1. NINTENDO WII vs SONY PLAYSTATION 3
Case Submission for the fulfilment of the course on
Strategic Games in Marketing and Operations
Under the guidance of Submitted By:
Dr. Kausik Datta Jatan Deliwala 10DCP-011
Associate Professor Nikhil Garg 10DCP-020
Marketing Management Nitin Verma 10DCP-021
IMT Ghaziabad Rishi Dewan 10DCP-027
Saurabh Chincholikar 10DCP-030
Shivi Gautam 10DCP-038
Viral Bakhada 10DCP-048
Bhavya Khurana 10DCP-065

2. Video Game Console Industry
Porter’s 5 Forces
Buyer Power
6
4
Exit barrier 2 Supplier Power
0
Entry Barriers Substitute
Threat of substitute products
In such a highly competitive market, there are of course strong substitutes. Each system started with
their niche, but in order to grow market-share each has added features to eliminate the qualities that
have enabled competitors to differentiate. As they become more similar, the choice between them
becomes harder and thus the threat of substitutes is high. Nintendo being the most basic and least
powerful of the bunch means they have to continuously price themselves well below the competitors
to help eliminate the ease of substitution. Factors affecting the threat of substitution are favorable
growth trend of market, highly competitive market, disruptive innovation by new players, High
pressure for innovation & technology gets easily obsolete.
Entry Barrier
Threat of new entrant is very low so there is high entry barrier for Gaming industry. The console
gaming industry, is a market in which, only very technologically advanced and well-funded companies
can enter. Loyal customer bases and established subcultures have made it so new entrants would
have to provide something completely revolutionary to get customers to switch. Microsoft was the last
big company to join the competition and they struggled for a long time, despite being a well-known
technology giant.
Exit Barrier
Companies are investing in R & D of hardware as well as software development and technology gets
easily obsolete so Exit barrier for Players in Gaming industry is very high.
Suppliers Power
Contract for consoles development is given to experts in the field of batteries, processors, and video
cards but actually the specifications are very unimpressive. Since these are pretty standard items for
console development and market has many experts to develop console has reduced bargaining
power of supplier.
Buyer Power
The gaming industry is one of luxury and in a bad economy these goods are at the mercy of the
customers. The customers have the power, the money, and the marketing buzz to make or break a
company rather quickly. Companies have to be careful how they price themselves and be sure to
always keep the customer in mind; there is very little room for error.

3. Global Video Game Market (Exhibit 1)
 PwC estimated that the videogame subsection of the global entertainment and media market
would be the second fastest growing segment through 2014 (trailing only Internet advertising
wired and mobile).
 Michael D. Gallagher, president and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association:
December („09) sales broke all industry records and underscores the incredible value
consumers find in computer and video games even in a down economy.
Video Game Console Market: Steady Growth Through 2012 (Exhibit 2)
 Market has experienced dramatic growth since 2007
 Web-based video game advertising experiencing the most rapid expansion, with a CAGR of
18.5%
 E-marketer predicts web-based market size to be $478M by 2012
Evolution of Hardware controllers (Exhibit 3)
Hardware is one of the integral part of gaming industry. There has been rapid change gaming industry
going through in these highly competitive market.
Perceptual Mapping of Products (Exhibit 4)
History and Introduction of PSP
Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) produces the PlayStation family of video game hardware
consisting of consoles and handhelds. Sony's first wide home console release,
the PlayStation (codenamed PSX during development, currently PS-1), was initially designed to be
a CD-ROM drive add-on for Nintendo's Super Nintendo Entertainment System . When the prospect of
releasing the system as an add-on dissolved, Sony redesigned the machine into a standalone unit.
The PlayStation was released in Japan on December 3, 1994 and later in North America on
September 9, 1995. Currently the highest selling home console of all time, SCE's second home
console, the PlayStation 2 (PS2 or PSX2) was released in Japan on March 4, 2000, and later in North
America and Europe in October and November 2000, respectively. PlayStation 2 received widespread
support from third party developers throughout its lifespan on the market. Today it has sold up to 150
million units worldwide.
