyone wanted them BECAUSE they were so hard to get.
Maybe the accusations that Nintendo was stockpiling Wiis weren’t so far off, but Nintendo’s taking a genuine risk with their production levels rather than just cynically sitting on Wiis. Maybe rather than worrying about how many more factories to hire, they’re slapping each other on the back in Kyoto for playing the supply/demand game so well.
By this time next year, we should know for sure.
July 16th, 2007 at 8:34 pm
i really hate when pepole say the wii could be the death of hardcore gaming. as a big hardcore nintendork, i think nintendo is doing right with the wii. im acutally playing games with others now, wii sports may not be the deepest game, but i play it alot more than the next big epic 50to60 hour scifi shooting game because im having a blast playing with others, and they’re real pepole, not bots or 13 year old kids that cant stop swearing on xbox live! and wii has meatier games for me like zelda, mario galixy, and metroid prime comes out next month.
July 17th, 2007 at 1:24 am
I’m even more tired of people acting as though “hardcore” and “casual” are the only two types of games in the world.
I wouldn’t be caught dead playing most Flash games, so I’m probably not a casual gamer, but I’ve been playing games for 30 years as of this year and I like a lot of old games which are often as simple as Flash games. I wouldn’t be caught dead playing GTA or Manhunt, and I don’t have time for hundred-hour RPGs, so I’m probably not hardcore, but I scour the internet for Mario Galaxy info.
Maybe there are hardcore gamers, casual gamers…. and then just plain gamers who are into it their entire lives.
July 17th, 2007 at 2:50 am
I dunno if this counts but, I’m in my third PS2 , and yes is a PS2 phat I have still.
Also my brother has gone through two PS2’s ..my cousin has gone through two also , this is just mention a few , I dunno if this affected the increase of sells… but thats 7 PS2’s in just three peoples alone.