| Device | Years Active | Units Sold (millions) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sony PlayStation/PSOne | 1994-2000 | 102 | |
| Sony PlayStation 2 | 2000-2011 | 150 | |
| Sony PlayStation 3 | 2006-2012 | 62 | |
| Total for Sony over 18 years | 312 | 17m/yr | |
| MicrosoftXBOX | 2001-2006 | 24 | |
| Microsoft XBOX 360 | 2005-2012 | 65 | |
| Total for Microsoft over 11 years | 89 | 8m/yr | |
| Nintendo NES | 1983-2003 | 61 | |
| Nintendo SNES | 1990-2003 | 49 | |
| Nintendo 64 | 1996-2002 | 32 | |
| Nintendo GameCube | 2001-2007 | 21 | |
| Nintendo Wii | 2006-2012 | 150 | |
| Total for Nintendo over 29 years | 303 | 10m/yr | |
Apple has sold over 300m iOS devices over 5 years. That’s 60 million a year sold.
Every single one bought by a “fanboy” apparently.
Bought? I thought they usually came free with an increasingly indispensable phone/data service? 😉
No, do more research. Sniping ignorance isn’t a good debate position.
I’m just saying, it isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison, if you’ll excuse the pun.
You’re comparing single-function devices to multi-function devices (with a consequently broader market appeal). Only the PS3 & Xbox 360 do anything other than gaming, but iOS devices are essentially touch-screen computers, capable of all the diverse applications that come with that. There is no comparison. I’m sure there are millions of people out there who have never once played a game a game on their iPhone (I’m one of them) just as I’m sure there are millions who have never once placed a phone call through their console.
Plus you’ve listed 10 consoles over 29yrs, whereas by my count there have been 13 releases of iOS devices over 5 years…And in the case of carrier-contracted iPhones and iPads you get a free upgrade every 18-24 months, upon contract renewal.
Well, actually the PS2, XBOX, Wii, XBOX360 and PS3 all do more than just play games. Yes, the Apple kit does more but that’s not really relevant. Folk, like you, who comment most frequently on Fanboi posts (presumably to help ‘keep it real’ for the rest of us) would never call an XBL subscriber a ‘fanboy’.
You think the iPhone is a ‘phone’?
Of course it’s relevant. You’re comparing gaming platforms, but one of these gaming platforms is not like the other.
Fanboyism is simply a cognitive dissonance rising from choice-supportive bias. It’s applicable to any choice including brand choice. As Dan Gilbert says “It’s the difference between dating and marriage. If you’re dating a guy and he picks his nose you don’t go out on another date. You’re married to a guy and he picks his nose – ‘Yeah, he has a heart of gold; Don’t touch the fruitcake'”.
Of course smartphones aren’t just phones, but you can’t deny that, for many people, gaming isn’t high on their list of reasons for buying.
Oh, and something just occurred to me – You neglected to list mobile gaming platforms, which might have been a more accurate comparison.
A quick Google search throws up 151m for the DS, 118m for the Gameboy and 71m for the PSP. I could go on, but it already surpasses iOS devices by 40m or so.
I didn’t neglect to list them, again, they’re just spread out over a decade or three
What’s the ANNUAL adoption rate. That’s the important number. Just like the numbers for the original iPhone are as relevant to the current market as the original NES. The rate is important, not the total. That’s why I separate it from the rest of the data.
Well, take the DS. Retail availability 2004-2007. 151m units before being surpassed by the DS Lite. That’s 50m units per year.
That’s more than comparable to the 60m a year for iOS devices if you factor in all the extra consumer utilities a smartphone brings in addition to gaming – I doubt iOS would have sold as many as the DS if all it did was gaming.
50m is not more than comparable to over 60m a year. It’s a much lower number.
Plus 2004-2007 is four years. That’s less than 40m a year.
It is. In fact I think it’s generous to say 10m people bought an iOS device *just* for it’s gaming capability.
And the DS was released at the ass-end of 2004. Actually Nov 04 – mar 05 throughout the different markets. The DS Lite, which I’m sure ate in to the original DS’s sales, was released between Mar 06 and Jun 06 – so it’s arguably just over 1 year, putting it ahead of iOS no matter which way you look at it.
Semantics. I also didn’t include their Game and Watch series. And still missing the point of the post. Which is astounding.
So, even conceding one data point (that I disagree with because you’re not amortising it right), you still think it’s important when the point of the article is that people with inherent bias (know any?) still consider folk who buy Apple to be fanboys even though they outsold Sony and Microsoft’s gaming platforms and are down to arguing obscure data points about whether Nintendo won the sales ace over 29 years.
Nice one.
And the original point of my reply was to illustrate that you can’t really compare a device that sits underneath your TV and is primarily only used to play games…with another device that fits in your pocket and is used for gaming, phone calls on the daily commute, email, scheduling, navigation, and whatever else you want it to do – There’s an app for that.
It’s an unfair comparison, particularly when you omit hundreds of millions of unit sales on one side.
Besides, Argumentum ad Populum is a logical fallacy.
I do enjoy our little sparring sessions 🙂