Game Consoles May be Aging, but PlayStation, Wii, Xbox Still Selling Strong

By Rob Scott
December 2, 2011

Despite analyst speculation that video game consoles may be in jeopardy due to the increased capabilities and growing popularity of smartphones and tablets, “Microsoft’s Xbox and Nintendo’s Wii sold in record numbers last week as Americans kicked off their holiday shopping,” reports AllThingsD.
Some 960,000 Xbox 360s were sold last week and 500,000 Wiis were sold the day after Thanksgiving. Game consoles are still experiencing strong sales five and six years after they were introduced.
“It’s difficult to imagine any other consumer hardware that could attract that kind of demand after such a long period of time,” suggests the article.
Blockbuster game titles like Activision’s “Call of Duty” game, which grossed $775 million in its first five days, continue to juice the market.
Motion-controls such as Wii and Microsoft’s Kinect open up the market beyond gamers to a family market.
And, as previously reported on ETCentric, game consoles are becoming entertainment centers for streaming video, music and other media content through partnerships with providers such as Netflix, Hulu, ESPN, HBO GO and others.

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