Analyst: Nintendo to conquer Europe

By Alex Sassoon Coby, GameSpot UKPosted May 1, 2008 7:55 am PT

DFC Intelligence predicts Sony's hardware dominance will end, pinpointing Phil Harrison's departure as key.

All looks rosy for Nintendo and its fans in the UK and the rest of Europe. Wii Fit is currently balanced on top of the UK charts (although GTAIV's sales figures indicate that may not be for long), Mario Kart Wii snaked to the front of the pack at launch, and Super Smash Bros. has finally got a release date. To make things even sweeter, the Mario Factory has just been tipped by an analyst to oust Sony from the top of the heap in the region.

Despite a lukewarm response to Nintendo's global outlook when it announced its most recent annual results and unveiled its projections for the coming year, David Cole of DFC Intelligence is projecting big things for the Japanese publisher in Europe. He points to the success of Sony's casual-gaming products such as SingStar and the EyeToy range as the prime indicator for Nintendo's upcoming dominance in the region in a report published this week.

He believes that "the Wii product line and control system are an evolution of what made the PlayStation 2 so successful in Europe," and indicated that the move to Atari by Phil Harrison, who was president of SCE Worldwide Studios and seen by many as the standard-bearer for Sony's charge into nontraditional markets, was a turning point. "In many ways this departure is symbolic of how the torch in Europe seems to be passing to Nintendo," Cole said.

Cole also suggested that the recent launch of Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 for Wii is likely to push hardware sales to new heights in the region. As he puts it, "Soccer is arguably the most important game genre in Europe, and now the Wii has what many consider to be the best soccer game. This alone is likely to be a driver of significant Wii sales, especially among customers looking to upgrade from their PlayStation 2."

Things are less rosy for Microsoft, in Cole's view of the market. "In the long-term, DFC Intelligence believes the PlayStation 3 will be a fairly strong competitor," Cole said. "The biggest loser in Europe is likely to be the Xbox 360." Microsoft has seen its self-proclaimed fall 2007 'greatest holiday line-up in videogame history' come and go with very little impact on the Xbox 360's position in the European marketplace.

"To spur sales in 2008, Microsoft is being forced to lower the price of a system that is starting to look like a senior citizen as it approaches its third birthday," he concluded.

Sony and Nintendo both refused to comment on the report, while Microsoft had this to say, "We won't comment on DFC's report but I can say that we wouldn't trade places with any other gaming platform. Competition is high this generation, but the race is far from over and we are confident that we have the winning strategy."

87 Comments

  • crszn962015

    Posted Jul 12, 2008 11:32 am PT

    Wii is almost not winning to the PS3 in NA, but I was thinking that the Wii was popular in Europe.

  • Shadow_Fax

    Posted Jul 1, 2008 2:20 am PT

    Rickiej, you are a decade behind, welcome to 2008 mate...

  • Swixer-Swaxer

    Posted May 9, 2008 7:41 am PT

    I thought nintendo would be hated after the SSBB release date

  • F0ilman

    Posted May 8, 2008 4:47 am PT

    I'm surprised that most people have a 360 and Wii. I have a Wii and PS3, no I don't hate 360 (I like it) it's just I really wanted PS3 mainly because Metal Gear Solid 4 and GTA4 but that is also on the 360. Though I still don't see why PS3 isn't that popular. Oh well you guys can keep to your flame wars.

  • ctg867

    Posted May 6, 2008 3:15 pm PT

    I think the Wii will succeed in Europe because it's a casual system, with many, mediocre casual games that casual gamers love. It's as simple as that. If it didn't have any of that, it wouldn't be selling. The less then a handful of good hardcore games on the Wii couldn't even get it past the PS3s sales, even with that price point.

  • Rickiej

    Posted May 6, 2008 6:18 am PT

    Nintendo isnt making games that i want to buy. Nintendo's consoles were all made for the 3 year and older folkes, if they want to let me buy their console they need to get rid of the kiddy image.

  • Ungdi

    Posted May 5, 2008 4:52 pm PT

    Let's start predicting what their next consoles might be instead. Wonder what Nintendo's doing next. The PS3 will probably span 2 console lifespans, the Xbox, expect a newer one soon, the Wii, maybe when sales go down, we'll get a new one.

  • aileron2

    Posted May 3, 2008 7:37 am PT

    I was thinking "if you want some fun buy the 3 consoles" now the war isn't for consoles it's for the games

  • SalarianChemist

    Posted May 2, 2008 5:19 pm PT

    Xbox 360 sales have doubled to very impressive numbers in Europe ever since the price drop.