The newest home console in the PlayStation family, as well as Sony's entry in the seventh-generation
of consoles, the PlayStation 3 (PS3) was launched in November 2006. It utilizes a unique processing
architecture, the Cell microprocessor, a proprietary technology developed by Sony in conjunction
with Toshiba and IBM. The graphics processing unit, the RSX 'Reality Synthesizer', was co-developed
by Nvidia and Sony. Several variations of the PS3 have been released, each with slight hardware and
software differences, each denoted by the varying size of the included hard disk drive.
The initial retail cost was 37,000 yen, or about $387. Software available at launch included King's
Field, Crime Crackers, and Namco's Ridge Racer, the PlayStation's first certifiable killer app. It was
met with long lines across Japan, and was hailed by Sony as their most important product since the
WalkMan in the late 1970's.
Also available at launch were a host of peripherals, including: a memory card to save high scores
and games; a link cable, whereby you could connect two PlayStations and two TVs and play against
a friend; a mouse with pad for PC ports; an RFU Adaptor; an S-Video Adaptor; and a Multitap Unit.
Third party peripherals were also available, including Namco's Negcon.

4. In addition to playing games, the PlayStation has the ability to read and play audio CDs. The CD
player has the ability to shuffle the playback order, play the songs in a programmed order, and repeat
one song or the entire disk. This function, as well as a memory card manager, can be accessed by
starting the console either without inserting a game or keeping the CD tray open, thereby accessing a
GUI for the PlayStation BIOS. The original PlayStation and PS-1 GUIs differ. The PlayStation GUI has
a dark blue background and buttons that are designed like rainbow graffiti; the PS-1 has a blocked
grey background with 2 icons; one for memory cards management, the other for CD player access
(some versions of the original PlayStation have the blocked grey background, however, the memory
card and CD player icons are different). If the CD lid is closed with a game inside at any time while at
the menu, the game will immediately start.
The new PS one and LCD Screen Combo and the Car Adapter (for PS one) provide long-time
PlayStation® fans and new enthusiasts the opportunity to enhance their overall gaming experience
while enjoying the huge library of award winning PlayStation titles no matter where you are. With the
introduction of these two new products, consumers benefit from a compact, easy to transport gaming
platform ready to entertain ―wherever, whenever and forever‖. These three words were slogan of
PS0ne.
Market Share (Exhibit 5)
SONY is currently the market leader in game console industry. Its PlayStation has taken a lion’s share
of the console market. This makes SONY a household name in the industry. PlayStation 2, its sequel,
rides on top of this wave and has been on the market a year ahead of similar products from Nintendo
and Microsoft. Sony’s strong brand name in both game console and home electronics industries
makes it well positioned for the market for future game consoles, which will be ―all-in-one‖ devices
supporting gaming, home entertainment and web browsing. Sony has partnership with AOL, Real
networks (to include real player in PS 2) and almost every major game publisher.
Nintendo has always been a strong player in console industry. It is second to Sony in terms of total
game console unit sales from 1995 to 2000. Its GameCube is priced at $199, $100 below PS2 and
Xbox’s prices. The big difference in prices allows Nintendo to target at low end of the market: young
kids from 7 to 16, who can not afford more expensive models, and who don’t require as many
features as the more mature age groups.
Competitive advantage of PS 2
Comparing to same generation consoles the major competitive advantage of PS 2 is its Product Mix
advantage in terms of Emotion Engine capability, which creates unique gaming experience. Besides,
due to very strong third party support and html/java compatibility of PS2 consoles, the owners might
browse web sites, use e-commerce capabilities, chat and send e-mails, download music, software
and video data.
Core competences
The major core competence of Sony as console manufacturer is its ability to blend advanced
technological capabilities of PS2 consoles with the efforts of game developers, licensed to develop
the games for the market. Grant (2005) claims that Sony managed to develop strong beneficial
relationships with wide range of leading game developers and publishers including such industry
giants as Electronic Arts, Capcon, THQ and Ubisoft.
Target market and Positioning
Sony positions its console as entertainment centers and as unique gaming experience.Sony uses the
newest and greatest technology to appeal to their customers. The people who are most interested in
staying up-to-date with the newest technology are usually men of the ages 15-30. To reach that
market, they make games that are attractive to men of those ages; these games tend to be the
shooters and high action games such as Kill Zone and God of War. However, they do make games

5. for younger children; these games have a more adventure based game play such as Jak and Daxter
and Crash Bandicoot. Beyond gaming, Sony also hopes to reach movie buffs with their high-definition
movie playback thanks to Blu-ray technology. Blu-ray offers the latest advancement in movie
entertainment experience. The detail of these movies is so good that you can literally see individual
pores on people’s faces. As you might expect, this means detail on everything is very high and movie
buffs love this.
