Stan Beer
Wednesday, 27 September 2006 11:06
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 4
Earlier this week I wrote a lengthy blog titled
PS3 will continue to rule which has caused such an outpouring of criticism, abuse, and outright rage, that I'm going to write another.
Much of the criticism and invective aimed at
me - mostly from Nintendo fans - stemmed from the fact that I admitted
from the outset that I'm not a gamer, although I have played games on
our Xbox and Nintendo 64 consoles occasionally. I based my blog on what
my sons and their gamer friends told me plus other research into the
market.
The first response to my detractors from the Nintendo fanboy set is hey
guys I didn't make the market, I just observe and comment on it. I
don't profess to be a games or consoles reviewer. If you don't like
facts then read no further because I'm going to give you some about the
games console industry based on some simple research, corroborated from
a number of sources, including data freely available on the net.
Nintendo 64 made its debut in 1996 and has sold 33 million units until
now. Nintendo Gamecube was released in 2001 and sold 21 million units.
Total Nintendo console sales over the past 10 years are therefore 54 million, an average of 5.4 million units a year.
Microsoft Xbox made its debut in 2001 and has sold about 24 million
units. Xbox 360, released in November 2005, has sold about 5 million
units. Total Microsoft console sales over the past five years are
therefore about 29 million, an average of 5.8 million units a year.
