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[ZhugeEX]

PlayStation 4 sell through to end users.

Thought some people may be interested in some of the additional data that I have on my PC as well in regards to sell through of PlayStation consoles, specifically the PS2, PS3 and PS4 launches and holiday sales. All the data below is sell through data unless otherwise stated, such as in the "Comparing Launch Sales" section.

PS4 sell through totals-

1.0 million sold through between Nov 15th 2013 and Nov 16th 2013 (1.0 million cumulative)
1.1 million sold through between Nov 16th 2013 and Dec 1st 2013. (2.1 million cumulative)
2.1 million sold through between Dec 2nd 2013 and Dec 28th 2013 (4.2 million cumulative) (4.5 million sold in)
1.1 million sold through between Dec 29th 2013 and Feb 8th 2014 (5.3 million cumulative)
0.7 million sold through between Feb 9th 2014 and Mar 2nd 2014 (6.0 million cumulative)
1.0 million sold through between Mar 3rd 2014 and Apr 6th 2014 (7.0 million cumulative) (7.5 million sold in)
3.0 million sold through between Apr 7th 2014 and Aug 10th 2014 (10.0 million cumulative)
4.4 million sold through between Aug 11th 2014 and Nov 22nd 2014 (14.4 million cumulative)
4.1 million sold through between Nov 23rd 2014 and Jan 4th 2015 (18.5 million cumulative) (19.9 million sold in)
1.7 million sold through between Jan 5th 2015 and March 1st 2015 (20.2 million cumulative)

Numbers are rounded.

Comparing Launch sales

As above the the PS4 sold through 4.2 million units worldwide to end users during its first two months of availability in North America and Europe. Sales of the PlayStation 4 exceeded 1 million units to end users during its first 24 hours on sale in North America and exceeded 700,000 units during its first 24 hours on sale in Europe. 4.5 million units were sold to retailers during the first two months of availability.

The PlayStation 3 sold in 1.7 million units in North America and Japan during its first two months on sale at the end of 2006 with both Japan and the USA exceeding 1 million sales each in early 2007. Sony sold in 1 million units for the launch in Europe which took place in March 2007. For its first month on the market, Sell through of the PlayStation 3 console reached 200,000 units in North America, 190,000 units in Japan and over 600,000 units in Europe where the console launched last. The PlayStation 3 saw production issues early on which meant it wasn't able to meet sales targets during the launch.

The PlayStation 2 sold 980,000 units to end users in Japan on its launch day which was March 4th. Sony were unable to fufill this large order due to stock issues and so could only sell through 720,000 units on day 1 to end users with the second shipment two weeks later being able to fufill all pre orders. The PS2 went on to sell 2 million units in Japan within 3 months. The Western launch for PS2 was also supply constrained with 1.46 million units sold in North America and 1 million units sold in Europe before the end of the year.

The PlayStation One sold 300,000 units to end users during the first month on sale in Japan with total shipments topping 500,000 by the end of the second month. Shipments in North America and Europe exceeded 1.4 million units during the first 4 months.

PlayStation 4 sell through to end users during the holiday season.

Now lets look at the "Holiday Season" which usually includes November and December. Lets exclude the console launch periods and just look purely at the holiday season 1 year after the console has launched in all markets.

The PS4's first holiday season for example can be the end of 2014 where Sony sold through 4.1 million units to end users between November 23rd 2014 and January 4th 2015. The console had been released in over 123 countries and regions at this time. Including the whole of November, sell through exceeded 1.9 million units during the final two months of the year in North America.

The Sony PlayStation 2 saw its first proper holiday season at the end of 2001, a year after it had been released in North America and Europe. The console sold through more than 5.3 million units worldwide between November 26th 2001 and January 6th 2002. This is compared to 4.1 million PlayStation 4 consoles during the same time period in 2014. Going back to the PS2, Japan saw 1.1 million units sold, North America with approximately 2.5 million and Europe with over 1.7 million. Including the whole month of November, total sales exceeded 6.85 million units to end users in the final two months of the year.

The Sony PlayStation 3 saw its first holiday season at the end of 2007 with 1.2 million units sold through to end users in North America between November 23rd and December 31st. Including the whole month of November, total sell through exceeded 1.4 million in North America. Worldwide sell through figures are not available for the PlayStation 3 during its first holiday season.

