Nintendo’s Wii console continues to dominate sales in Japan, but Sony’s PlayStation 3 is showing signs of a possible resurgence.
The Wii tripled the sales of Sony’s offering in August, with sales of 245,653 units compared to 81,541. The good news for Sony is found in the shrinking ratio: In July, the Wii quadrupled PlayStation 3 sales with 396,752 against 91,987 and in June sold over six times as many, selling 270,974 units to Sony’s 41,628. Sales of all three major console system suffered a drop in August, following significant spikes for the Wii and PlayStation 3 in June, but Sony experienced the least precipitous decline. Unit sales for the Wii were down 38 percent, while PlayStation 3 sales saw only an 11 percent dip.
Microsoft’s Xbox 360 continues to languish in near-irrelevance in Japan, selling 11,288 units in August, a 37 percent decline from the previous month.
Nintendo has dominated the latest round of the console wars in Japan, selling 2,417,410 Wii units in 2007 alone, compared to 677,082 unit sales of the PlayStation 3 and 151,823 Xbox 360 systems. It has maintained comparable sales supremacy in most other markets as well, although recent price cuts by Sony and Microsoft and predicted moves for the holiday season may lead to a jump in their fortunes.
