The Nintendo DS has finally surpassed the PlayStation 2 and is now the best-selling video game platform. The Nintendo DS has sold 153.69 million units, while the PlayStation 2 has sold 153.68 million units. The Nintendo DS outsold the PlayStation 2 globally from the week ending December 8th. Let’s see if it can retain its position as the best-selling platform worldwide.
Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime admits Sony did a great job in terms of supporting its 12-year-old console, PlayStation 2, which launched in 2000. The PlayStation 2 is currently the best-selling video game system of all time, followed closely by the Nintendo DS, which released 2004. Like the PlayStation 2, Fils-Aime believes Wii will keep selling for quite some time.
Have you learned anything from watching Sony’s continued success selling the PlayStation 2?
“You know, PlayStation has done a phenomenal job driving sales on what is a [twelve] year-old machine. They’ve done a phenomenal job, and they have been able to address different marketing over time, to build an incredibly large install base. We believe that the Wii system, similarly, will keep selling for quite some time. They’re going to be different addressable markets, not only from a U.S. perspective but from a global perspective… [but we'll] hopefully continue to drive sales at a historic rate.”
Capcom’s Monster Hunter series started out on a Sony console – the PlayStation 2. The publisher expanded to Nintendo platforms with the third console installment in the franchise, Monster Hunter Tri for Wii, because it’s apparently unrealistic to keep the series forever bound to one company’s platforms.
Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate will launch 2013 for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. Monster Hunter 4 is also scheduled to release 2013, in Japan, and is a Nintendo 3DS exclusive.
“The series did start out on Sony platforms, but it’s just realistic to think that it can’t continue on one platform forever. With Monster Hunter 4, it actually just came down to timing – we were developing a new Monster Hunter and the 3DS hardware had just come out, so we figured it was probably the best platform for us to develop it on. You have two screens, with action on top and menus on the bottom, and there’s the 3D view as well. It just made sense to put it onto 3DS.”
-Monster Hunter creator Ryozo Tsujimoto
GameStop senior vice president of store operations Mike Dzura has told the Verge that the company is planning to remove PlayStation 2 content from a number of stores in an effort to free up space for Wii U. A number of GameStop stores will continue to sell PlayStation 2 games if they are still proving popular with consumers.