The Sony PlayStation 2's second holiday season ran from November 3rd 2002 through to January 5th 2003. During this period Sony sold through more than 8.5 million units to end users breaking all records for console sell through at the time. North America accounted for more than 4 million units, Europe accounted for more than 3.4 million units whilst Japan saw sales of 940,000 for the final two months of the year.

The Sony PlayStation 3's second holiday season ran from November 23rd through to December 29th 2008. Worldwide sell through for the console exceeded 2.2 million units with North America accounting for almost 1 million units alone. Total sell through for the final two months of 2008 exceeded 1.1 million units in North America.

The Sony PlayStation 2's third holiday season ran from November 2nd 2003 through to the 4th of January 2004. Worldwide sell through to end users exceeded 7.83 million during this period with 2.94 million units sold through in North America, 3.56 million in Europe and 1.11 million sold in Japan. To compare, the last two months of 2001 saw 6.85 million units sold through, the last two months of 2002 saw 8.5 million units sold through and the last two months of 2003 saw 7.83 million units sold through.

The Sony PlayStation 3 saw more than 3.8 million units sold through worldwide during its third holiday season which ran from November 23rd 2009 through to December 28th 2009. This huge boost in sales can be attributed to the new slim PS3 which launched at a lower price as well as great software titles such as Uncharted 2 which sold more than 3 million units before the end of the year.

Whilst the PS4 has easily beaten PS3 holiday sales for 2007 and also peak sales for the PS3 in 2009/11 it has failed to match the PS2's first holiday season.

 

[serversurfer]

The PS4's first holiday season for example can be the end of 2014 where Sony sold through 4.1 million units to end users between November 23rd 2014 and January 4th 2015. The console had been released in over 123 countries and regions at this time. Including the whole of November, sell through exceeded 1.9 million units during the final two months of the year in North America.

The Sony PlayStation 2 saw its first proper holiday season at the end of 2001, a year after it had been released in North America and Europe. The console sold through more than 5.3 million units worldwide between November 26th 2001 and January 6th 2002. This is compared to 4.1 million PlayStation 4 consoles during the same time period in 2014. Going back to the PS2, Japan saw 1.1 million units sold, North America with approximately 2.5 million and Europe with over 1.7 million. Including the whole month of November, total sales exceeded 6.85 million units to end users in the final two months of the year.

Then the PS4 really didn't fare too badly, given the NA bundles for XB3. Do you happen to know what PS4 did in Japan for First Holiday? The JP drop likely cost PS4 some sales as well. Also, it's worth noting that the XB1 hadn't launched outside of NA for PS2's First Holiday, and GC was only in JP and NA, so PS2 was seeing a lot less competition than PS4 was.

 

[ZhugeEX]

Then the PS4 really didn't fare too badly, given the NA bundles for XB3. Do you happen to know what PS4 did in Japan for First Holiday? The JP drop likely cost PS4 some sales as well. Also, it's worth noting that the XB1 hadn't launched outside of NA for PS2's First Holiday, and GC was only in JP and NA, so PS2 was seeing a lot less competition than PS4 was.

Japan Holiday (Nov 24th 2014 - Jan 4th 2015) sales for PlayStation 4 exceeded 200,000 units sold through to end users. So yes, this pales in comparison to the 1.1 million units that the PlayStation 2 sold through during holiday 2001 and even the 0.4 million units during the supply constrained holiday 2000.

You make a good point about PS2 not having much competition in the first couple of years but the PS2 did even better with competition haha! Also the market for PS4 has shrunk a bit as well so whilst sales are high to start with they won't follow the PS2 trajectory and so whilst when you align launches the PS4 is ahead I expect PS2 sales to overtake PS4 next year.

 

[Javin98]

Japan Holiday (Nov 24th 2014 - Jan 4th 2015) sales for PlayStation 4 exceeded 200,000 units sold through to end users. So yes, this pales in comparison to the 1.1 million units that the PlayStation 2 sold through during holiday 2001 and even the 0.4 million units during the supply constrained holiday 2000.

You make a good point about PS2 not having much competition in the first couple of years but the PS2 did even better with competition haha! Also the market for PS4 has shrunk a bit as well so whilst sales are high to start with they won't follow the PS2 trajectory and so whilst when you align launches the PS4 is ahead I expect PS2 sales to overtake PS4 next year.

Wow, the console market in Japan has really shrunk immensely. The PS4 would be lucky to hit 8 million in Japan.

 

[Dargor]

Sony sure knows how to sell some consoles. Hope they keep doing their thing for a long time still.

