Nintendo is doing extremely well in this round of console wars, be it in the portable or home-based arena with the DS Lite and Wii, respectively. Their efforts have paid off handsomely as the latest sales figures available from NPD for the month of June has showed that there is more to boosting sales than just a single multiplayer platform record breaking game ala Grand Theft Auto IV or an exclusive release such as Metal Solid Gear 4: Guns of the Patriots for the PS3. Slow and steady wins the race, and somehow the Wii has hit a sweet spot with Americans since it was released at the end of 2006. Amazingly enough, it is the only console of this generation that has yet to experience a price cut, while its main rivals, the Xbox 360 and PS3 have already seen lowered prices a number of times to date. The Nintendo Wii has surpassed the Xbox 360 from Microsoft in terms of units sold (in the US, of course), touching 11,008,200 units sold compared to the Xbox 360’s 10,465,900 count.
According to NPD Group analyst Anita Frazier, ?the video games industry continues to perform in the face of an ever-increasingly difficult economic environment as many turn to more in-home entertainment. Even if growth slows over the back half of 2008, the industry is poised to achieve record-breaking revenues of over $22 billion for the year.?
The Sony PS3 ain’t doing too shabby either, thanks to the recent Metal Gear Solid 4 launch that managed to move 405,000 units. Of course, the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto IV did not materialize into strong hardware sales despite record-breaking sales of the game. I suppose the Xbox 360 sales figures have reached a plateau in its homeland, and as the economic squeeze tightens, most people will opt for the much cheaper Nintendo Wii instead. Interesting times are ahead for gamers, regardless of which camp you’re in.
