Ben-DutkaGaming is big business these days and although we never would've expected it 30 years ago, the majority of American homes have a piece of video game equipment.
This according to GameStop's estimates , where they also revealed that about a quarter of its "non-used business for the year [2009] came from Nintendo." And of the 307 million people in the US, the retailer states, citing "reports published by the NPD group," that over 220 million gaming handhelds and consoles were purchased in the US as of December 2009. Of that group, approximately half (around 112 million) bought a piece of hardware in the "current generation of handheld and console hardware." Not surprisingly, both the Wii and DS ruled the roost in 2009 and the sales numbers are as follows:
Total consoles & handhelds: 220 million units
Current-generation consoles & handhelds: 112 million units
DS: 38.6 million units
Wii: 27.1 million units
Xbox 360: 18.6 million units
PSP: 16.8 million units
PlayStation 3: 11.1 million units
As a reminder, the overall tally for the PlayStation 3 worldwide is around 34 million while the Xbox 360 number is about 39 million. Obviously, the PS3 is far more popular in Japan and based on numbers in the past year, it's also more popular in many parts of Europe. As for the future, it'll be interesting to see where things end up…
I think some of us kids DID expect this to happen when we first started gaming 30 years ago. We were way ahead of our times guys. Way ahead.
I was only 4 then and wasn't allowed to play the new Atari. Maybe that's why I put 40 hours into gaming last week. See? Repression from parents only leads to obsession in adults. lol.
The big difference is, is that we live in a society in the U.S.A where mommies and daddies buy their children whatever they want and when their 3-8 year old says, "I wanna Wii," they get it.
Thus wii is winning. (same for ds)
Then when their little pumpkin is between 9-14 years old and feel that bouncing around is too much work they decide to "upgrade" and want a xbox because all their older(10-15 yr old) friends have one already.
So here you have a bunch of hyper, bouncy, spoiled children causing sales for lesser systems to be abundant.
Then when people finally have to buy things themselves they realize they would rather have quality so they want a ps3. Problem is now we all have responsibilities. House payments, rent, car payment, whatever and so fewer people can afford to just run out and get our dream machine.
This is the reason for these numbers. Spoiled kids and their parents who don't know any better.
Yes, but why can't the pumpkins request a PS3 instead?
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
14 year old kid to mom – "STOP CALLING MY PUMPKIN!"
the kids don't request a ps3 because it doesn't have all the wonderful games they like to play. Like mr cuddleys tree house and bounce a ball against a wall. (not real games, I hope)
Ps3 just isn't crowded with little kiddie games, so they want the kiddie boxs.
Only reason PS3 is behind the 360 is because of the Americans buying the "American" console, still made in China and Microsoft does not give you anything other than a request for further money. Great way to stifle game innovation, Wake up and smell the coffee.
no, it's because Americans unfortunately still think Microsoft is a quality company.
They should like not sell xboxs for a year, so the PS3 can have it's year of no contenders, that'll close the gap quickly, xbox doesn't deserve sales anyway.
I'm kind of astounded that half of the sales WEREN'T for current gen stuff. The PS2 is selling as much as the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS and PSP combined?
That can't be right.
Why are there PSP, DS and Wii in the chart. Next-gen is used for xbox360 and ps3
Nilo, should we not concider people in Detroit in the US Census? They really don't count, that city sucks!
Wii is part of this generation of consoles, you can admit it, it is ok.
The article talks about "current generation of handheld and console hardware", so the PSP and DS numbers are applicable.
With the explosion of online gaming being first to market became that much more important – young kids aren't going to make some research informed decision – they are going to want something that plays game and the biggie – whatever their friend have so they can play together. How many Xbox's do you think were bought because the friend up the street already has one!
EZ
I don't think the 360 is really that "next-gen" other than it being able to make good graphics. If you really look at it, it's more or less on-par with the original xbox…
-It uses the same disk format as the original
-The space of the disk format is constraining to game developers
-Its the only console to still use a disk tray
-It uses a power brink with the competition doesn't
-It has more hardware problems than the competition
-It's the only console in which you must pay to play online
-It is not cost efficient (xbl membership, separate HDD, wireless, AA battery pack, all add to the cost)
-And even though the New Xbox Experience is a nice interface, it's nothing more than a 'do-over' from the original interface
From the start of this gen, Microsoft just wanted to play it safe. The only 'risk' they took was releasing the system early (which costed MS dearly). How can something 'next-gen' have so many 'last-gen' problems?
Last edited by sonic1899 on 3/31/2010 12:18:53 PM
Your avatar's amazing…
And yeah, I remember seeing the 360 late last year at my University and how the DVD tray came out….I was like "woooow" lol
Even the Wii doesn't have that outdated DVD/CD tray
Sonic,
Yeah, I've got the COD MW2 Elite Deluxe bundle (250gigger), and I hate how MS is still using a frigging power brick.
It not only looks like sh!t, there's really nowhere for me to hide that POS looking crap.
Last edited by BikerSaint on 3/31/2010 5:57:04 PM
It's "Next Gen" so drop it, that's how it will always be reported until it is "last gen" Don't make me devastate you people.
Kraken anyone?
I could release it at any time!