Seventh generation of video games

Video game sales
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Next:	Eighth generation of video games

See also NPD Seventh generation for United States sales figures

Worldwide console sales as of Dec 31, 2008

For home consoles, the seventh generation began on November 22, 2005 with the release of Microsoft's Xbox 360 and continued with the release of Sony's PlayStation 3 on November 11, 2006 and Nintendo's Wii on November 19, 2006. Each new console introduces a new type of breakthrough technology. For example, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 offers high-definition graphics, while the Wii focuses on integrating controllers with movement sensors instead of joysticks and appealing to non-traditional gamers.

In the early days of the next-generation console wars, it was generally assumed that it would be a three-way race between the Xbox, the PS3 and the Wii. But because of the Wii's different strategy, Sony and Microsoft no longer compare their consoles' sales performances to that of Nintendo's.

The rationale seems to be that the Xbox and PS3 are completely different types of machines than the Wii, given the former's reliance on high-quality graphics and superior performance and the latter's focus on more casual games intended to appeal to a broad audience.

Whether that is semantics is a question neither Sony nor Microsoft seem eager to answer. In fact, both frequently make the point that Wii owners often also own either an Xbox or a PS3, if not both.

Hardware sales

Xbox 360 had approximately a 2.7 million unit head start in the US and 6 million worldwide lead by October 2006 just before the release of the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3

Worldwide figures are based on data from the manufacturers. The Canada and the United States figures are based on data from the NPD Group, the Japan figures are based on data from Famitsu/Enterbrain, and the United Kingdom figures are based on data from GfK Chart-Track.

Console	Units shipped to retailers (worldwide) (as of December 31, 2008)	Units sold in Europe	Units sold in Canada (as of August 1, 2008)	Units sold in Japan (as of October 1, 2008)	Units sold in the UK (as of January 2009)	Units sold in the US (as of January 1, 2009)	Units sold in France (as of June 2008)	Units sold in Australia and New Zealand (as of July 2008)	Units sold in Italy(as of Nov 2008)
Wii	44.96 million	14.2 million (January 2009)	1,060,000	6,826,612	4.9 million	17,521,000	1.8 million	456,000	799,500
Xbox 360	28.6 million	7 million (November 2008)	0870,000 870,000	0748,992 748,992	3.2 million	13,857,400	0700,000 700,000	410,000	623,500
PlayStation 3	21.30 million	5 million (May 2008)	0520,000 520,000	2,369,484	1.9 million	6,790,000	0800,000 800,000	285,000	704,500
Nintendo DS	96.22 million	31 million (January 2009)			8.8 million	27,514,500			2,920,500
PSP		12 million (as of May 2008)			3.2 million	14,359,500			1,475,500

Japan Famitsu hardware sales for seventh generation

	   PS2          NDS          PSP          360          PS3          Wii
2000	 3,748,200	
2001	 3,603,700
2002	 3,652,800
2003	 2,812,500
2004	 2,750,800    1,095,900      339,900
2005	 2,134,900    4,002,900    2,225,800       81,800
2006	 1,547,900    8,862,900    1,946,900      208,700      466,700      989,100
2007	   816,400    7,143,700    3,022,700      257,800    1,206,300    3,629,400
2008	   480,700    4,029,800    3,543,200      317,900      991,300    2,908,300
Total	21,547,900   25,135,200   11,078,500      866,200    2,664,300    7,526,800

Software sales

Main article: Best selling games (seventh generation)

Best selling games of the seventh generation (worldwide) (as of June 2008)
Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360 / PS3)	10 million
Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3)	4 million
Halo 3 (360)	8.1 million (as of Jan 2008)
Wii Play (Wii)	16.15 million (as of Sept 2008)
Nintendogs (NDS)	20.03 million (as of Sept 2008)
Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP)	2.55 million (as of Sept 2008)

1st half of 2008

January - July 2008 (Top Global Markets Report)

Platform	Video game	Total	United States	United Kingdom	Japan
X360, PS3	Grand Theft Auto IV	6,293,000	4,711,000	1,582,000	Not released yet
Wii	Super Smash Bros. Brawl	5,433,000	3,539,000	213,000	1,681,000
Wii	Mario Kart Wii	4,697,000	2,409,000	687,000	1,601,000
Wii	Wii Fit	3,604,000	1,433,000	624,000	1,547,000
X360, PS3, Wii, PS2	Guitar Hero III	3,475,000	3,037,000	412,000	26,000

Charts

Worldwide sales for all three consoles (based on financial reports)

Worldwide sales - aligned launch

United States data

Japan sales data. Wii (blue), PS3 (green), X360 (red) (source JJSWiki)

Worldwide quarterly sales (based on financial reports)

Europe weekly hardware sales in 2008

Xbox 360's diminishing lead over the PS3

Console market share in the United States

Console market share in Japan

Storylines

• "First to 10 million wins." [2]
• Many ports, especially from PS2 games, to the Wii. Capcom alone ported Resident Evil 4, RE0, Okami, Dead Rising.
• "Red Ring of Death" for the Xbox 360
• Storage problems for the Wii for WiiWare, Virtual Console, and DLC
• Year of the PS3 / Secret PS3 game
• Stock problems for Xbox 360 (half a year) and Wii (two years)

See also

• Top Global Markets Report
• NPD Seventh generation
• 2008 in video games
• 2007 in video games
• NPD Consoles - sales data for the seventh generation
• NPD 2008 in review
• NPD 2007 in review
• Media Create 2007 in review (Japan)
• Sixth generation of video games
• New franchises in the seventh generation

External links

• Seventh Generation Gaming Consoles: Thinking Outside the Box (December 2006)
• Feature: Can PS3 Catch Up to Xbox 360? (January 16, 2009)
• 2009 resolutions for the game industry

Prev: Sixth generation of video games

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Next: Eight generation of video games