Press Release: Nintendo Wii is market leader in home console business - News
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 22 August 2007 / 27,527 Views
Vgchartz.com, the most comprehensive Videogame charts in the world has announced that lifetime sales of Nintendo's Wii have passed Microsoft's Xbox 360 on a worldwide basis as of August 23rd. (*)
Two years ago, very few analysts would have predicted the Nintendo Wii would be market leader this generation against the established Playstation and Xbox brands. But analysts can be in error: Vgchartz.com data, which is based on sample data from retailers all over the world indicates that the week ending August 23rd Nintendo's Wii (which was released one year after the Xbox 360 in November 2006), currently standing at 10.57 million consoles sold, passed Xbox 360 lifetime sales of 10.51 million units, making Nintendo the new market leader in both the home and handheld videogame console businesses.
As weekly data from vgchartz.com shows(**), the console outsold Microsoft’s Xbox 360 by a margin of 2.3 : 1 worldwide on average each week since its release, selling at an even faster rate than the most successful console ever created, Sony's Playstation 2, despite still being sold out in most major markets.
This is the first time that a company has been market leader in the home console and the handheld market since 1994 when Nintendo’s Super NES and Gameboy dominated worldwide.
Vgchartz.com is proud to be first to announce this major sales cross over as an independent tracker of sales and expect this to be a milestone for the current generation. In just two years, home console sales for the three major manufacturers have effectively reversed. This will have a large impact on third party publishers and will undoubtedly influence the decisions they make in the future.
One factor that has no doubt helped Nintendo's Wii to gain so quickly is the console's broad appeal across all age groups, demographics and countries. Current sales are pretty evenly split between the three major markets – 3.46 million have been sold in Japan, the American market (including Canada and South America) accounts for 4.24million and Other markets (including Europe and Australia and a few niche markets) for 2.87 million units sold, respectively.
Notes:
(*)Vgchartz.com tracks consoles sold to consumers and not to retailers and other outlets. While Microsoft’s Xbox 360 lifetime shipments may be slightly higher than the shipments of Nintendo’s Wii, more Wii consoles made it from retailer to consumers than Xbox 360´s, due to the fact that Wii remains in a state of shortage in most regions around the world and units are sold just shortly after they become available to consumers. This furthermore explains why numbers on the front page of VGchartz.com are always a bit lower than the numbers given by the manufacturers themselves: To Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo every console that made it to retailers is “sold”. In reality these consoles may be lying in retailer warehouses and outlets for weeks until they are sold to consumers.
(**)Vgchartz.com projections are based on sampled retailer data from all over the world. Vgchartz.com collects data from a carefully selected group of retailers and determines projected sales figures for entire regions with knowledge of market size, retailer market shares, retailer bias and so forth - the same methods used by larger and more established sales tracking firms. To learn more about VGchartz´ methodology of tracking sales data, contact us (admin@vgchartz.com) or visit our website to find out more.
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Bravo WII, I think Nintento is number one in the World.
I'm not joking, but I was expecting this from the day they revealed the controller. I knew in my heart that Nintendo had finally found a way to take back that deserved market share, then obviously the press buzz proved it would happen for sure. But the question still stands, will the Wii continue on it's roaring rampage of sales, or will it becomne the biggest selling console, even more than the PS2? It's gonna be interesting to watch.
Wii, wow..... even I do hate it, stills sells like krazy, I still don't have a gaming friend (outsite the internet) that have that system, most people I know is holding for the PS3, or the new xbox ( don't get the ring of death) 360
is any indicator as for how many 360 are defective?
Misterd,
I am honest now. I don´t have a single guess what you are blaming VGchartz for.
Is it
a) VGchartz threw out a press release without having safe sources to know it is correct?
b) VGchartz.com isn´t accurate enough?
c) We didn´t mention the margin of error in the press release?
This is a honest question, I think if you can explain what you are trying to say we can go on discussing this topic but it looks like one is trying to explain something and the other goes on talking about something completely different.
Congrats for Nintendo for regaining it's place and their sharefolders for their stock prices. ;)
Congrats for all Big N fanboys.
And who uses nexgenwars anymore... i stopped tracking their numbers because they use formula to calculate their timer/increase in numbers.
I like it a lot more with these released numbers and fixing numbers in Vgcharts.
