New Zealand Gaming Market

By Angus Deacon

We jump into the forums to hear what you have to say.

Well, it has been over a year now since the launch of Sony’s coverted Playstation 3 console and the Nintendo Wii celebrated its first birthday last Christmas. Meanwhile the oldest sibling, Microsoft’s Xbox 360, comes in at a handsome two years old. So now that the dust has settled and decent games are starting to flow, how are these three rival consoles performing? We have gathered an online array of opinions – below is the voice of NZ Gamers.


“Wii is all fair and good. But I am getting sick of playing gimmicky titles that have no replay value.”
- ChaOtiX


“…even though 360 has a head start and an well establish user base, I think many people have been waiting for this game to get with their PS3 (and Metal Gear) I know that's certainly the case with a number of my friends (two of them are Wii owners who saw the [console] as a cheap current gen to tide them over until PS3 price dropped and GTA IV was released… free online play is also a big drawcard. especially for parents who think more about long term costs than their kids…”
- stungaf


“I think so far everyone is heavily underestimating the 360. I'm sure Microsoft still has a lot of tricks up it's sleeves, and it may have some big new announcements at E3.”
- tkd_matt


“The 360 is clearly winning, which is obvious because XBL is still going strong even though Halo3 wasn't as great as everybody expected. So many good games are out now, keeping shooter fans especially happy. There's a strong NZ community on COD4, Halo3 and a Rainbow Six one is probably developing now.”
- Genocide


“...[The] PS3 will probably get close to, or pass the 360's worldwide user base by mid next year. They sold the same worldwide last year, and this year, PS3's been outselling the 360 in all 3 regions (Euro/Jap/US)…In the long run I think PS3 will win… the big shift will happen because of; price drop that hits the sweet spot, key games released, BluRay, free online/Home and maybe digital TV could even have an impact. 360 will sell more than Xbox did last gen, but i think sales will slow down quite a bit once they reach 25-30 million worldwide, just above their last gen user base.”
- Illmatic


“Once the ps3 has a signifigant price cut it will win, based on the fact that games like Eyetoy & Singstar have alot of appeal to kids. So once its cheap enough parents will buy them for there kids.”
- Syn-Ryn


“...dunno what its like in other places, but at the local video store, theres probably 1/5 the amount of PS3 games than there is 360 games. No Wii games. Probably an indication of who has what.”
- Ubercuber


“…I think PS3 is doing way better this year than the 360, due to the fact there are way better selection of game titles getting released in [2008] on the PS3 then the 360. For example, FFXIII, MGS4, GT5, GTA4, Killzone 2 and so on.”
- EonKid


“Of those 5 games you mentioned, 2 are being released next year, and one is cross platform… and believe or not, not everyone loves MGS as much as you guys. It gets tiring hearing everyone say PS3 has already won this year just because of MGS, the 360 in my eyes has a much better selection of exclusives coming out...”
- tkd_matt


"[It] feels like the Wii is doing better here than the Cube did, but thats not saying much. I think 360 is doing best at the moment, but with a price drop and more good exclusive titles I can see the ps3 taking over.
- stupidlikeafox


“…As for who will win this gen overall [it will] probably PS3, because of its 10 year plan. What are they going to do when Microsoft and Nintendo release their next consoles in 3 to 4 years, while the PS3 still has another 9 to go? Everyone will just want the latest thing, as they usually do.”
- tdk_matt


"I'm a big PS2 fan and, because of that, Sony's decision to remove PS2 backwards compatibility from the PS3 left me rather bitter. Sony's still going to be a big part of the gaming market though, thanks to Blu-Ray especially."
- Riot Pig


“It is interesting that exclusives are being hailed here as what defines the success of a console. I would have figured the sales of a game that comes out on all consoles simultaneously would be the benchmark for the success rate for a console… Many third party developers are stopping the practice of exclusives because of the enormous financial risk that comes with putting all of your metaphorical eggs in one basket. It is far more economically feasible to release a game on all consoles simultaneously and thus maximize your potential profits. I think that within a few years only the actual console companies themselves will be developing and publishing exclusives and then they will be come even less of a proper indicator of a consoles sales.”
- paddy01


“It's obvious that the 360 would have a bigger install base as of right now, simply because of its headstart. Thing is, New Zealand is a very pro Sony country. We love their consumer electronics in all their forms, not just gaming machines and I see the PS3 picking up pace here significantly in the coming year…New Zealanders are a little slow in adopting new technology (partly because it's often not available here until later) but with home theatre becoming more popular, BluRay finally winning, and HD TV coming out, the time is right for the PS3 to take a leap ahead…The Wii though is an anomaly. There's little advertising around for it, and even less highlighting the party/communal nature of a lot of Wii gaming... Unless the Wii gets some marketting clout here in NZ I don't think it can match Sony. Will it beat the 360? I don't know, and I tend to think not.”
- Aaron Koolen


“Define winning? As long as people get to play the games that they want to hasn't everyone won? In terms of profit Nintendo will win. By a mile. In fact I even think they 'won' last gen in terms of profit too… a large proportion of NZ gamers are [pro-Sony and] casual gamers. I’m talking Sports games (Rugby in particular), racing games, SingStar and generic FPS's… PS3 will probably pick up as they become cheaper and more games.”
- Jeremy


“It's annoying that you can't get any reliable numbers for sales in NZ. The closest we have is looking across the ditch at Aussie, and over there the Wii is killing…”
- Denni

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