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GameCube (Games) PlayStation (Games) XBox (Games) Entertainment Games

Worldwide Console Hardware Sales Compared 46

Posted by simoniker from the might-is-right? dept.
Thanks to GameSpy for their import gaming column which also collates the total hardware sales for all the major consoles by territory, information that's often hard to find in one place. The article points out: "Generally speaking, worldwide, the PlayStation 2 is crushing the competition, having sold millions and millions more consoles than the Xbox or GameCube", and "Xbox seems to be more popular [than GameCube] in both North America and Europe", leading Nintendo's console by a million in the U.S. and a couple of hundred thousand in Europe. But in the East, the situation is different, since "hardly anybody is buying the Xbox in Japan", and the GameCube has a one-and-a-half million console advantage, further bolstered by a recent weekly chart that has the GC selling 16,841 consoles, and Xbox selling just 530 machines.
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Worldwide Console Hardware Sales Compared More

Worldwide Console Hardware Sales Compared

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  • It seems quite strange that europe's numbers are so low, especially considering it includes other area's as well, I wonder if its just because in many places in europe there just is'nt alot of games in the local language.

    I'd love to see a break down by countries of europe.

    • Re:Low numbers for europe (Score:5, Interesting)

      by weicco ( 645927 ) on Monday September 22, 2003 @05:33AM (#7022935)
      Nah, I don't think that's the reason. At least kids in my neighbourhood speaks, and especially writes, english better than finnish which is their native language :)

    • Re:Low numbers for europe (Score:4, Interesting)

      by CheeseEatingBulldog ( 703915 ) on Monday September 22, 2003 @07:03AM (#7023135) Homepage
      I doubt it has anything to do with local language, here in holland all films are in the original language with dutch subtitles, plus most advertising is still in English. The French and Germans still dub all films and tv though, but big games like Final Fanstasy are translated anyway. Europeans generally learn other languages to broaden their horizons...and to understand their fellow humans.
    • Possibly due to have less games to choose from.

      For a long time now many games were not released in Europe. Unless I am mistaken, Final Fantasy 7, for example, was the first FF game released in Europe. Neither Chrono Trigger or Chrono Cross were. Xenogears wasn't and there is no sign of Xenosaga.

      OK, there is a slight RPG bias there, but it stretches to other styles. Animal Crossing, one of the standout games for the Gamecube which has sold the system to those who traditionally don't buy video games, has st
      • Final Fantasy games were released in Europe during the SNES days. I remember Nintendo Power having a story on it back then. Apparently the games were called Mystic Quest there rather than Final Fantasy. Nintendo Power mentioned it when Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest came out in the US. The article basically just asked "well, what will they call this game in Europe?"
        • Of the "standard" Final Fantasy games, the first one released in Europe was Final Fantasy 7. Final Fantasy 6 is now available for the Playstation, marking its first official release in Europe.

          Mystic Quest isn't considered a "standard" Final Fantasy game. Amongst fans it is generally considered a "Beginner RPG".
    • I don't know, for some reason they have a lack of interest for games. I don't think it's about the language, it's more about the culture I guess.
  • Woohoo! Finally a relevant story from Gamespy!

  • Bleed, boy! Bleed! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Mulletproof ( 513805 ) on Monday September 22, 2003 @03:59AM (#7022755) Homepage Journal
    "hardly anybody is buying the Xbox in Japan", and the GameCube has a one-and-a-half million console advantage, further bolstered by a recent weekly chart that has the GC selling 16,841 consoles, and Xbox selling just 530 machines.

    Well of course nobody is buying the XBox in Japan. There is hardly and 'console' flavored games for it on either side of the ocean. Most are either very PC flavored, 2 year old ports of previously marketed games or are simply too mediocre to be noticed. And don't go off on me with some fanboy rant. I own an Xbox and did Live Beta. I can count the number of truly attention getting games on one hand (maybe two) and the number that actually sell large quantities in Japan is even less.

    In all honesty though, I don't think MS cares about that market, or at least only enough to keep disgruntled US/European gamers from burning their headquarters down. I'm more and more of the opinion that they are trying to grow a grass roots domestic gaming culture from the ground up, attempting to accomplish what Japan has had for two decades-- A thriving, rampant gaming industry and consumer lifestyle almost entirely independent of the Japanese market. Kinda goes along with that monopoly thing. I can see the reason for it somewhat. As long as they rely on a japanese market to make them games, they'll be beholden to them in one way or another. By establishing a foundation at home, they can at least battle for their monopoly on an even footing instead of on the enemies home turf.

