Filed under: Industry, Consumer experience, Competitive strategy, Microsoft (MSFT), Sony Corp ADR (SNE)
Nintendo has done extraordinarily well with its Wii game console. The Wii regularly outsells Sony (NYSE: SNE)’s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)’s Xbox 360. But, the most successful Nintendo product is the older DS which, according to The New York Times, outsold the Wii, 1.53 million units to 981,000, in November, based on sales figures compiled by NPD Group.
What makes the figure more interesting is that the Nintendo DS is three years old. The DS is compatible with older Nintendo games, but does not have the “hot” new features of current devices like HD TV playback.
The success of the DS may point to a “rotation” in the video game sector, and that is a movement away from pricey and complex machines that have multiple functions, high prices, and harder to understand features. Keep it easy, stupid.
It would make some sense that the market for big, complicated machines would be limited. Playing video games appears to be of interest to a broad section of the population, but reading 300-page instruction manuals probably isn’t.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
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