The console war is a series of pretty tough battles, with the three sides, Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony, fighting bitterly for every customer out there. This is especially true around the holiday season, because people are more and more inclined to buy consoles and games.
But, as recent sales figures show, the hierarchy of the three major consoles, the Wii, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, is quite clear. Nintendo dominates its opposition with figures that have been on the rise ever since it was launched in 2006 and the company, expecting a big boost come Christmas, already warned its customers to buy a Wii or a DS
in advance, in order to be sure that they receive their gift. The Xbox 360 comes in second, as a result of subsequent price cuts and various bundles, which made the console very attractive to a lot of people.
When it comes to the
PlayStation 3, despite the fact that it is the most powerful console hardware-wise, it is the loser of this war, as it is beaten by the Xbox 360 in territories such as Asia or Europe, where it was traditionally favored to Microsoft's product. But the high price isn't the only thing that is affecting the success of the PS3, because the recent slump in HDTV sales also had a great impact on the multimedia system, according to Wedbush Morgan analyst, Michael Pachter.
“There was likely some substitution of Xbox 360 for PS3 purchases, due to recent price reductions for the Xbox 360 and the bundling of the console with two free games,” said Pachter. “In addition, we believe that PS3 sales are being impacted by lower demand for HD televisions as a result of the recession. We believe that several PS3 exclusives, notably LittleBigPlanet, along with focus on the Blu-ray will drive hardware sales over the next six months.”
Pachter also went on to say that, although some people believed that the recession would have a big impact on the gaming industry, the latter would certainly get out of the crisis virtually unharmed. He motivated this by the fact that the three console manufacturers attracted a lot of users, with the Wii focusing on the casual market, the PS3 on the Blu-ray one and the Xbox 360 on the online market, with its New Xbox Experience.
It does seem that once people begin to realize all of the benefits that the PS3 has, they might make such an investment in it, but, until then, the lower priced Wii and Xbox 360 are still a very popular choice.
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