    But without relying on the Japanese market which sells games nearly everybody likes, it's going to be a painfully uphill battle... I don't see them being anything close to a challenge for at least another console, maybe even two more. You think they're bleeding bad now? Wait until MS is facing a brand spankin' new PS3 with a fanbase inherited from two generations of excellent consoles...

    Say what you want about Gates and his Billions. Sony is a rock solid company itself with it's own billions, and console hardware experience AND a an established consumer base. If MS doesn't alter their strategy a tad, bleeding moutains of cash will be the only way to the promised land. I know they have it, but against an opponet with equal mountains of cash already making more moutains of cash, it isn't exactly the brightest move...

    Get your own IMO. This one's mine.

    • Re:Bleed, boy! Bleed! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by einTier ( 33752 ) on Monday September 22, 2003 @05:26AM (#7022925)
      I don't think Sony is the one that needs to worry right now, and I don't think Microsoft is gunning for them -- yet. Remember, there's always been space for two consoles, but not three. Nintendo's market share for it's primary console has been slipping for years, as they constantly try to make the hardware they want to make and then try to convince people to buy it rather than figuring out what people want to buy and then making that.

      Sounds a lot like another company Microsoft and Intel cratered about a decade ago.
      • As you can see, that company is out of business. Yep, don't hear about them at all anymore. They don't make anything these days, especially money.
        • Of course, I don't remember Microsoft throwing money into Apple in the late 90's, when they were on the verge of being extinct. Of course, they didn't do it to be nice, they needed a psudo-competitor to help avoid the anti-trust lawsuit that was looming on the horizon.

          Plus, I think Apple in 2003 is a very different company than it was in 1997.
          • Of course, I don't remember Microsoft throwing money into Apple in the late 90's

            Yeah, you probably don't remember it - because it didn't happen. Microsoft bought $150 million of non-voting stock, which for a company with over $4 billion in the bank was meaningless. Apple gained mindshare out of the deal, not cash.
      • Nintendo probably doesn't have much to worry about either. Xbox is outselling GameCube in the US and Europe, but worldwide, Nintendo is still selling more consoles, especially if you consider the Game Boy Advance in that equation. And while their sales have fallen off from their peak, Nintendo's core gamers are a lot like Apple Macintosh fans. They play Nintendo games because they feel that they're the best, most polished games available. Unless Nintendo does something colossally stupid (as opposed to j
    • I own an XBox. It is, in fact, the only console I own. I'm interested in hearing what you list as the truly attention-getting games for the XBox. Seriously, because I don't seem to be able to pick particularly good games to buy. I'm sure I should rent them before buying them, though.

      So if you could list the games you think are good on the XBox, I'd appreciate it. :)

      • Re:Bleed, boy! Bleed! (Score:2, Informative)

        by nelsonal ( 549144 )
        I just bought one too, and I've so far enjoyed MechAssault, SegaGT (although it's a poor imitation of GT, but still fun) Dynasty Warriors 4, that was actualy what I was waiting for, and SC2. The last two are cross platform but if it's the only console you have they're quite fun. Halo looks good, but I'll wait for it to hit the bargain racks first.
        • I haven't checked out most of what you suggested. I got SegaGT free with my XBox and I must say, I was pretty unimpressed. It didn't seem to hold a candle to Gran Turismo 3 on the PS2. Maybe I didn't give it enough chance. I might well like MechAssault, I'll have to check out your suggestions. Thanks.
          • I got the tip last night and finally tried it, turn of TCS and SCS in the options menu, it improves the feel of the cars, they oversteer and understeer quite a bit more, and are faster too boot, it's a whole lot better, than it was. Oh and try the other game that came with Sega GT, JSRF, it's different but fun, in a not at all realisic way.
        • MechAssault with Xbox Live is a great great gaming experience. There's nothing like it anywhere else (on consoles).

  • Hardware numbers... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 22, 2003 @04:07AM (#7022771)
    ...always make me laugh. Sure, it is fairly important to get your units out there but, shouldn't the focus be on overall game sales per system? E.g. Are "system" owners actually buying games? Is "system" actually maintaining an expected level of game sales? What is the ratio of game sales per unit? Etc...