As a computer scientist working on measurement instrumentation for physical value i can agree to 90 % what ioi is saying. There are ways to determine error of measurement like root mean square deviation or Fourier analysis, but they don't exactly fit the situation, and there for would be a little bit pointless, because we don't measure a physical or mathematical defined values.
market leader huh? i dont think so... yet.. i'm not saying it not going to happen.. just not today..... www.nexgenwars.com
@Louie - As I said, you cannot separate the compiled data from the margin of error. I accept the sites numbers as accurate measures within those margins, but to say "the data says X" and not bother mentioning the margin of error (if they can even calculate it - despite ioi's statement margins of error are not determined arbitrarily) in the press release is either misleading or betrays a stunning ignorance of statistical analysis and ethical reporting (not that we have much of that nowadays). Any reputable news source (as VGC is attempting to be as indicated by the first statement in it's release) will include the margin of error in their reports, or are called out for misrepresenting the facts. Given the fact that VGC is trying to present itself as a legitimate news source, and frequently comes under attack by those who doubt it's data, I would think they'd be more careful in how they present themselves.
ok so, to further tax our bandwidth here, and I say we because I frequent the site not the forums...
[url]http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136319-c,gameconsoles/article.html[/url]
Even if there is a margin of error here or there.. it's only a matter of time.. short time.. before the Wii is the clear market leader.. so even if it's "too close to call" in a week or two's time, we'll be covering the same ground as today..
so here it is.. congratulations Nintendo on sometime soon being the clear-cut market leader..
Misterd, D-FENS, Ioi stated everything important already, still I want to point it out again. The press release clearly says "according to our data", this is our statement and everyone can understand it. It is up to every site in the web to believe us or not, but if every company in the world did it like you want them (us) to there wouldn´t be any press releases anymore.
And in case you didn´t notice: The latest sales data is August 18th. the press release states the Wii caught the 360 as of August 23rd. Taking recent data into account the Wii will outsel the Xbox 360 between 18th and 23rd of August by 125k units +. How big do you think VGchartz.com´s margin of error is? Remember this site is within 3% of accuracy. Just do the maths yourself you will see it is highly unlikely the press release is wrong. Just do it, compare VGchartz.com´s figures with media create and NPD and what will you get? Right, Wii passed Xbox 360 as of August 23rd. The whole sales rate of 2 consoles would have had to change in the last 4 weeks to have any chance of VGchartz.com beeing wrong.
Come on, stop complaining. You know this site is correct.
Woot. Congrats ninty fans and thx ioh for an amazing site.
People, the Wii outsold the 360 this week by more than 150k. It has done so for 10 straight weeks now, sometimes outselling it by 200k and more a week. You'd have to go back 20 weeks to find one where the Wii didn't outsell the 360 by more than 100k.
Yes, the current 60k difference may very well be within the margin of error of this site, so it's "too close to call". But do you really think next week's difference will? And if you do, what about the week after that? By then the Wii is pretty much guaranteed to have a 300k lead. At what point is it good enough to make an announcement?
Get real people! Unless the current trend were about to change in a very dramatic way, what difference does it make if the announcement was made this week, the last one or the next?
This is the crossover point for VGChartz. With a 60k difference, and given the site's late track record, it's unlikelly that future adjustments will ever change that. So what's the problem with announcing that, even if the data, like any data, should be taken with a grain of salt?
yawn yay the wii is winning :D
I'm gonna have to side with Misterd on this one. WHile I do not doubt the general accuracy of the charts, I do also understand that there is a mrgin of error FAR GREATER than than the CURRENT DIFFERENCE IN CONSOLE SALES. Anyone remember Florida 2000? Anyone remember the words "TOO CLOSE TO CALL"?
That being said, SOMEONE was going to move on these numbers, someone was going to post or say something on digg, or whatever. So, it might as well have been VGCharts itself. But, I do think they should have emphasized the statistical margin or error, and that essentially, it's still a dead heat. 360 will lose, based on projections, but it's still too close.
With all due respect for the wonderful job that you are doing, I think you could have saved yourself, maybe even EARNED, some credibility with those outside this community with a more forthcoming announcement.
Would it have been any less effective had you waited until the margin of error was no longer a factor?
Brand loyalty is a mental illness
ioi - The difference with the census is that surveys and census data are not generally overstated to inflate the profile of the company that's doing them, and there are long established techniques that allow for more accurate interpretation of the data - specifically they can and do cite the actual margin of error (though news reports will often leave it out), rather than just provide a rough estimate.
When you say "according to our data", the margin of error IS part of your data and so long as that keeps the picture fuzzy, you are selectively choosing one interpretation for the sake of hype.
I would say the point at which you make an announcement (though I disagree with the implicit assumption that one must be made) would be when the differential has exceeded the margin of error, or, as I've said twice now, you make the announcement that the Wii has virtually tied and is soon expected to surpass the 360, if it has not already. I grant it is not as sexy a headline, but it is more accurate and honest.
