Xbox 360 vs. Wii vs. PS3: Wii more in demand now than at launch
Written by Max Freiert (contact - e-mail) -- December 17th, 2007 | Recommend ThisAbout one year ago, those lucky enough to purchase a Wii in November were enjoying it, about to make someone’s Christmas, or cleaning house on Ebay. Those who braved the lines or shelled out a premium for a PS3 were kicking themselves as retailers maintained an abundant supply of the console for most of December. Xbox 360 owners were too busy playing Gears of War to notice either situation. So with all three consoles surviving their first (or second) year out of the gate, what’s changed?
The chart below shows Compete’s estimate of monthly in-market video console demand based on the number of U.S. consumers observed shopping online for each console.* The biggest takeaway: Wii domination.
- Wii Demand skyrockets: nearly 3 million people shopped for the console online in November. In fact, demand for the Wii was nearly 40% higher than in the month that the Wii LAUNCHED in back in 2006.
- Halo 3 does what it’s told: The most anticipated game of 2007 helped Xbox 360 gain the title of most shopped console in September, besting the Wii for the first time since launch.
- Xbox experiences “launch 3.0?”; Xbox 360 consoles also experienced a huge lift in November, beating demand levels of the previous November (which we dubbed “launch 2.0”) by about 5%.
- Not in trouble, but not out of the woods either: PS3, despite having its best month since December of 2006 and a more affordable price, failed to compete with either the 360 or the Wii in terms of demand, attracting about 1.1 million shoppers.
December’s shaping up nicely as well. The chart above shows weekly demand for the 3 consoles, through December 15th and compares that demand to last year’s numbers. While it’s obvious that the Wii is in extremely high demand, the 2006 to 2007 comparison is more telling of consumer mindset.
- Comparing the two time frames, the Wii has captured shoppers at levels consistently higher than during it’s launch week, for the last 4 weeks (approximately 1.4 million shoppers per week).
- The Xbox 360 has experienced demand at much higher levels than last year throughout the period(excluding a spike aligned with an amazon.com promotion). In fact, its demand trends almost identically to the 2006 PS3 line for the last several weeks.
- The Playstation 3 has followed a similar trend as the 360, but at a significantly lower level. Currently the PS3 received about 2/3rds as much demand as its Microsoft built competitor.
This weekly data indicates a couple interesting things. First, shoppers seem to be more comfortable shopping for a console than last year. In the last several weeks, the volume of in-market console shoppers has been substantially higher than last year. Additionally, Wii shoppers who may have written off the console as an impossible gift last year, may perceive the Wii as more available this year, and are turning to web once they discover local stores are sold out. Ironically, the competition online is even stiffer this year than last. But hey, there’s aways Ebay.
Note: Compete calculated console demand based on the number of U.S. consumers who shopped for the respective consoles at leading online retailers.
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Get the 
December 18th, 2007 at 11:16 am
Nice summary and interesting analysis. Using the same colors for the 360, ps, and wii in both graphs would help tie them together quite a bit. You’ve switched the colors of the ps3 and wii in the 2nd graph.
December 18th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Am I being naive but is this not presenting a skewed version of which console is more popular?
Yes there is more demand (searches) for the WII, but that is because the WII is out of stock and therefore people are having to continously search for the product.
This is quite a good example of when trend graphs do not show the entire story, unless this data is built on unique searches.
December 18th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
David - these are actually people looking at SKU level pages of consoles , not searches. Numbers are also uniqued across all retailers (someone going to both bestbuy and amazon counts once), so its a fairly accurate measure of the number of people actually in market for a console.
I would definitely agree that scarcity is driving Wii online shopping activity up, but it is a huge market for the console that would create that scarcity to begin with.
December 18th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Max
Looks like I was naive on this one!
Thanks for the correction, impressive data. To provide a useful comment therefore please look at the searches on google. A similar story for search volume:
http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/zeitgeist2007/alltherage.html
David
December 18th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
Max - can you share a little bit about how users are uniqued? Unless every retailer site is using the same cookie-based tracking system, I don’t see how you can reliably unique users across all retailers and/or across multiple days.
