Wii Could Overtake Xbox 360 in '08
Reggie Fils-Aime has his sights set on Microsoft
It's fair to say that Microsoft has used its one-year head start on Sony and Nintendo well. By the end of 2006, more than 10 million people had bought an Xbox 360 already, and that's before big names such as Halo and Grand Theft Auto hit. But according to Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime, that might not be enough.
For Fils-Aime, the president of Nintendo of America, it's not a question of if the Wii will surpass the Xbox 360. "The question is when," he told Dean Takahashi of the San Jose Mercury News.
"That's going to be driven by our own sales rate and getting good software released at the right time," Fils-Aime said in an interview posted on Takahashi's blog. "It's clear [Microsoft] are slowing down. It's not unthinkable to see that next year we could surpass [the Xbox 360] installed base."
As Fils-Aime pointed out, games are key, and while Nintendo's own games are obviously the system sellers, outside game makers are doing well too, reportedly making up two-thirds of the early sales.
Right now, it looks like console buyers are siding with Nintendo. The Wii has already sold more than 4 million units, far outpacing what Sony has managed with the PlayStation 3, which launched around the same time.
Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo
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