14 DAY TRIAL // After the NPD numbers were released last week, showing the PlayStation 3 selling more than the Xbox 360 while the Nintendo Wii continued to dominate overall sales, all the console makers were in a hurry to put a positive spin on the numbers and to make it sound like their console was the big winner in May and overall.
Nintendo had the easiest job in the world when it came to making things look positive. A drop in overall sales for the Nintendo DS should worry Nintendo a little, but the Wii is the rising star of console sales. Cammie Dunaway, a sales executive for the company, said that "The Wii Wheel and Wii Balance Board accessories make game play fun for new gamers while presenting new challenges for those who have been playing a long time." And innovation is continuing to power new additions to the game line-up and also new ways in which the controllers can be used. With such high-powered titles like Mario Kart and Wii Fit selling now, and with an FPS-like Conduit in the making, the Wii is poised to be the best selling console of the year.
Things are also looking sunny on the Sony side of the street. Jack Tretton, who is representing Sony, declared: "The media have hailed 2008 as the year of the PS3, and with solid sales and growth opportunities ahead, we feel consumers are saying the same." The fact that it sold more than Microsoft in the last few months is certainly helping boost the confidence level at Sony, which had a forgettable 2007. The release of Metal Gear Solid 4 is set to make the PlayStation 3 sell even more hardware in June.
Sony is also citing internal financial numbers, saying that between January and May, the PlayStation brand, consisting of PS2, PS3 and PSP, has generated some 2.27 billion dollars in revenue - which is 46% more than Microsoft.
On the Microsoft side of the street, things look different. The company points out the fact that the Xbox 360 has an installed base of more than 19 million machines and an attach rate of 7.7 games sold on each machine. Microsoft also pointed to a Nielsen survey saying gamers aged between 10 and 26 play the Xbox 360 for 75 hours per month, while the PS3 is played only for 53. A company statement reads: "We still have quite a few aces up our sleeve."
The spinning of numbers aside, it's pretty clear that Sony and Microsoft have no response to the Wii from Nintendo, and that now the real battle is between the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. We'll see how this goes as E3 nears, with its big announcements and all.