    To me, that would be more indicative of what is happening in the market.

    • Re:Hardware numbers... (Score:2, Informative)

      by ivan256 ( 17499 ) *
      http://www.the-magicbox.com/ [the-magicbox.com]

      These "hard to find" numbers that gamespy has, plus the numbers you're looking for, updated weekly.
      • If by "updated weekly" you mean "updated weekly or monthly or whenever they feel like getting around to it," then yeah. It's good to see that they updated last week, since they _are_ the best source i've found for such info, but the last update before that was several weeks prior.
    • They are important in that they drive what games get ported and produced for a system. A game can be much more niche oriented and still sell well for the PS2, but has to be pretty popular to sell well for the less penetrated consoles.

  • Ripped off content (Score:1, Offtopic)

    by Perdo ( 151843 )
    All this info comes from a Google Answers question that was worth $200.

    http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id= 25 0801

    Cut-and-paste you trolls.

  • GBA was a surprise for me (Score:3, Interesting)

    by chia_monkey ( 593501 ) on Monday September 22, 2003 @09:48AM (#7024060) Journal
    I pretty much expected to see the PS2 numbers squashing XBox, especially in Japan and such. I wanted to see the numbers, ponder marketing, social differences, etc. But when I saw the GBA sales also crushing XBox, that's what surprised me. I remember when Game Boy was just a fun little portable thing to play Tetris on. To see it blowing away the XBox in sales is cool...interesting and cool. Now to ponder what this all means in the grand scheme of things and if there will ever be another competitor to GBA (well, Game Boy had some at least).
    • If I had the cash, I'd buy an XBox in addition to my GBA. Meanwhile, the GBA (SP, actually) is my primary console, and my DreamCast mostly sits in the cabinet.

      Why? Consoles thrive on their ease of use. Since the Gameboy has a built in screen, there are no cables to hassle with. Gameboys really are just "stick the catridge in and turn it on"... anywhere. (Some juice is needed but I typically plug it in overnight maybe once a week, or more if it blinks the light at me. The SP is really nice that way.)

      Consol
    • On a weekly sales basis, the GBA-SP is selling more than the PS2, most of the time (usually ~10,000 more units per week, though it's still a little behind for the year, add in GBA sales and you have about half a million more GBA+GBA-SP units than PS2 units).

      Knowing that, and how soundly the PS2 is smashing the XBox in sales, it's not nearly as surprising that the GBA is blowing away the XBox.

      The thing to really ponder here is what the PSP will do in this market. The PS1 shot into a market that was being i
    • I've never owned any kind of Nintendo system before, but I bought a GBA-SP. It's great. It has enough power for (e.g.) "Golden Sun", which is comparable to "Final Fantasy VII", yet I can carry it in a shirt pocket and play anywhere, even outside in the warm sunshine. (Sunlight and gaming! Together at last!) Battery life is plenty long enough, and there are slimline add-on battery packs available too.

  • YKYHBPTMSWGW... (Score:3, Funny)

    by jafuser ( 112236 ) on Monday September 22, 2003 @10:36AM (#7024483)
    You know you've been playing too much SWG when you mis-read the title of this article as "Wookiee Console Hardware Sales Compared". =)
  • Come on, I know you are out there! Or are you just upset after EGM posted the world's worst estimate on console sales?
  • I probably wouldn't have bought an Xbox over the weekend if Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance 2 was still on schedule.

    I was waiting for Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance 2 and Fallout. They were pushed back from their Oct release last week.

    D&D Heroes came out for the Xbox only recently. It's very similar to Gauntlet and BGDA. I had been fighting a moral war with myself over the Xbox. Its specs were very nice. I lost my battle of wills because a game was release only for the Xbox that interested me. If I had
  • Sales of the Xbox console increased 6 percent from this same period last year, while the Sony's PlayStation 2 dropped 36 percent and Nintendo's GameCube fell 22 percent. Xbox now captures 27 percent of the United States industry market share for next-generation consoles and is on track to capture additional market share this holiday season. August sales of Xbox software grew faster than on both PlayStation 2 and GameCube, up 58 percent for this same period last year. Pulling in two of the top four best-sell

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