PlayStation 3 outsells Wii in September

While it’s not directly related to the Wii’s successor, it’s an interesting tidbit of news I thought would be worth sharing.


NPD has stopped reporting hardware sales figures, but Michael Pachter has stepped up to fill in for them, revealing hard evidence that the competition is finally gaining on the Wii. The data shows that the PlayStation 3 beat the Wii by 58 000 units in September, selling 312 000 and 254 000 consoles, respectively. Sony must’ve done something right with Move to finally get ahead of Nintendo. Whether they manage to stay in this position for longer remains to be seen, but so far, many people seem to be excited about what is, for all intents and purposes, a Wii HD.

Xbox 360 Elite, black Wii, PlayStation 3 Slim

Meanwhile, the Xbox 360 has been on the rise for a while now, and Microsoft is currently outselling both of its rivals with a whopping 484 000 units. The prospect of no controller at all appears to be the most attractive at the moment.

With both of its competitors now offering a similar experience but with stronger tech behind it, the Wii now has little more than Nintendo’s first-party backing to set it apart. It may be hard to believe, but after its tyrannical reign spanning almost four years, the competition has finally caught up and taken the lead. Nintendo will once again need to come out with something new and unique to recapture the interest of the media as well as the gaming population; they aren’t a company to simply stand by and watch their market get taken apart without doing anything about it.

A set of blockbuster hardcore Wii titles coming out within the next half year or so – Donkey Kong Country Returns, Epic Mickey, The Conduit 2, Goldeneye 007, and quite possibly most important of all, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword – may temporarily rekindle interest in the underpowered white box, but more than likely, they are the last big push a console tends to get towards the twilight of its lifetime; after that’s over, Wii gamers will probably move on to other systems to get their fix. Keeping this in mind, it’s extremely likely the Wii 2 will be revealed next year (probably at E3). Knowing that Nintendo planned to reveal it as close to launch as possible, even a same-year 2011 release isn’t out of the question.


Source: Gamasutra


Thanks to the commenters for adding a few more games to the list, and Derrick for pointing out a silly mistake of mine.

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Comments, Reactions, and General Hooliganism

  1. You forgot Conduit 2. ;D
    Psyched for that one!

    • F0

      *facepalms* Aw man, how could I forget that? Thanks for reminding me! 😉 *edits article*

      You know, with all this gaming awesomeness coming out of the Wii now, I really wish I had enough money to buy it all…

    • Derrick

      U also forgot GoldenEye! How could u???

    • F0

      Whoops. Also added. Thanks.

    • Derrick

      u put golden 007, its goldenEYE 007, u have soooo many mistakes 😀

  2. videogamer1980

    simply meaningless x360 having some short term success with a slim version and ps3 has a short lived spike from 3rd…..short memorys you have,last year it was a short lived ps3 slim its just x360s turn this year jan-dec 2010 wii shall be global number 1 seller and april 2010/2011 it shall be fiscal year number 1 global seller and the userbase overall will again grow in wii’s favor the gap continues to widen not shorten its basic maths they can never ever catch wii

  3. wiiboy101

    nintendos long term goal in 2006 was 35 million by end 2012 a figure ps3 and x360 would never hit,wii went passed 30 million earlier this year and will go past 35 million with ease by early 2011 a full year or even 2 ealier than expected thats the fastest selling console in history and clearly ps3/x360 have no chance in hell (monthly is such a non issue)

  4. sean NOT malstrom

    donkey kong,goldeneye,wii-party,kirby,epic mickey conbined=console sellers just like 2D mario last year ,the only moving on that will happen is 3DS anyone deluded enough to consider kinect/move any kind of threat needs there head testing wiimote has already won the motion battle thats as obvious as wet water

    • F0

      The Wii may have won the motion battle, but admit that its time is coming to a close. After Skyward Sword, there will really be nothing left for it anymore. That’s Sony’s and Microsoft’s chance to really strike and take over its market.

      Of course, that’s only going to go on until the Wii’s successor comes out. 😉

  5. videodrome

    YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHATS COMING AFTER SKYWARD SWARD SO WHY MAKE THINGS UP

    clearly theres wm+ games coming thats why nintendo are are now pushing wii remote plus after the wm+ add-on stand alone wiimote+ and flingshot and wiimote+ now bundled you have no idea of wiis line up in 2011 so stop making it up

    • F0

      First of all, take a deep breath and calm down.

      Second, it’s called an opinion. Wii MotionPlus has been around for quite a while now, and there have been several big games that use it really well; Skyward Sword won’t be the first of them. We’ve already had two Tiger Woods games, Grand Slam Tennis, Red Steel 2, and a little one that must’ve flown under your radar called Wii Sports Resort. Skyward Sword is only going to join a list of excellence; it’s far from being the one to start the M+ craze.

      As a matter of fact, my personal opinion is that it’s meant to give both the Wii and the MotionPlus a proper farewell. The Wii will probably still be around for a year or two after Skyward Sword, but once the sales of that die down, Nintendo is very likely to start focusing on the Wii’s successor.

      And also, please read my words a little more carefully next time. I never explicitly said that SS was the last big Wii game; I only said that it’s “likely.”