Wii sets high score while PS3 flounders

By Adam Satariano  |   2008-12-16  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

TAKE away Nintendo Co, and the video-game industry looks like every other consumer business: in a funk.

United States sales of games, players and accessories rose 10 percent to US$2.91 billion in November, researcher NPD Group Inc said last week. Nintendo, maker of the Wii console, accounted for almost three-quarters of the growth, leaving the rest of the industry with a gain of 3 percent or less, Bloomberg News reported.

The results show Nintendo prospering while the rest of the industry faces a US economy in recession and slumping retail sales. US consumers doubled their purchases of Wii players to 2.04 million last month, while Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 declined 19 percent from a year earlier, when a price cut gave sales a lift. Total US retail sales fell 1.8 percent in November, according to the Commerce Department.

"If you're worried about your job, are you going to buy a US$400 PS3?" said Mike Hickey, an analyst for Janco Partners in Colorado. "Christmas is not going to have the same glow."

The Wii, outselling PS3 and Xbox together by almost 2-1, also is having an impact in software. Five of the top 10 titles last month were for the Nintendo player.

Wii games sell for about US$10 less than those used on Microsoft's Xbox 360, which increased sales 8.6 percent last month, and the PlayStation3, according to Billy Pidgeon, a New York-based analyst with researcher IDC.

Nintendo produces about two-thirds of Wii games itself, said John Riccitiello, chief executive officer of Electronic Arts Inc, the second-largest game publisher.