 

[stryke]

Wow, the console market in Japan has really shrunk immensely. The PS4 would be lucky to hit 8 million in Japan.

5 million would already be a struggle I reckon.

 

[JaseC]

At this point I can only assume Sony isn't going to give an updated LTD figure on the PS3 until it hits 100m.

 

[Javin98]

5 million would already be a struggle I reckon.

I doubt it. The PS4 is on track to reach at least 2.5 million at the very end of this year. A few more years with more Japanese games should push sales further.

 

[SolidSnakex]

5 million would already be a struggle I reckon.

I think February and March showed that the PS4 can be fairly strong in Japan with a proper flow of games. It's just up to Sony and third party devs to make sure that it has that on a more consistent basis. I know Kagari has said that we'll see more Japanese games announced this year, so we'll see how that turns out.

 

[ZhugeEX]

At this point I can only assume Sony isn't going to give an updated LTD figure on the PS3 until it hits 100m.

I doubt PS3 will even hit 100m. 95 million seems to be the absolute maximum at this point. I just hope we get a 90 million announcement shortly.

I think February and March showed that the PS4 can be fairly strong in Japan with a proper flow of games. It's just up to Sony and third party devs to make sure that it has that on a more consistent basis. I know Kagari has said that we'll see more Japanese games announced this year, so we'll see how that turns out.

PS4's not dead in Japan but it's not exactly living either, even with these small boosts its not maintaining healthy weekly sales. It's still going to sell enough in Japan for new exclusive games to be worthwhile but it's not going to sell the same as before (PS3/PS2/PS1) or have the same market. Console gaming in Japan has been declining for a while.

 

[Javin98]

PS4's not dead in Japan but it's not exactly living either, even with these small boosts its not maintaining healthy weekly sales. It's still going to sell enough in Japan for new exclusive games to be worthwhile but it's not going to sell the same as before (PS3/PS2/PS1) or have the same market. Console gaming in Japan has been declining for a while.

Yeah, it's a sad state for the console market in Japan, which used to be one of the biggest in the world. We will most likely never see ot return to its glory days. The PS4 should be able to reach 7.5 million at the end of its life though IMO.

 

[Wind's Howling]

Road made this graph last year (I don't know if he's made a new one)

Just imagine there's a 20.2 million plot point on day 472.

You mean it already exceeded the PS2 on that point?

It is quite scary how much the Wii sold, though. No wonder Nintendo started with the Wii U.

 

[michaelius]

A bit OT but when are we getting next Sony financial report ?

 

[Maklershed]

The title made me think what if there was a console that just played Playstation Home.

 

[yurinka]

Road made this graph last year (I don't know if he's made a new one)

Just imagine there's a 20.2 million plot point on day 472.

It would be amazing to have an updated version of this graph :3

A possible idea would be that they'd develop an emulator that makes all their handheld games compatible with their home console so you could still play those handheld "resources" on home console.

So next-gen PlayStation portable compatible with PS5. But PS5 has native PS5 games that obviously don't run on the next-gen PlayStation portable.

Seeing recent mobile announcements with smartphones or tablets to reach soon HW specs similar to XBO, I'd bet that around 2019 or so, when Sony would need to release PS5 mobile devices would be capable of running the type of hardware that PS5 would need.

I'd make then a mixture of home and portable console: basically imagine a Vita with Dual Shock grips, slightly bigger screen and wireless TV-out and extra Dual Shock usage.

Powered by a 2nd gen PSNow that would grant to play its games and also digital BC with all PS history everywhere, both in this device and in Android (including TVs too), iOS, PC or any other device with a browser.

 

[yurinka]

Double post, sorry

 

[Omnistalgic]

I doubt it. The PS4 is on track to reach at least 2.5 million at the very end of this year. A few more years with more Japanese games should push sales further.

A price drop and proper DQ/FF will as well.

 

[Javin98]

A price drop and proper DQ/FF will as well.

Yep, the PS4 still has the potential to sell decently in Japan. All Sony has to do is get those gamers sticking to their PS3's in Japan to move over to current gen.

 

[ZhugeEX]

Yeah, it's a sad state for the console market in Japan, which used to be one of the biggest in the world. We will most likely never see ot return to its glory days. The PS4 should be able to reach 7.5 million at the end of its life though IMO.

Unfortunately so. Hopefully though the PS4 will be able to capture multiple audiences in Japan with the new experiences being launched shortly

You mean it already exceeded the PS2 on that point?

