Nintendo and Microsoft battle for dominance

Gaming juggernauts, Nintendo and Microsoft, have announced major milestones in sales as the gaming market continues to prove resilient in the face of the economic downturn.

Xbox 360 sales passed the 30 million mark globally this week, with its online service, Xbox Live, hitting the 20 million mark.

Locally, 2008 was the largest year for the Xbox platform in its seven year history. According to Microsoft entertainment division sales director, Sean Davis, 2009 has been even more lucrative.

“It’s astounding that this momentum has increased into 2009 where Xbox is now the fastest growing console – growing at 135 per cent versus the total market at 43 per cent,” he said.

“As families look to cut costs and spend more time at home, they’re really looking to stretch their entertainment dollar further. The console also allows users to play CDs and movies, plug in your portable music device, and stream your media from the home PC to the TV screen.

“We know consumers that have multiple consoles in the house share all of their media with the whole family. Other consumers use it to keep in touch with family overseas.”

Nintendo, meanwhile, has hit the two million milestone for portable console DS sales, according to GfK statistics. It reached this milestone in 221 weeks, making it the quickest console to achieve the feat. It also recently announced record profits and continues to dominate game sales, with seven of the top 10 selling games coming from either the DS or Wii consoles, according to GfK.

This weeks’ GfK top 10 are:

• Pokemon Platinum (Nintendo DS)
• EA Sports Active (Nintendo Wii)
• UFC 2009 Undisputed (PlayStation 3)
• Wii Fit (Nintendo Wii)
• Wii Play W/ Remote (Nintendo Wii)
• UFC 2009 Undisputed (Xbox 360)
• Mario Kart W/ Wheel (Nintendo Wii)
• Brain Training (Nintendo DS)
• More Brain Training (Nintendo DS)
• Killzone 2 (PlayStation 3)

Encouragingly for retailers, the majority of games are still being delivered through physical stores, according to Microsoft’s Davis.

“The vast majority of game content for Xbox 360 is available at retail. Xbox Live however is a delivery method for giving more value from the games that users already own. That may be through multiplayer gaming, new game content or smaller Arcade style games,” he said.

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