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posted by cmn32480 on Monday January 22 2018, @07:57PM   Printer-friendly
from the love-me-some-Mario-cart dept.

For years, people have predicted the pending "death" of video game consoles. Instead, video game consoles are doing better than ever.

In 2012, Wired cited mobile disruption and "the whole box-model mentality" in declaring the death of the console. Around the same time, CNN cited a "four-year tailspin" in sales for dedicated consoles (which, coincidentally, started right around the same time as the global financial crisis) to explain "why console gaming is dying."

And IGN, in its own 2012 look at the fate of the console market, offered a bold prediction for the fate of the PS4 months before it was even officially announced: "A better-graphics box at $400? Not going to work."

Today, those and many other relatively recent predictions of doom for the console market look downright silly. The industry analysts at NPD announced last night that the US video game market grew 11 percent in 2017 to $3.3 billion. The reason? "Video game hardware [meaning consoles] was the primary driver of overall growth," as hardware was up 27 percent for the year, to $1.27 billion.

The launch of the Nintendo Switch was a huge part of this increase, of course. We already knew that the system has been selling at a rapid clip that reportedly outpaced even Nintendo's expectations worldwide. In the US, though, "on a time-aligned basis through the first ten months on the market, Nintendo Switch has sold more consoles than any other platform in history," NPD says.

But the Switch isn't the only console success story these days. As NPD notes, "combined sales of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One continue on a record-setting pace" in the US. Together, those "high-end" consoles are selling 18 percent better than the PS3 and Xbox 360 did at the same point in their lifecycles and four percent better than the PS2/Xbox generation.


Original Submission

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Nintendo's Switch just outsold the GameCube

The Switch's lifetime sales, as of this writing, have reached over 22 million units, which surpasses not only the Wii U's 13.6 million units, but the GameCube's 21.7 million units. For reference, the next most successful Nintendo console was the Nintendo 64 at 33 million units and the most successful (in non-handhelds) is the Wii at 101 million units.

Before crucial holiday season, Nintendo struggles as Sony shines

As 2017 came to a close, Nintendo was busy reveling in Switch sales that were exceeding expectations while Sony's PlayStation 4 was showing signs that its strong sales had peaked. Leading into the all important 2018 holiday season, the companies' comparative console war outlooks seem to have changed a bit.

Let's start with Nintendo, which recently announced worldwide shipments of 3.2 million Switch systems in the July through September quarter. The good news is, that's up slightly from the 2.93 million sold in the same period a year ago. The bad news is that slight increase doesn't put Nintendo on track to meet its long-standing projection for 20 million Switch units sold during the fiscal year (which ends in March 2019). Overall, Nintendo's quarterly profits and revenues both came in significantly below analyst estimates as well, though both were up from a year prior.

[...] Sony, meanwhile, is seeing surprising resilience for the PS4 during its fifth full year on the market. The console shipped 3.9 million units in the last quarter, down slightly from 4.2 million a year ago, but not down nearly as much as might be expected for a platform that launched in late 2013. Overall, the PlayStation division's quarterly profits were up 65 percent year over year, with sales up 22 percent; both figures exceeded analyst expectations.

See also: Nintendo chief says beefing up Switch sales is the main task in his strategy

Previously: Nintendo Sells at Least 10 Million Switch Consoles in 2017, 64 GB Game Cards Delayed to 2019

Related: Video Game Consoles are Doing Better than Ever
Hidden "VrMode" Found in Nintendo Switch Firmware


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Monday January 22 2018, @08:41PM (16 children)

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Monday January 22 2018, @08:41PM (#626228)

    Kids need something to do with their spare time. We can't have them going outside without strict parental supervision, or else we have to arrest the parents for child endangerment, nor can we allow them to visit each other outside of strictly-supervised "play dates", so game consoles are a great way of keeping kids occupied until they reach adulthood.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 22 2018, @08:57PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 22 2018, @08:57PM (#626234)

      There is sooo much truth to this.

    • (Score: 1) by tftp on Monday January 22 2018, @09:17PM (2 children)

      by tftp (806) on Monday January 22 2018, @09:17PM (#626238) Homepage

      game consoles are a great way of keeping kids occupied until they reach adulthood.

      And after, as employment is falling due to automation. Within years a very accessible job of a driver will be seriously cut, for example.

      Tech jobs will be ok for a while, but this career requires ability to learn complex, not always intuitive processes and then pass certification. (People will want only certified techs to work on their robot cars.)

      • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday January 22 2018, @10:08PM

        by Grishnakh (2831) on Monday January 22 2018, @10:08PM (#626263)

        And after, as employment is falling due to automation. Within years a very accessible job of a driver will be seriously cut, for example.