It is quite scary how much the Wii sold, though. No wonder Nintendo started with the Wii U.

PS4 sales are tracking ahead of PS2 when you align launches, correct.

A bit OT but when are we getting next Sony financial report ?

End of this month, April 30th

_______________________________________________________________________

Ok, so here is an update to that graph. I've made one messy graph as below but also split it into various categories.

Please take note that -

• The below shows cumulative console shipments for the first 50 months since launch
• Data is provided via manufacturers and market research companies
• Launches are aligned from month 1
• Shipment data covers all territories (worldwide shipments)
• This table covers consoles from Gen 6, Gen 7 and Gen 8 only

Please also understand that because it is an aligned launch graph that it means for example the PS3 is shown as outselling the Xbox 360 below but the Xbox 360 actually launched a year below PS3 and had a year + 10 million sales headstart. What this does tell us is that PS3 sold faster in the same amount of time and closed the gap relatively quickly early on.

Please take a look-

GEN 6, 7 & 8 Cumulative Hardware Shipments for first 50 months.

GEN 6 Cumulative Hardware Shipments for first 50 months.

GEN 7 Cumulative Hardware Shipments for first 50 months.

GEN 8 Cumulative Hardware Shipments for first 50 months.

PlayStation 2, 3 & 4 Cumulative Hardware Shipments for first 50 months.

Xbox, Xbox 360 & Xbox One Cumulative Hardware Shipments for first 50 months.

Nintendo Gamecube, Wii & Wii U Cumulative Hardware Shipments for first 50 months.

If you all want Gen 5 sales then let me know but probably won't have time to put the table and graph together for a bit.

It would be amazing to have an updated version of this graph :3

I should get paid for this

 

[Javin98]

Unfortunately so. Hopefully though the PS4 will be able to capture multiple audiences in Japan with the new experiences being launched shortly


End of this month, April 30th
Great! Can't wait for updated shipment numbers.

Please take a look-

GEN 6, 7 & 8 Cumulative Hardware Shipments for first 50 months.

GEN 6 Cumulative Hardware Shipments for first 50 months.

GEN 7 Cumulative Hardware Shipments for first 50 months.

GEN 8 Cumulative Hardware Shipments for first 50 months.

PlayStation 2, 3 & 4 Cumulative Hardware Shipments for first 50 months.

Xbox, Xbox 360 & Xbox One Cumulative Hardware Shipments for first 50 months.

Nintendo Gamecube, Wii & Wii U Cumulative Hardware Shipments for first 50 months.

If you all want Gen 5 sales then let me know but probably won't have time to put the table and graph together for a bit.



I should get paid for this

I wonder if Project Morpheus will be big in Japan. Don't forget Namco's softcore porn. XD

Regarding the graphs, it's almost scary to see how well the Wii was doing. Heck, it was the only console which stood a chance in beating the PS2 numbers. It was very unfortunate for its sales to fall off a cliff. Anyway, good for the PS4 to still be ahead of the PS2 in sales but I'm sure that won't last long, though the PS4 will still have incredible sales at the end of its life.

P.S. With all the hard work you put into these graphs, you deserve Patcher's job XD

 

[ZhugeEX]

I wonder if Project Morpheus will be big in Japan. Don't forget Namco's softcore porn. XD

Regarding the graphs, it's almost scary to see how well the Wii was doing. Heck, it was the only console which stood a chance in beating the PS2 numbers. It was very unfortunate for its sales to fall off a cliff. Anyway, good for the PS4 to still be ahead of the PS2 in sales but I'm sure that won't last long, though the PS4 will still have incredible sales at the end of its life.

Well I'm currently expecting 2016 to be the peak year for the PS4 based on current conditions but that may change. Two of the reasons (Of many) that I'm expecting that is due to the lower price of the console and the launch of Project Morpheus worldwide.

People probably won't remember but there was discussion when the PlayStation launched in 94/95 that the Visortron from Sony would be used to bring virtual reality to gaming and even Sony mentioned this themselves but it never came to fruition. I guess it's time to see what impact VR will have in the console gaming market but also the overall market.

In regards to the graphs, the Wii was something else and saw very strong sales in its first 5 years, the fad did die down after a while and the PS2 still holds the record for fastest selling console to 100 million units.

