Nintendo’s dominance continues, on both sides of the Pacific. The latest sales figures from Japan show that the PS3 sold just over 50,000 units during May while the Wii sold over 251K. The Nintendo DS also outsold the PSP 5-to-1 during May. More within...
While the official numbers for the U.S. in May are not yet available, April did not treat the PlayStation 3 very well. The PS3 had its worst month, selling only 82,000 units compared to the Wii’s 360,000.
Now business publication Bloomberg is reporting on new data from Japan, indicating that PS3’s struggles are continuing. According to Famitsu publisher Enterbrain Inc., Nintendo sold 251,794 units of the Wii in May while Sony sold only a little over 50,000 units of the PS3. This is an even greater disparity than the 4-to-1 sales pace the Wii set over the PS3 in April.
Meanwhile, in the portable sector Nintendo had similar success. The incredibly popular DS handheld also outsold its Sony counterpart, the PSP, on a 5-to-1 basis. 620,670 units of the DS were sold in May compared to 123,673 PSPs.
Trailing the pack as usual in Japan was Microsoft’s Xbox 360. A mere 11,082 consoles were sold in May.
There has been much talk within the industry about Sony needing to slash the price on its $600 PS3. In fact, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot recently demanded a “significant” price reduction on the Sony console. Others, however, do not believe that even a $100 price cut would make a major difference in Sony’s PS3 sales numbers.
I really dunno.
