gamers suggested by steady sales?
they look steadily close to 0 to me on that graph. Then again, I supposed you could call a cadaver's situation stable too
Nintendo takes Japan Xmas sales crown
Nintendo took the crown last week for pre-Christmas console sales in Japan, with sales of Wiis and DS Lites higher than all the others combined. The DS Lite topped the chart - again - with unit shipments totalling 279,551 consoles for the week to 23 December 2007, according to Japan's Media Create organisation. As you can see …
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Monday 31st December 2007 06:20 GMT yeah, right.
profits?
Number of units is nice, but what would probably be just as important is how much profit each company makes from those sales. DS and Wii are, after all, a lot cheaper than PS3, but I'm betting that the profit on a PS3 is a greater percentage of the price than the Wii or DS. Combined. Then again, the Wii and DS are pretty low-tech machines, so I might be surprised.
It would go something like this: find someone who has done a calculation of the real cost of building each unit (component costs), find a leak for the wholesale price, then compare actual profit for each company for the various platforms.
I could do the research myself, but I can't be arsed, mainly because I'm not the one getting paid to do these kind of comparisons, unlike some of the writers here.
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Monday 31st December 2007 06:20 GMT Anonymous Coward
Christmas in Japan
One important point to understand about Xmas consoles (or anything regarding Christmas retail in Japan) is that there is a much smaller tradition of Christmas present exchange.
In most families only young children get presents at christmas.
The big spend on games and gaming consoles happens in the New Year, when all the kiddies get their "new year lucky money".
I suspect that the bump in console sales in December is due top other factors, such as the "Winter Bonus" giving ready cash to many young adults, allowing them to buy the gaming gear of their choice, or maybe the recent launch of some new popular games for the leading systems...
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Monday 31st December 2007 07:06 GMT Anonymous Coward
Christmas in Japan doesn't really exist
Japan is not a Christian country so Christmas isn't a celebration in the same way as you or I are used to. In fact, Christmas Day is a working day and everything is open (I was at work).
The increase in sales is much more likely due to Westerners buying their consoles before flying home for Christmas.
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Monday 31st December 2007 15:00 GMT Anonymous Coward
Japan Christmas
infact the only main thing is that Christmas in Japan is about young couples, you're supposed to spend it with your girlfriend, out in the snow and such like.
But yeah fellow anons speak truth.
PS3 will lose money for years, took the ps2 what, 3 years to break even? Sod the consoles money is made on games.
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Tuesday 1st January 2008 07:42 GMT Scott Butterworth
Sony
One thing I have noticed a lot of people forget (especially the younger crowd) is that Sony have ENORMOUS perseverance and an almost unlimited pocketbook.
When they launch a product it is akin to launching a long grueling military campaign of attrition -- they often beat their opponents by simply outlasting them (regardless of their own losses). They are also very smart about product placement and consumer markets and thus usually end up being top dog in the long term.
This can be seen easily now by simply looking at the PSP and PS2 sales -- both of these consoles came under heavy criticism and negative media scrutiny in the first 2 years of their release and both were losses on Sony's books for quite some time. Now you can see that both platforms have reached peak maturity in the markets and are raking in cash nicely -- though imho I think the PSP still has a lot more potential to be gleaned out of it yet (if you don't own one yet, they are FANTASTIC little devices, especially if you also own a PS3). I predict the Playstation 3 will follow the same patterns over time.
My hat goes off to Sony for making great products and being a pro at making money.
Congrats also go to Nintendo for ressurecting itself in the non-handheld console market.
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Tuesday 1st January 2008 16:17 GMT Anonymous Coward
prophets and profits
nintendo never make a loss on the consoles - unlike the other
2 players - okay, the retailers have to make profit or they wouldnt sell them - and on this score the xbox 360 makes the most markup (BOM for PS3 is very high). The Wii also has a wonderful 'trick' in that many people are encouraged to buy more wiimotes - its more a social console than the single-player experience (ignoring multiplayer online as thats still a single-player local exprience) of the 360 and PS3.
however, Wii will need to produce some more compelling content soon -as the current release schedule looks a little 'tacky' - simple/cheap 'game experiences' using the wiimote as a pointer (just one step up from those DVD games)
PS3 sales continue at a slow drip feed - but there are several AAA titles lurking in the first few months of this year - leading into the main easter games session - a situation that no other console has - 360 has done its major titles now until near summer - hoping that its drawn in all it can during this purchasing season.
360 is still best online experience
PS3 is slowly catching up - but still too fragmented
Wii - virtual console is delivering its promise but the new
DLC system will add onto this - but online playing is very very poor
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Biting the hand that feeds IT