One thing we saw last generation is that whilst the Wii was dominating the PS3 and Xbox 360 weren't exactly doing bad and whilst usually we see one console being a run away success, last gen the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii all ended up with very similar/close ltd sales. Of course the Wii is the success story for last gen but my point is that it looks like this gen is going to shrink with only one of the consoles (PS4) doing well, but not as well as market leaders from the past two gens, where as the One will do average and the Wii U will do poor.

 

[Josh5890]

I still think what if Nintendo didn't botch the Sony deal back in the 90's.

 

[Intrigue]

GEN 6, 7 & 8 Cumulative Hardware Shipments for first 50 months.

Maybe I'm confused, the "One" line indicated it been out for almost 50 months, is that a "projection" and if so on what data?

If its a projection, why not add one for competitors?

By the way, Great charts and thanks for putting time into them.

 

[Merkunt]

Maybe I'm confused, the "One" line indicated it been out for almost 50 months, is that a "projection" and if so on what data?

If its a projection, why not add one for competitors?

By the way, Great charts and thanks for putting time into them.

You're confusing the One line with the PS2 line.

 

[Rajang]

Quite rude. so you too frequent that site.

Apologies, I see you included forecasts

By the way the data you were asking for...

Fiscal Year PS1
1995 4.30
1996 9.20
1997 19.37
1998 21.60
1999 18.50
2000 9.31
2001 7.40
2002 6.78
2003 3.31
2004 2.77

Dont mention it.

Rude? He was quite mild tbh. I looked up your username and boy those are some pathetic posts you made there. Embarrassing.

 

[Intrigue]

You're confusing the One line with the PS2 line.

Hah, thanks, I was looking and looking for the "One" line and I couldn't see it.


I will blame bad eye sight.

 

[ZhugeEX]

Maybe I'm confused, the "One" line indicated it been out for almost 50 months, is that a "projection" and if so on what data?

If its a projection, why not add one for competitors?

By the way, Great charts and thanks for putting time into them.

That light green line you're seeing as out for 50 months is the PS2.

The dark green line which ends at month 14 is the Xbox One, and yes its really hard to see as the first few months is a bit of a mess. Hence why I tried to clear up the graph by creating separate graphs with less data on.

Please see the fourth graph down which is titled "Gen 8 cumulative hardware shipments" for an accurate idea of how the Xbox One is performing in comparison to other consoles.

 

[serversurfer]

Japan Holiday (Nov 24th 2014 - Jan 4th 2015) sales for PlayStation 4 exceeded 200,000 units sold through to end users. So yes, this pales in comparison to the 1.1 million units that the PlayStation 2 sold through during holiday 2001 and even the 0.4 million units during the supply constrained holiday 2000.

Wowsers. That's quite a difference.

You make a good point about PS2 not having much competition in the first couple of years but the PS2 did even better with competition haha! Also the market for PS4 has shrunk a bit as well so whilst sales are high to start with they won't follow the PS2 trajectory and so whilst when you align launches the PS4 is ahead I expect PS2 sales to overtake PS4 next year.

I would guess that was because the market had finally seen what the competition had to offer and collectively said, "Yup, PS2 is the way to go." Do you have any comparisons of Launch versus First Holiday for XB1 and GC? Also keep in mind that PS2 got a significant price cut between First and Second Holiday which likely boosted its sales significantly, regardless of what the competition was doing.

Console gaming in Japan has been declining for a while.

They've largely moved to mobile, yes? I wonder if Japanese devs might pull a trick from AC:Black Flag and offer mobile integration in to their console games. AC:BF had a little mini-game where you sent ships out on patrol and got money in return. Nothing too complex; just the standard Missions & Battles stuff you'd see on a standard, F2P mobile game. But that was the cool thing about it; there actually was a mobile game that you could play on your phone, and all of the stuff you earned there could be imported back to the main game on the console. So when you were out and about, you didn't need to play something else instead. You could still make progress on your game throughout the day.

So how about something like that? Maybe a new Monster Rancher game, fully featured on the console, but with a companion app that allows you to train up your monsters while you're at work or school, and collect new monsters by scanning QR and barcodes. I guess this is kinda off-topic…

Yep, the PS4 still has the potential to sell decently in Japan. All Sony has to do is get those gamers sticking to their PS3's in Japan to move over to current gen.

Is PS3 software still selling well there? It does seem like a large part of the problem is a reluctance of Japanese devs to jump on board. Sony actually called them out on it, which I was kind of surprised to see. I don't know if you know much about Japanese culture, but honor and shame are huge parts of it.