        Exactly. Society will be better off if all young people simply stay at home where it's safe and only play games and socialize online through these games or with Facebook.

      • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday January 23 2018, @12:00AM

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 23 2018, @12:00AM (#626344) Journal

        game consoles are a great way of keeping kids occupied until they reach adulthood.

        And after, as employment is falling due to automation.

        You can also thank the men who made us spend [bbc.co.uk]**, they conditioned you to consume since early childhood.
        It's more than "mission accomplished", we are now swallowing Marvel/Disney movies and games (all of them stupid). Not only that some are paying lots to swallow them [gameanalytics.com]

        --
        You will find some episodes on youtube [google.com]

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 1, Offtopic) by Bot on Monday January 22 2018, @09:18PM (3 children)

      by Bot (3902) on Monday January 22 2018, @09:18PM (#626240) Journal

      I blame Trump
      MVGA

      *ducks*

      --
      Account abandoned.
      • (Score: 2) by kazzie on Monday January 22 2018, @09:31PM (1 child)

        by kazzie (5309) Subscriber Badge on Monday January 22 2018, @09:31PM (#626243)

        You blame Trump for making up new video resolutions [wikimedia.org]?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 22 2018, @10:18PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 22 2018, @10:18PM (#626277)

        I blame Trump

        That is what he is there for. But one thing, "Make Vag . . . . " What is MVGA?

    • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday January 22 2018, @09:39PM (6 children)

      by Freeman (732) on Monday January 22 2018, @09:39PM (#626249) Journal

      I'll have you know, that's been the case since, the first Nintendo Console. Well, except for the crazy Child Endangerment issues with having your kids playing outside "without" supervision. I know when I was a kid, we rode our bikes up and down our road "without" supervision. It's a sad state of affairs that being a helicopter parent is what's expected and generally required to keep your child safe from nosy neighbors + government overreach.

      --
      Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
      • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday January 22 2018, @10:03PM (5 children)

        by Grishnakh (2831) on Monday January 22 2018, @10:03PM (#626258)

        I used to ride my bike (alone, or with a friend, no parents) all around my little town when I was ~7-8 years old, and to school.

        In Japan, kids are basically forced to walk themselves to school without their parents by that age.

        Luckily, America now knows how horribly dangerous this practice is, as seen by the astronomical crime stats, especially child abduction, in Japan these days, and now will arrest any parents that neglect their children this way and lock them up in a corporate-run prison.

        • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday January 22 2018, @10:21PM

          by bob_super (1357) on Monday January 22 2018, @10:21PM (#626280)

          Japan encourages the elderly to be in the street at start and end of school, casually keeping a lot of eyes on the walking children.
          That kind of social behavior cannot be demanded from Americans, who will eventually be expected to each pay for armored cars and armed guards for their individual child's safety.

        • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 22 2018, @10:26PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 22 2018, @10:26PM (#626282)

          Luckily, America now knows how horribly dangerous this practice is, as seen by the astronomical crime stats, especially child abduction, in Japan these days, and now will arrest any parents that neglect their children this way and lock them up in a corporate-run prison.

          You have to be careful letting your kids walk around unaccompanied in the United States of America, because they might be abducted by a police officer [treehugger.com].

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 23 2018, @11:43AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 23 2018, @11:43AM (#626514)

            This is where you need to fuck with the system and make it eat itself. Teach your kids what to say when someone says "show me on the doll where the policeman touched you".

        • (Score: 2) by crafoo on Tuesday January 23 2018, @05:42AM (1 child)

          by crafoo (6639) on Tuesday January 23 2018, @05:42AM (#626427)

          Japan is not the USA. Japan is a pretty good case for a unified culture and a vision of race and racial solidarity as a strength. Pretty much the opposite of "diversity is our strength" mantra you hear in the USA. It's also a honor culture and not a shame-based culture (Judo-Christan).

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 22 2018, @11:46PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 22 2018, @11:46PM (#626338)

      Grishnakh has a PR module. This PR module lies to Grishnakh and everyone else. This PR module says that video game console are only for children. Hidden motives in everyday life!

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 22 2018, @11:43PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 22 2018, @11:43PM (#626333)

    My PR module says that video games consoles are failing because my survival and reproductive modules tell it to. My survival module knows that I am going to be homeless, uninsured, and dead soon because of my video games. My reproductive module knows that I am a male who will never reproduce until I give up gaming. Please do not ask my PR module about why I say that consoles are failing. It was designed to lie--to others and myself.

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