The winner of the holiday console horse race is...
As sales numbers for the holiday season begin to surface, it appears the video game console industry sustained the heavy momentum it enjoyed throughout 2007.
Releases put out in the last week from both Microsoft and Sony point to a solid season for the Xbox 360 and PS3. While Nintendo has not released any sales totals for the Wii, estimates indicate another strong showing for the console.
Statistics from VG Chartz, a video game sales tracking firm, indicate that for the period stretching from 4 November to 30 December, Nintendo sold more than 2.7 million Wiis. Microsoft came in second with just over 2.1 million. Sony trailed in third place moving nearly 1.3 million machines off of store shelves. Although PS3 sales were still significantly lower than those for the Wii and Xbox 360, Sony improved upon sales for the same period in 2006 by nearly 50%.
"The price cut down to $399 on one of the PS3s certainly helped them. It got them into the game in terms of unit sales for the fourth quarter. They wouldn't have hit those numbers if they hadn't cut the price," said Mike Goodman, a Yankee Group analyst.
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