Wii outsells PS3 by almost 2:1 in the US

**Anilrgowda** · 12-Jan-2007, 10:19 PM

New sales figures confirm that the Wii has already taken a substantial lead over the PlayStation 3 in North America.
NPD Funworld has released North American sales figures for 2006, revealing that the Wii sold 1.1 million units since its launch on November 19. The PS3 came in a distant second in the battle of the new consoles, shifting only 687,300 units in 2006. Both consoles managed to top the Xbox 360's North American launch figures, which tallied up to only 607,000 units in the back end of 2005 (launched November 22, 2005).
The Xbox 360 had a much improved end to 2006 with more than 1.1 million units sold, raising its yearly total in North America to 4.5 million units. Worldwide sales currently sit at around 10.4 million units.
Senior marketing manager David Riley believes that the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 were both held back by production capacity.
"Comparing the three consoles is like apples and oranges," Riley told GameSpot. "It was all about availability. Microsoft and Sony were moving them as fast as they could put them out. [But] Nintendo was on the ball."
Riley also offered his thoughts on the PlayStation 3's high price, noting that it wasn't as important a factor as it had been made out to be.
"I think price plays a role there, but remember during the holiday season people have deep pockets," Riley said. "Kids know what they want, and if they tell mom to go buy a PS3 and she comes home with a Wii, they won't be happy."
In response to the PlayStation 3's disappointing sales when compared to its rivals, Sony Computer Entertainment America's director of corporate communications, David Karraker, said that the NPD numbers don't tell the whole story.
"NPD doesn't account for Canada... [and] doesn't cover all of our USA retailers," Karraker told GameSpot. "We sold-in more than 150,000 systems the last week of December, so there were many units in transit or at retailer's backrooms waiting to be put out [by year's end]."
Microsoft was much more buoyant, issuing a statement announcing a Christmas victory for the Xbox 360.
"The Xbox 360 garnered a 51 percent market share in the United States for December 2006... outselling the PlayStation 3 and Wii combined in December and outselling all next-generation consoles in November and December," Microsoft said in a statement.
Overall, it was the video game industry that came out on top. December console hardware revenue almost doubled that of the same period in 2005 - a staggering $1.1 billion.

12-Jan-2007, 10:19 PM	#1 (permalink)
Anilrgowda Administrator Posts: 18,720 Join Date: Jan 2006 Rep Power: 10 IM:	Wii outsells PS3 by almost 2:1 in the US New sales figures confirm that the Wii has already taken a substantial lead over the PlayStation 3 in North America. NPD Funworld has released North American sales figures for 2006, revealing that the Wii sold 1.1 million units since its launch on November 19. The PS3 came in a distant second in the battle of the new consoles, shifting only 687,300 units in 2006. Both consoles managed to top the Xbox 360's North American launch figures, which tallied up to only 607,000 units in the back end of 2005 (launched November 22, 2005). The Xbox 360 had a much improved end to 2006 with more than 1.1 million units sold, raising its yearly total in North America to 4.5 million units. Worldwide sales currently sit at around 10.4 million units. Senior marketing manager David Riley believes that the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 were both held back by production capacity. "Comparing the three consoles is like apples and oranges," Riley told GameSpot. "It was all about availability. Microsoft and Sony were moving them as fast as they could put them out. [But] Nintendo was on the ball." Riley also offered his thoughts on the PlayStation 3's high price, noting that it wasn't as important a factor as it had been made out to be. "I think price plays a role there, but remember during the holiday season people have deep pockets," Riley said. "Kids know what they want, and if they tell mom to go buy a PS3 and she comes home with a Wii, they won't be happy." In response to the PlayStation 3's disappointing sales when compared to its rivals, Sony Computer Entertainment America's director of corporate communications, David Karraker, said that the NPD numbers don't tell the whole story. "NPD doesn't account for Canada... [and] doesn't cover all of our USA retailers," Karraker told GameSpot. "We sold-in more than 150,000 systems the last week of December, so there were many units in transit or at retailer's backrooms waiting to be put out [by year's end]." Microsoft was much more buoyant, issuing a statement announcing a Christmas victory for the Xbox 360. "The Xbox 360 garnered a 51 percent market share in the United States for December 2006... outselling the PlayStation 3 and Wii combined in December and outselling all next-generation consoles in November and December," Microsoft said in a statement. Overall, it was the video game industry that came out on top. December console hardware revenue almost doubled that of the same period in 2005 - a staggering $1.1 billion.

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