I should get paid for this

/me gives cookie

Seriously though, thanks for keeping track of all this stuff. It's really informative. <3

One thing we saw last generation is that whilst the Wii was dominating the PS3 and Xbox 360 weren't exactly doing bad and whilst usually we see one console being a run away success, last gen the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii all ended up with very similar/close ltd sales. Of course the Wii is the success story for last gen but my point is that it looks like this gen is going to shrink with only one of the consoles (PS4) doing well, but not as well as market leaders from the past two gens, where as the One will do average and the Wii U will do poor.

I think the Wii really expanded the audience for consoles last generation, but I think those are the users who have largely moved to mobile in the last few years. Apart from the possible exception of Japan, I don't think the number of "core" gamers really changed very much from Gen6 through Gen7 and in to Gen8, apart from normal population growth and such. The overall gaming population grew when Nintendo attracted new users with games like Wii Sports and Boom Blox, but those users have since realized they can have just as much fun playing Fruit Ninja and Candy Crush on the phone they already have in their hand. So ironically, while I think Ninty turned a lot of new people on to gaming last generation, I think their own reluctance to support mobile caused them to subsequently lose those same users to other publishers on other platforms.

 

[ZhugeEX]

Wowsers. That's quite a difference.

Yes, yes it is. I expect this holiday to see higher sales, but I think the days of 1 million+ during the holidays is over for PS4. Would love to be proved wrong.

I would guess that was because the market had finally seen what the competition had to offer and collectively said, "Yup, PS2 is the way to go." Do you have any comparisons of Launch versus First Holiday for XB1 and GC? Also keep in mind that PS2 got a significant price cut between First and Second Holiday which likely boosted its sales significantly, regardless of what the competition was doing.

Makes sense, also PS2 came off the back of the success of PS1 and was only in Japan first 7 months and heavily supply constrained after. The price cut will have indeed helped as it will with PS4 this year/next year.

They've largely moved to mobile, yes? I wonder if Japanese devs might pull a trick from AC:Black Flag and offer mobile integration in to their console games. AC:BF had a little mini-game where you sent ships out on patrol and got money in return. Nothing too complex; just the standard Missions & Battles stuff you'd see on a standard, F2P mobile game. But that was the cool thing about it; there actually was a mobile game that you could play on your phone, and all of the stuff you earned there could be imported back to the main game on the console. So when you were out and about, you didn't need to play something else instead. You could still make progress on your game throughout the day.

Mobile has exploded not just in Japan but everywhere, In Japan it has had an impact on the traditional home console market and even there has been an impact in the West as well but it's not as big as an impact like in Japan.

Is PS3 software still selling well there? It does seem like a large part of the problem is a reluctance of Japanese devs to jump on board. Sony actually called them out on it, which I was kind of surprised to see. I don't know if you know much about Japanese culture, but honor and shame are huge parts of it.

Software titles that launch on PS3 and PS4 simultaneously are seeing the PS3 version perform better and PS4 exclusive titles are failing to perform strongly.

In the west it's the other way around. So a lot of Japanese developers are not keen to go straight to PS4 exclusive titles in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Even the newly announced Dragon Quest Heroes 2 has a PS3 and PS Vita version because they know that the game is aimed mostly at a Japanese audience and the game will most likely sell more on PS3 and PS Vita than on PS4 at the moment. It won't be until 2016 that we see true PS4 exclusive titles coming out of Japan regularly.

/me gives cookie

Seriously though, thanks for keeping track of all this stuff. It's really informative. <3

Anytime

I think the Wii really expanded the audience for consoles last generation, but I think those are the users who have largely moved to mobile in the last few years. Apart from the possible exception of Japan, I don't think the number of "core" gamers really changed very much from Gen6 through Gen7 and in to Gen8, apart from normal population growth and such. The overall gaming population grew when Nintendo attracted new users with games like Wii Sports and Boom Blox, but those users have since realized they can have just as much fun playing Fruit Ninja and Candy Crush on the phone they already have in their hand. So ironically, while I think Ninty turned a lot of new people on to gaming last generation, I think their own reluctance to support mobile caused them to subsequently lose those same users to other publishers on other platforms.

The Wii was something different and attracted new users as you say, certainly a number will have moved to mobile or preferred to go with a new HD console such as PS3, 360, PS4 or One.

It's hard to comment on the overall gaming population right now to be honest but I'll be writing an analysis shortly.

 

[ZhugeEX]

OP has been updated with latest figures.