Making news out of minute sales differences
I'm getting tired of the gaming media making headlines about minor changes in sales statistics. Sometimes they compare a 100,000 or less difference when discussing millions of units sold. Whether it's the PS3, 360, or Wii, it's getting a bit out of hand. 5-10% or more may be numbers to be concerned with, but anything less is just market flux.
When it comes down to the wire, it is very realistic that we could see an even market. The Wii has captured the world, but we still question such over the long term. The DS has consistently had plenty of stellar games where the Wii cannot say as much. This could easily change, but it is too soon to say.
Prices on the more advanced consoles are coming down. One thing the 360 and PS3 can do is perform anything technical that the Wii can do. They are just a motion controller away (the PS3 will probably need a different controller form factor). The Wii can't do what the other consoles do, however. Once the more powerful, more feature-filled consoles are affordable to the masses...it's hard to imagine the Wii holding its top spot. However, don't consider that a proclamation that it will drop to the bottom. More than likely, they'll all stay evenly spaced unless a brunt of million-selling games ends up on one specific console.
Last time, the PS2 got most of the games, and plenty of exclusives. At its continually dropping price, it's no wonder why it came out on top. But in this generation, exclusivity is fading leaving many widely popular titles available on gamers' preferred platforms.
Seeing the market with these aspects in mind, I think the gaming media should ease up on the war. We've already lost a solid movie format because the media didn't concentrate on what made HD-DVD better, but rather Blu-ray's arbitrary maximum storage number. Rather than worrying about who sold a few more or few less units in a month or year, we should be correlating that information to specific game releases. Even better, we should be concentrating on what the console manufacturers will be doing to keep us entertained, not on meaningless short-term numbers.
When it comes down to the wire, it is very realistic that we could see an even market. The Wii has captured the world, but we still question such over the long term. The DS has consistently had plenty of stellar games where the Wii cannot say as much. This could easily change, but it is too soon to say.
Prices on the more advanced consoles are coming down. One thing the 360 and PS3 can do is perform anything technical that the Wii can do. They are just a motion controller away (the PS3 will probably need a different controller form factor). The Wii can't do what the other consoles do, however. Once the more powerful, more feature-filled consoles are affordable to the masses...it's hard to imagine the Wii holding its top spot. However, don't consider that a proclamation that it will drop to the bottom. More than likely, they'll all stay evenly spaced unless a brunt of million-selling games ends up on one specific console.
Last time, the PS2 got most of the games, and plenty of exclusives. At its continually dropping price, it's no wonder why it came out on top. But in this generation, exclusivity is fading leaving many widely popular titles available on gamers' preferred platforms.
Seeing the market with these aspects in mind, I think the gaming media should ease up on the war. We've already lost a solid movie format because the media didn't concentrate on what made HD-DVD better, but rather Blu-ray's arbitrary maximum storage number. Rather than worrying about who sold a few more or few less units in a month or year, we should be correlating that information to specific game releases. Even better, we should be concentrating on what the console manufacturers will be doing to keep us entertained, not on meaningless short-term numbers.
posted by SuicideNinja at 12:32 PM
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