Analyst firm Strategy Analytics predicts console sales this to slump by 19% in 2012 as gamers wait for next-gen systems.
They predict that Nintendo will easily fair the worst selling five million Wii’s this year, half the number of home consoles the company sold last year. “Most people have bought a console already, while core gamers are awaiting the next generation,” reported Strategy Analytics Jia Wu.
The Xbox 360 will perform well with predicted sales of 13.8 million this year, down 4.8% on 2011’s figures. “Xbox still sells a ton of consoles. It still has broad appeal,” Wu added.
Sony’s PS3 meanwhile will sell 13 million this year a decline of 7.8% or 1.1 million. Sales of the Wii will collapse by more than half (51.5%) before the system’s successor, the Wii U is released later this year.
Overall the company found that 44% of PlayStation 3 owners played at least once a week compared to 40% of Xbox 360 gamers and just 30% of Wii users.
“Sales figures alone do not determine winners in this generation’s console competition,” added Kantideep Thota, an analyst at Strategy Analytics. The “Wii has sold the highest number of games consoles cumulatively; but Sony’s and Microsoft’s advancement in online game distribution and cross-platform integration grants them higher user engagement and a solid foundation for the next generation console war.”
Last week Nintendo revealed the year’s best selling consoles by region so far this year.