    With all the Platinum Hit games at low prices, casual gamers in Europe will continue to buy the Xbox 360.

  • Generic_Dude

    Posted May 2, 2008 2:18 pm PT

    My analysis: Damned dirty apes will conquer Europe... the Americas too... you just wait, man...

  • kavadias1981

    Posted May 2, 2008 11:50 am PT

    I love my Wii and use it daily. The games I own are fantastic (all 12 of them, so I dont know where people get off saying there are no games or SSBB is the only game worth playing) and there are tons that I am looking forward to. There are a dozen or so fantastic games that I am looking forward to for the PS3 so I will be buying one later in the year. I have a HD ready TV and am ready to move onto Blue-Ray now. We will all need one eventually just for that alone.

    The 360 has amazing online capabilities and I love the achivements and XBLA but there just aren't enough games that I want (I love Japanese made games and the Wii and PS3 have those in abunbance) so it doesn't make it worth buying to me. Plus the fact that I would be worried about it malfunctioning all the time.

    I love something about all 3 consoles but the Wii and PS3 are definitely more to my taste. And I do agree with the analyst that the 360 will end up the loser in the end. It's 1 year head start over the Wii and its 15 month head start over the PS3 wont help it win this race.

  • jackanderson

    Posted May 2, 2008 10:29 am PT

    This report is basically an exercise in fan-boy baiting. I will be checking back on this to see how violent the comments get.

  • blackace

    Posted May 2, 2008 10:19 am PT

    "To spur sales in 2008, Microsoft is being forced to lower the price of a system that is starting to look like a senior citizen as it approaches its third birthday," he concluded. *********************************************************
    Huh!?!? Has this guy forgotten how many times Sony dropped the price of the PS3 just to get it to start selling in all the regions? It took M$ over 2 yrs to lower the price. This guy doesn't have a clue in terms of price drops. They weren't forced. The time was right to drop the price. It was over 2 years without a price drop in Europe Mr. Cole. Get your damn facts right. Explain why Sony dropped their price twice within a 6 months period. I would call that being forced to drop their price, cause their PS3 wasn't selling anywhere.
    ================================================
    kbaily I think it's time for Microsoft to accept that the Xbox isn't as great as they think. If it was so great, why can't it sell outside the US?
    -----------------------------------------------------------
    Are you blind? It is selling outside of the U.S. Over 6 million units sold in Europe is nothing to sneeze at. It's not selling great in Japan, but it's selling better then the original XBox in Japan, so that's a plus.

  • andyrae11

    Posted May 2, 2008 10:12 am PT

    Well thats okay and everything. But they need to be more considerate to some gamers and leave racist elements out of some of their titles. I'm surprised they weren't slapped by a lawsuit already!

  • panosl

    Posted May 2, 2008 3:40 am PT

    i already own a wii and xbox360 console and both consoles are very good for different things.ps3 booo!!

  • rony_kam

    Posted May 1, 2008 10:05 pm PT

    i have a wii and an xbox 360, and the only reason i still play the wii is because of SSBB and super mario galaxy, every other game is completely gay my xbox, on the other hand, is completely worth the money and more. GoW, COD4, Halo, Rockband, Bioshock, mass effect, Xbox live etc. are things that make this console so dominant in NA.
    If PS3 would have been as cheap as the xbox, and Gow or halo were not existant i would buy it b/c of God of War 3 and MGS4, and it has the largest library if you consider all of the PS2 games you can play.
    and another thing, who the F*** buys blu ray DVDs? thats sooo expensive, havent you heard of downloading? besides, why waste 30-40 bux on a movie youre gonna watch once maybe twice if youre bored?

  • bdbogart

    Posted May 1, 2008 9:35 pm PT

    You know...I'm about ready for the Xbox 720. Honestly, My Xbox 360 has paid for itself. The amount of time I've spent on it easily cover the $400, so seeing reports like this doesn't bother me. When I think of the times I've had playing Halo 3, Gears, Rockband, etc, etc, if Microsoft was to put out a new system next year, I'd buy it. In my opinion, this generation of consoles is already over. I'm ready for the next "next-gen."

  • LordSpleach

    Posted May 1, 2008 8:16 pm PT

    Funny how the 360 loses support outside the States.

  • Stonetowerghost

    Posted May 1, 2008 7:30 pm PT

    Nintendo is dominating, but I hope it will last. If Wii is anything like DS (and it is), I can't expect Wii to fall anytime soon.

  • nintendoboy16

    Posted May 1, 2008 5:54 pm PT

    This is just a prediction, so I can't be to sure if Nintendo will take the console wars for this gen. Sony may fight back, and hit hard, but no one knows.

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