PS3 Outsells Wii

According to recent Japanese sales figures the rejuvinated PlayStation 3 has outsold the Wii in Japan for the first time since its release. The Xbox 360 also sold more than the Nintendo machine leaving the Japanese gaming giants in third place for home consoles. Luckily for Mario’s masters their handhelds are cleaning up, taking both first and second spot in the handheld charts with the DSi and the DS Lite respectively. The PSP limped home last in that particular race but still outsold the Wii by over twenty thousand units.

These September figures are courtesy of Bloomberg and it’s important to try not to take them on face value. Let’s not forget that September saw the release of the PS3 “Slim” and the price cut. Japan has always had a marked preference for the PlayStation brand over Microsoft’s console offerings but the Xbox 360 price cut has also clearly contributed to that machine’s success this month.

As for the handheld race, the PSP finishing last is hardly a surprise given that the tech-crazed Japanese would almost certainly hold out for the newer, smaller PSP Go which was released on the first day of October. This is probably the biggest reason why the Wii sales have slumped, a rumoured and then confirmed price cut will mean that many savvy consumers are holding off on their purchase.

With the Wii now benefitting from a price cut (everywhere except the UK) and the PSP Go in the wild it will be interesting to see how the figures stack up for October.

Update: I misread the figures, the Xbox 360 actually sold around 7,000 units less than the Wii. Sorry folks!

Source: Bloomberg via Neowin