January console sales data; Wii on top

[Thorin]

According to this article I read on www.playfuls.com, this is the sales data for January:

436,000 Wii
300,000 PS2
294,000 Xbox360
244,000 PS3

Perrin Kaplan [...] added that the sales figures would have been even more impressive, had Nintendo been able to keep up with consumer demand by producing more units. In January, Nintendo decided to increase the monthly production to at least 1 million units, in order to be able to meet customers? strong demand.

Yes, Wii is turning out to be a huge sales success.  They're still incredibly hard to find on the shelves - you typically have to show up when the shipment shows up to get one.  What really surprised me, though, is the strength of the PS2; it outsold the Xbox360?  Wow!

Now, this data is (according to the article) from an as-yet-unconfirmed NPD report released by Microsoft, and I'm quite surprised that Microsoft put out something that shows them in third out of four...  If you happen to find articles that confirm or deny these numbers, please post them here.

[Lazybones]

Well if you just look at the new systems, it actually looks good that the year old 360 is selling AS strong or close to the NEW launch system.

The PS2 is a good value now and there are still several titles comming out soon that are worth getting it for, not to mention the huge library of titles already out and now cheap.

[Thorin]

Well, close to the new Sony system, not close to the new Nintendo system.

I agree, there appears to be a healthy list of PS2 games still being developed and released.  On top of that, there's still lots of households that don't have the high-def TVs that seem to be paramount when thinking about getting a 360 or PS3.  If all you have is a standard-def TV and there's the choice of a $700 PS3 or a $150 PS2 and there's still new games coming out for the cheaper one, there's no compelling reason to buy the more expensive model.

Still, it surprised me that the PS2 outsold the 360.

[Melbosa]

Sony still has the Asian market, which by far out weighs the American market, which could account for those numbers, and explain the Wii as well .

[Mr. Analog]

Sony still has the Asian market, which by far out weighs the American market, which could account for those numbers, and explain the Wii as well .

I used to think that too, but as it turns out North America and Europe combined have larger markets than Asian-Pacific (Japan, China, South Korea).

Now, at the moment I'm having difficulty finding reliable information for the Asia-Pacific video game market (for 2006) but I have fairly accurate numbers for the U.S. market alone, which had a stellar year in '06 cashing in on $13.5 Billion in revenue (source) that's an 18% increase over last year.

If anyone can find reliable statistics (for free) on the Asia-Pacific market that would be helpful!

Here is some interesting data about Japans video game market (only up to 2002).

Here is some interesting Sales & Genre data from 2005 (courtesy of the ESA, Entertainment Software Association)