At the rate Nintendo was selling, this bit of info was inevitable..
@ballsonyourchin the picture you use is from Saw II? Creepy... :-/
I don't get why everyone is pissed off about this press release. Sure, it's not stating the exact time that the Wii passed the Xbox360, but it's really the best numbers we have. We might as well pick a week and this is as good as any, since there wll never be an official time.
Stop being so uptight, we're just playing around
WOW
Maybe VGChartz iteslf can make a difference to the industry.
Developers are now absolutely going to have to read this and understand, more than a year late, that things have changed. Developers and publishers simply cannot continue to ignore Nintendo. They are now officially working for the smallest markets, and VGChartz is the one letting them know.
@Shams - Thanks for the clairfication. If it is a 2% MOE then I'll concede that it makes it much more likely that the milestone was indeed achieved by this point, though I'll still wait for the announcement by Nintendo as actual certification.
As I said, I'm not bad mouthing the numbers, I'm bad mouthing the interpretation of the data. And the comparison with the census is absurd. It has nothing close to the margin of error that VGC has (which they have always been forthright about). You cannot say "we estimate that there is a less than 5% difference between two console sales, which is well within our margin of error, and thus can safely declare that the Wii is winning the console war in a self-servive press release." And if NPD does such an assinine job of interpreting its own data for its own publicity, I'll criticize it as well.
@Ursus - The difference is the VGC press release did not simply say that the Wii is doing well and redefining the rules of the game. It is misleading people into thinking that there is some absolute certitude that the Wii has in fact surpassed the 360, and doing so largely for its own PR. Again, I have no problem with the data from this site, nor with the site promoting itself, but I find it absurd that they defend their data as estimates one day, then try to push it as absolute truth the next. There were more honest ways of doing this, the most obvious being to announce the statistical dead heat between the systems, which, given the 360s earlier lead, would be just as noteworthy, and more honest.
Party at my house with blackjack abd hookers.
@misterd & @ballsonyourchin:
The 15% error range ONLY applies to NEW, weekly figures. This is why they are 'tweaked' when more accurate figures are released.
Overall, worldwide figures are accurate to around 1-2%. And you can argue that the 360 is still ahead based on these - but its just as likely that it was actually passed 2 weeks ago as well.
I had hoped Wii would surpass the 360 before the end of August. But many others did too. and it did. Nice, nice.
Misterd, do you go around bad-mouthing census numbers when your local paper publishes them? After all, not only could there be miscalculations, but people are born and die all the time. All anyone can do is go on the data available. So if/when the Wii passes the 360's NA total on the NPD charts, I fully expect you to throw a tantrum their way too.
To the posters who bother to write long (somewhat meaningless) comments on the accuracy of VGChartz.
Why the drama? Have you people sold your cars and played the stock market based on this info?
Whether the numbers on the website are accurate to x% or y% is irrelevant. The truth from nearly every source is that the Nintendo Wii is currently re-defining the rules of the game and it makes no difference when people celebrate a milestone. An innovative approach was brought to the industry and as a result it becomes richer. Any industry that welcomes innovation is a robust one. So is absolute accuracy really critical here?
AND FOR THE RECORD.... part 1
I am NOT doubting the general reliability of vgchartz statistics. I AM criticizing the self-aggrandizing interpretation of that data.
AND FOR THE RECORD.... part 2
Since I am also a self-aggrandizing hippocrite, I had my money down on August 24th.
OH FER PETE'S SAKE!
For a site that lives and dies on statistics, you people don't seem to know shit about statistics. Ballonyourchin is absolutely corret - the margin of error for these statistics is so huge that there is absolutely no way at this point to tell who is ahead and who ain't. It's like saying in an election that candidate Smith will win over candidate because early polls have him leading 50.1% to 49.9%.
By your own, repeated admissions these numbers are best ESTIMATES. If you understood what that meant, you wouldn't get up on a soapbox and crow about a result that requires a far more precise methodology than yours (and arguably more precise than ANYONE has available to them at this point). All you've done is undercut your own credibility, and given ammo to your detractors. At most you should have announced that this is now a statistical dead heat, but even then you could have called that almost a million consoles ago.
That said, there should be little question at this point that the Wii WILL surpass the 360, if not today than within the next month, at least temporarily. Halo 3 MAY give the 360 enough of a boost to reclaim the lead (depending on how close the actual numbers are, which we are unlikely to know for sure).
In the end, there is only one party that stands to benefit from these sales, and it is the only party that would know the truth of Nintendo's sales data, and that's Nintendo itself. When Nintendo is certain the Wii has suprassed the 360, I have no doubt that they will be able to make the announcement. Until then, it remains too close to call.