Sony Playstation Business
PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2 is the 2nd generation of PlayStation console series launched by Sony Entertainment.
The development of the PS2 was first announced to the public in April 1999. The PS2 had some
unique features, not present in any other console. At its heart was an Emotion Engine, which was
created by both Sony and Toshiba allowing the whole system to be backward compatible with
older playstation games as well as be able to play games in the newer DVD format. The PS2 had a
hardware mode called Texture Interpolation to anti-alias the edges of graphics.
The PS2 was finally released in Japan in March 2000, in the US in October and in Europe in
November and sold incredibly well. So much so that it was continuously running out stock and
causing prices to skyrocket in some areas. In 2003, an updated version of the PS2 was released in
Europe with a 75% quieter fan, a built-in infrared receiver, 2 Dual Shock controllers all wrapped in a
slick silver color casing. In November, 2005, the PlayStation 2 became the fastest game console to
reach 100 million units shipped, accomplishing the feat within 5 years and 9 months from its launch.
This achievement occurred faster than its predecessor, the PlayStation, which took 9 years and 6
months to reach the same benchmark. By early 2006, Sony’s PS2 dominated the video console
market with a 55% market share, followed by Microsoft’s Xbox with 24%, Nintendo Game Cube with
15%, and the newest entry, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 with 6%. The PS2 has sold 150 million units
worldwide as of January 31, 2011.
PlayStation 3
The Playstation 3 is the third game console/media center produced by Sony Computer Entertainment,
and successor to the Playstation 2. The console was first released on November 11 2006 in Japan.
Its primary storage media is the Blu-Ray Disc, while it also supports DVD, and CD formats. It can
output high definition video and audio for both video games and movies via an HDMI 1.3 port (as well
as component cable), supporting up to 1080p HD resolution. Major features of the console include its
unified online gaming service, the PlayStation Network, its multimedia capabilities, connectivity with
the PlayStation Portable. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii
as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles.
PS3 Slim and console rebranding
Following speculation that a 'slim' model was in the pipeline Sony officially announced the PS3
CECH-2000 model on August 18, 2009 at the Sony Gamescom press conference. Among its features
are a slimmer form factor and quieter noise when powered on. It was released in major territories by
September 2009. As part of the release for the slim model, the logo was changed from the "Spider-
Man font" and capitalized PLAYSTATION 3 to a more traditional PlayStation and PlayStation 2 like
'PlayStation 3' logo with "PS3" imprinted on the console. Along with the console and logo redesign,
the boot screen of all consoles changed from "Sony Computer Entertainment" to "PS3 PlayStation 3",
with a new chime and the game start splashscreen being dropped. The cover art and packaging of
games has also been changed to reflect the redesign.

6. Sony Playstation3
Marketing Strategies from 2006 to 2011
"Sony first unveiled the PS3 as a mighty home electronics product. Then, after some badgering from
game companies, it shifted the position of the console closer to a game machine," Square Enix
President Yoichi Wada told reporters on Friday.
"(The future of the PS3) would be tough if its marketing strategy is not straightened up," he said.
Sony's PS3 is packed with cutting-edge technologies such as a Blu-ray high-definition DVD player
and a Cell microchip, dubbed "supercomputer on a chip", making it advanced enough to be a hub of
living room electronics, a high-speed gateway to the Internet, as well as a game machine.
But on the downside, these state-of-the-art capabilities drove up manufacturing costs. The basic
version of the PS3 retails twice as high as Nintendo Co Ltd's Wii. The high price and scarcity of strong
game titles have caused the PS3 to lag far behind the Wii in unit sales. In a sign of changing fortunes
of the two Japanese video game makers, Nintendo in June became one of Japan's 10 most valuable
companies, and in doing so, bumped Sony off the top 10 list.
Competition and Competitive Advantages
Sony Playstation 3 currently competes with two major gaming devices in the market. These include
Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii.
Nintendo Wii, owned by Nintendo, was released in November, 2006 and is the only console with a
remote sensor/controller which makes gaming interactive, as opposed to simple controllers.
Disadvantages of the Wii compared to other consoles is their lack of graphics quality and inability of
DVD playback.
