Analyst: Wii Winning Console War Despite Weaker Line-Up

Author: by Staff

As part of the latest 'Analyze This!' report published on Gamasutra today, DFC Intelligence's David Cole has suggested that, despite its lead, there is "not much that jumps out" in Nintendo's Wii game line-up, also commenting on the current "critical" time for the Xbox 360. Asked for a progress report on the current-gen consoles a year after all three of them started battling it out concurrently on the market, Cole suggested: "When you actually look at the Wii lineup, there is not much that jumps out... Zelda and Metroid, but those were available for the GameCube. I had someone ask me the other day: "Okay, I bought a Wii and played Wii Sports -- now what?" On Nintendo's platform, a clear leader in the worldwide console hardware sales on a month to month basis, the analyst continued: "However, you don't expect a great deal in the first year [of a new console platform] in terms of software. Clearly, the lineup will be getting much better in late 2007 -- Mario, Super Smash Bros. -- and especially 2008. Nintendo is in a good position, because the Wii has done so well before the big software products hit." Elsewhere in his comments, Cole also tackled the state of the Xbox 360, pointing out that a greater variety of titles is crucial to the format's future: "Right now, the Xbox 360 has the largest, most diversified software lineup. However, if they don't quickly take advantage of that fact and build an installed base beyond U.S. FPS fans, the competition will catch up fast on the software front. This holiday season and early 2008 are critical for the Xbox 360." Cole's comments come as part of the wider Gamasutra article, which sees Nick Williams of GamerMetrics, Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities, and Cole each tackling the Wii, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360's current state and future prospects.