LOL, were so screwed. We have been digged AND Farked! I don't think that's even happened before, most sites don't even survive one. Lol
I CAN'T LIE I DIDN'T THINK NINTENDO was going to do this good guess i was wrong
Thanks Timmah! I enjoyed crafting it
Go Nintendo!
And all was right in the world again.
This is truly a huge event for Nintendo and for VGChartz. Congrats to both!
This site for the most part is made up and people will never think it is real for the most part, when you take numbers that NPD and media chart use then copy them to fix the numbers on the site.
I for one thing love this site and if the numbers are within 15% thats good enough for me, even if that means the 360 has sold 15% more and the wii has sold 15% less then this site says :)
until the wii passes 30% above the 360 i think its still too close to say that the wii has out sold the 360. But nice site ioi and great numbers. It's nice to get atleast some data on the numbers of games and systems sold since the official channels are asses and don't post what they sell.
The fark post is funny:
"Wii officially outsells Xbox 360 and PS3. Suck it, HD loving FPS playing basement dwelling pimple sporting dweebs. The senior citizens have spoken, and they want their bowling"
ROFL.
I Farked this article, an dit went green, so you should get a metric assload more hits :)
The more people that say the VGC is full of crap, the better. It will cause more people to examine the figures - which will show that VGC simply track released figures, and that the figures are REAL - which will in turn cause more people to have egg on their faces, and have more people come here for real results.
CHALLENGE TO ANYONE OUT THERE THAT THINKS THAT VGC HAS MADE-UP FIGURES - PROVE IT.
Send in weekly/monthly figures, and show us where we are wrong.
I know it won't happen of course - because its impossible ;)
Great! ^^
Naz, you insult all "rocks" with that. Congratulation to Vgchartz and to all healthy thinking members of this great site. Now let's (Mario) party!
oops double post.
Congratulations Zeo, the first to come in and comment when they don't have the slightest understanding of how the site works. I'm looking forward to dozens more cases of complete and total ignorance. Congratulations, here is your prize. It's a rock, because although the rock actually doesn't know anything about how this site works or the video game industry either, it at least doesn't pretend it does.
Holy crap, 2000 users.
And I think the server move didn't helped a lot heh.
Congratulations Zeo, the first to come in and comment when they don't have the slightest understanding of how the site works. I'm looking forward to dozens more cases of complete and total ignorance. Congratulations, here is your prize. It's a piece of dog shit, because the dog shit knows more about how this site works and actual video game numbers than you do.
Nintendo Wii = The Pwnager.
@GF: they still have it on their site as far as I can see it ;-)
The most important is that NINTENDO , has reached this , with no oficial sales in, CHINA--INDIA - and other asian markets
"Awesome wonder when nintendo will confirm this?"
When it's actually true. I'm amazed you people don't see that this is all bull.
Vgchartz issued a... press release? ROFL.
"Vgchartz.com, the most comprehensive Videogame charts in the world"
The best part is that aside from lying (it's not the most comprehensive in the world because you make things up), but you ruined the whole idea of a press release by capitalizing the "video games" (which is two words).
It's LOL that people take this unprofessional site seriously.
Haha, this press release was a moment ago on Kotaku and was fastly removed after some commenters (not so many, to my surprise) expressed concern about the accuracy of the numbers.
http://kotaku.com/gaming/it.s-official/wii-passes-xbox-360-in-worldwide-sales-292442.php
DUGG and YES!!!!! Go Wii!
I'm glad Nintendo is back on top. I prefer thier business model.
We knew this would be coming for a while, but still a milestone nonetheless. Congratulations to Nintendo, and also to vgchartz for providing a forum where we can all come and debate sales numbers.
Awesome wonder when nintendo will confirm this?
How long till Wii overtakes America and Others as #1 as well?
GG Nintendo
GG ioi
Go wii...
Thanks Ioi, it is much better that way!
Guys, spread the word!
July, probably.
^^Nintendo expects to ship the same amount tat Gamecube sold by April 2008. So figure it ti pass the GC sometime later that month, May at the worst. Xbox will be later, in the summer.
nah, japan gamecube sales
Just got my first internal server error of the night. Only gonna get worse.
So, next stop Gamecube at roughly 22 million? Should past that and the original Xbox at 24 million around early next year.
Great, digg. Bring on the downtime!! o/
jeey finally!
thx ioi for the website, love youuu <3
Care to estimate the day it happened? I predicted Sep. 1, and I'd like to know how many days I was off.