December 18th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
@Ben - our measurements aren’t cookie based. We collect data from ISPs, ASPs, opt-in panels and toolbars, and are able to look across ANY site to unique a user. As a result we don’t need to worry about things such as cookie deletion, or dynamic ISPs.
Here’s some more detailed info: http://blog.compete.com/where-do-these-numbers-come-from/
December 18th, 2007 at 4:53 pm
I Found really interesting your article, I take the liberty to translate it to espanish and put it on my blog, of course, giving the credit to you and referring the original source. Hope you don’t mind about this, this is the link to the post:
EL BLOG DE LA PS3
December 18th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
well,
you can use WiiAlerts.com , it will TXT you when Wii in amazon, bestbuy, etc. avail.
BTW, http://wiioffers.com/nintendo-wiis-start-from-1-dollar
g/l
January 3rd, 2008 at 1:25 pm
I had kind of figured that this would happen. Christmas time comes around and the parents think that they HAVE to get a Wii because that’s what their kids wanted. I was honestly thinking about buying a bunch a few months before so I could resell them, but then realized that that was wrong.
Gil
January 14th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
XBOX 360 Elite…the cream of the crop.
January 15th, 2008 at 5:34 am
Xbox 360 is by far the best console. For many reasons including these-
-The wii is simply imature and made for two-year olds.
-The PS3 is far too boring for even dead people. (RIP)
-The Xbox 360 is neither, it has a combination of fun and serious gameplay.
-Having played all of the consoles, I preferred the Xbox 360 by far.
January 17th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
@ Zed_93: Just because the Wii doesn’t focus on extreme graphics and action doesn’t mean it’s not fun. Sure, it doesn’t have 3 3.2 Gigahertz identical processors and stuff like that, but it is the only console to have a controller that makes a game actually fun. Take a picture of 2 people playing Wii Golf and a picture of 2 people playing Halo 3. Which looks more interesting?
February 2nd, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Xbox
Thanks. I gave a link of this letter in my blog.
February 4th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
“Zed_93″, you listed the wii as “imature”? Explain your arguement, please. Anyway, don’t get me wrong. I love Bioshock and COD4 for xbox360, both controll well. But I believe FPS’S go well with the wii. I’m SOOO glad I can finally aim the reticle wherever I please and as fast as I can move my arm. It becomes a TRUE test of marksmanship! People have claimed that the wii remote is “too sensitive” and makes it hard to hit a target. Let’s put 2 and 2 together, shall we? If the wii remote is MOTION-sensitive and YOU can’t hit the target, than what do you THINK that means? 1. Do your best to steady your hands. 2. Adjust the sensitivity in the options menus. 3. You can always buy one of those “wii zapper” thinga-ma-jigs for a better grip. But believe or not, some people don’t need it. “EEERR, I can’t hold the wii remote steady because I have millimeter muscles…!” MAN UP!! Or woman up…WHATEVER! And “zerotrousers”, if your’e supporting the wii, than you should realize just how good the graphics REALLY are. How about you tell us some of your wii favorites. And maybe I’ll tell you some of mine. We’ll find out who knows what they’re talking about…I’ll let you in on my wii findings, afterward. Ok, ok, that’s not towards zerotrousers as much as it is towards these doupters who keep saying the wii has “sub-par” graphics as if they think they know what par means. That joke’s so funny, I forget to laugh… I say that if people keep saying that, than their arguements are going to go BUSTO faster than they can drop a hot potato! Don’t count your chickens…, my friends. Don’t count your chickens…
April 6th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
It’s been a while. I take it this discussion has been closed because of me. SORRY FOR RANTING!!
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:08 am
If xbox 360 is the “cream of the crop” then I guess that makes ps3 cream of the CRAP! LOL! JK…CHMS…