Seven years ago, after the release of the Sony PlayStation 2 and the Microsoft Xbox, it seemed as though Nintendo, once a market leader, would never regain its No. 1 position. The GameCube , which sold a paltry 21.74 million units worldwide, had been a relative dud for the longtime gaming champion. However, undeterred by its third-place position, Nintendo had a plan for the next generation of gaming consoles.
Flash forward to 2008: Nintendo has sold some 32.64 million units of the Wii worldwide, according to video game sales tracking firm VG Chartz, giving it a 47.1 percent share of the video game hardware market.
The Xbox 360 , which had a one-year head start on the Wii and PlayStation3 (PS3) with its November 2005 release, trails by nearly 11 million units, with 21.01 million sold and a 30.3 percent market share. Sony and its PS3 console come in third, with sales of 15.62 million units, earning just 22.5 percent of the hardware segment.
Now, nearly two years after the Wii launched, the console appears to be the clear market leader.
My favorite part....
"They love to do stories about the Wii in old folks homes, but there's not enough old folks homes to move the needle a percentage point. For them to succeed, they have to capture the core gaming market, and that's what they've done."
I think the part that bothered me the most is how they say it is bad for Nintendo to have such high 1st party offerings, yet that is also the exact same thing Sony is focusing on this gen(1st party exclusives) to carry the PS3. How is it a bad idea for one company and not for the other? If MS had better 1st party games it may have even been all 3 doing it.
@ Cap
its true i mean yea third party support in the last couple gens havent gone the way of Nintendo( imo this gen is changing that) but yea your right that first party quality titles being a bad thing is ridiculous.