Wii outsells PS3 fivefold in Japan

Japanese game magazine publisher Enterbrain has reported that the Nintendo Wii outsold Sony’s PlayStation 3 by more than five to one over the course of the last month. In April, this ratio was four to one.

Nintendo shifted 251,794 Wii units throughout May 2007, while Sony only sold 45,321 PS3 units. Both consoles launched in Japan last November, but while the Wii has opened gaming to new audience, PS3 has suffered from slow demand thanks to its expensive price tag and limited appeal of software titles.

KBC Securities analyst, Hiroshi Kamide said: “If there were half a dozen good titles people wanted to play on the PS3, I’m sure it would actually be doing quite well. We are only less than a year into the new (console) cycle. It is wrong to say Nintendo has won and Sony has lost… it’s not game over, but it’s not very encouraging.”

Sony is aiming to ship 11 million PS3 units before the end of the current business year in March 2008, increasing its goal from 5.5. million last year. Kamide admits that achieving this target seems “rather difficult”.