Console wars, What did the numbers go?

[RCBH928]

So I have been thinking about this generation console numbers, according to VGchartz(ok this is just approximation thing) this how it looks:
Wii: 95m
ps3: 61m
360: 65m

Yet last generation we had this:
ps2: 154m(wiki)
xbox: 24m
gamecube: 21m

.....
My questions is...when you combine ps2 sales+xbox u get 174m ...
But when you combine ps3+360 u get 120m.

Looks like we are missing some 50m players , Which I REALLY don't think bought the Wii this time around. Do you think these numbers will rise as time goes by? I don't think we have 50m more sales because its the end of the console's lives. Plus, when you think about it , I think a good portion of the 360 sales are really just same people buying again due to RROD. I know a guy who bought at least 3 or 4.

So where did these sales go?

btw, I think this is the first generation where the 2nd & 3rd competing consoles bypass the 40m sales mark, so shows a huge growth!!

[Erik_Twice]

Actually many PS2 owners bought the Wii mainly because it was the only popular console. The Xbox only sold in the US, it didn't go anywhere around here and the Gamecube was incredibly niche, reserved to Nintendo fans. It was the console to go in most of the world and if people had a console before the Wii, it was a PS2.

Note that the PS3 has a much more limited audience than the PS2 did.

[GigaPepsiMan]

From what I know a lot of the PS2 audience moved on to the wii or haven't moved on at all.
Xbox 360 is much more popular than the Xbox was but it is still very unpopular in Japan which damages the sales a fair bit.
A lto of people who bought the PS2 went on to buy the 360 because hey lets be honest PS3 and Xbox 360 arent that different and you are not missing out on too much either way, it isn't like the SNES and Mega Drive where the two machines were nothing alike and had completely different games to each other.

When a conole is unpopular in one part of the world it can really hurt sales.
In japan:
Wii is most popular home system,
PS3 is behind as the popular "GAME" system
360 is not liked as it is an American product going up against two companies the Japanese love.

In America & UK:
Wii is on top
360 is second
And PS3 is last

If 360 wasn't disliked in Japan it would have probably left PS3 in the dust by now, not to mention Japanese games weren't too impressed by the ps3 when it was first released.

[mas]

Here is my opinion on this subject.
There are people who stayed with the ps2 just because it still is a fine system, People can get great games dirt cheap and many people don't want to spend 200 and up for a ps3 or the 360. The rrod for the 360 killed alot of momentum for the system and people just stayed away. As for the wii, It's nintendo period.
The only reason people went to get a ps3 was just for the blue ray and now you can get a blue ray player for 100.00 or so. I have a ps3 and the wii and besides my retro systems I hardly ever touch the ps3. It's mailnly for my kids and they play the wii more than anything. If you get a used wii like the black one you can get great gamecube games for it because it's backwards compatible. It's a family system and everyone my age has a family or kids who knows about mario. That's why you cant touch the wii. Everyone would rather play mario who has family's than cod modern warfare.
If you are in the teenage years to early to mid twenty's or even single (actually even single guys have a wii it's a total chic magnet lol) You play the 360 or ps3. Most families that I know of have the wii. I believe that's where the number's went and that why the wii is on top.

[Flake]

The numbers might be too skewed to make any comparison right now.

For example: These numbers are not adjusted for multiple copies of a game system bought by the same person. The PS2 has been around for a decade - many people are on their third or fourth. Same thing for the Xbox 360 which has not been around as long.

Hardware revisions are also much more common place. Previously, only the PS2 received a major hardware revision that necessitated a new purchase in many people's eyes. This time around, both the PS3 and Xbox 360 received major revisions where the game console was dramatically improved (or in some ways, reduced in scope) where as the Wii received a mostly cosmetic revision where features were only removed.

The economy is also quite different right now. The price points for modern systems have fluctuated wildly and started at different places.

tl;dr I would not read too much into those simple numbers without a lot of data on hand to make those numbers actually mean something.

[sabrage]

The only reason people went to get a ps3 was just for the blue ray

Ahahaha!

Oh, you're serious?

[isiolia]

The only reason people went to get a ps3 was just for the blue ray

Ahahaha!

Oh, you're serious?

Early on it was a big reason. It was (at least) common to see the PS3 recommended as a good Blu-Ray player on home theater boards and the like, even to people who would likely never play games on it. Hard to say what percentage of their overall sales were due to that, but it was far from unheard of. This would be mostly after the price came down some, but when an entry level player was still $200+.

[sabrage]

The only reason people went to get a ps3 was just for the blue ray

Ahahaha!

Oh, you're serious?

Early on it was a big reason. It was (at least) common to see the PS3 recommended as a good Blu-Ray player on home theater boards and the like, even to people who would likely never play games on it. Hard to say what percentage of their overall sales were due to that, but it was far from unheard of. This would be mostly after the price came down some, but when an entry level player was still $200+.

If the older model PS3s had a drive anywhere near as loud as the slim, I would never consider using it to watch a movie. And now the PS3 has a library to back itself up, but I agree there was no real reason to get one in the first 2-3 years, unless you desperately love Metal Gear Solid (which really isn't too outlandish)

[AppleQueso]

my central a/c is louder than my ps3 fat.

in fact, I can't think of any system that has a drive loud enough to be an issue, except maybe the Dreamcast.

[Jmustang1968]

Ya I think I have the surround system cranked up enough to never get bothered by or even notice the mechanical noise from a console.