Barry Levine, newsfactor
According to industry research firm NPD, the PS3 moved to second place in U.S. sales in January, with 269,000 units sold, compared to 230,000 for the Microsoft Xbox 360. Nintendo's Wii remained in first place, with 274,000 players sold. Microsoft told reporters earlier this week that its reduced sales were due, at least in part, to its underestimation of post-holiday demand and stores have been running short of product.
Largest Installed Base by 2011?
And market researcher iSuppli said Thursday that the worldwide installed base of Nintendo Wii consoles will top the Xbox 360 this year, rising to 30.2 million units. It projected the Xbox 360's base by the end of 2008 at 25.7 million units and the PS3's at 20.3 million. The Wii has been rising like a rocket, from 3.2 million players at the end of 2006 to 18 million last year, but these projections also mean the PS3 will have doubled its installed base by the end of this year.
The iSuppli report also projects that the PS3 is growing fastest, with a 97 percent increase in its installed base year over year, compared to 68 percent for Nintendo and 41 percent for Microsoft. Next year, Sony's installed base is projected to increase about 9.7 million units, versus an increase of 6.8 million for Wiis and 5.4 million for Xbox 360s.
If this continues, iSuppli said, Sony could have the largest installed base of this generation of players by 2011, with nearly 39 million units, and Nintendo will have slipped to barely second place with about 38 million. Microsoft is projected to be in third, with about 32 million.
Irony of the Blu-ray Inclusion?
The PS3's increasing popularity may be propelled, in part, by its inclusion of a Blu-ray high-definition player. With Warner Bros., Best Buy and Netflix joining the Blu-ray camp and a report that Toshiba, the main backer of competing format HD DVD, is preparing to toss in the towel within weeks, the on-board DVD player in the PS3 could become an additional selling point.
If this is the case, the irony is that Sony was criticized by observers for delaying the PS3's launch and increasing its price to accommodate the Blu-ray player. However, only one PS3 game was in the top 10: Call of Duty 4, in eighth place. The top-selling game for January was Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for the Xbox 360.
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