Xbox 360 was released by Microsoft in November of 2005. The positives of the Xbox 360 are its
plethora of gaming titles it owns, its graphics' quality, and its CD and DVD playback compatibility.
However, to enter Xbox’s online network (Xbox Live), there is a fee.
Playstation 3, owned by Sony, was released in November, 2006 and rivals the high quality graphics
of the Xbox 360, contains a huge library of games, and is wireless and free for online gaming. The
PlayStation is also able to boast being the only gaming console with rights to the Blu-Ray playback.
Market Competition
What makes the Playstation 3 so unique is that not only is it a video game console, but Sony tried to
market it as an all-in-one media entertainment center. Like stated before, the PS3 offers games, Blu-
Ray movies, Internet, storage for all media formats(movies, music, and photos), and the free
Playstation Online Network. Upon it's release in Novemember of 2006, the PS3 was already in full
competition with the Xbox 360, which had a one year advantage with its 2005 release; with the
Nintendo Wii which was also released in November of 2006. The PS3 and Xbox 360 were considered
to be the elite gaming console, opposed to the Wii.
So many people opted to purchase the Wii since it was available and it was significantly cheaper than
the other two game consoles with a starting price of $249.99. The PS3 generated a lot of attention
since all units were sold out everywhere upon it's release, but the biggest complaint was the price
compared to the Xbox 360. Both competing systems had two models for sale: the Xbox 360 had their
Core model which sold for $299 and the Pro model(included 20GB hard drive) which sold for $399.
The PS3's two models were exactly identical except for the size of the hard drive. The 20GB model
sold for $499, and the 60GB model sold for $599. Both PS3 models offered features which the Xbox
360 did not have such as Wi-Fi connection, a Blu-Ray player, free online gaming, bigger storage
space, and most importantly games being played in Full-1080p HD resolution. The advantage the

7. Xbox 360 had on the PS3 was its wide variety of games and its established online gaming network,
Xbox Live.. A major factor for the success of the PS3 was the battle between HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray
DVD. Ultimately.
The Playstation Network being absolutely free was a good market scheme since it counters the Xbox
Live subscription. This appears to be "penetration pricing" for the Playstation Network to achieve its
critical mass for its online network
Market Sales
Sales for the three competing consoles within this network have been very competitive from 2005
(when the first of the three market competitors was sold publicly) to now. In November 2005 until the
first half of 2007, Xbox 360 was the market leader (selling to mainly the Americas and Europe)
despite having production problems at the time it was sold publicly due to the amount of Xbox 360's
that were produced were less than the consumer demand. This initially slowed sales but they were
still the market leader.
The Playstation 3 was released in November 2006, however when the PS3 was initially released, it
was produced at a production cost of about $805.85 and priced to consumers at $499.00, resulting in
operating losses of about $1.97 billion by March 2007. This made profit losses for Sony, and the high
price of the console contributed to the competitive disadvantage of it compared to the Xbox 360 and
Wii. In the first half of 2007, the Wii (selling to mainly Japan and the Americas) sold more consoles in
the U.S. than Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 combined, thus making the Wii the dominant competitor in
the market. But in October 2007 when Halo 3 (game) was launched, Xbox 360 sales doubled
compared to October 2006 sales. More people wanted to enter the Xbox 360 network because of this
game.
Sales for September 2007 of the Xbox 360 were 528,000 and 501,000 for the Wii. During this time,
production costs for the Sony Playstation 3 decreased as a result of eliminating the Emotion Engine
chip and hardware cost decreases, and by the end of 2008 the Playstation 3 was profitable.
The Playstation 3 was able to be much more competitive than it was before the high production costs.
In early 2008, sales were declining for the Xbox 360 so Microsoft started selling Xbox 360 consoles
below cost in order to gain market saturation and increase profits on the peripherals and software
because of the higher profit margin on those. Xbox live users increased substantially during this time.
From May to June 2008, Xbox 360 was the market leader with the most sales of any console.
By November 2008, the Nintendo Wii sold 13.4 million consoles worldwide, which was twice that of
Playstation 3 units sold and 2 million more than Xbox 360. However in 2009, Wii sales fell by 47%
from that of 2008 because of price reductions in Xbox 360 and Sony’s future plans of creating a
motion-sensing wireless controller. By mid 2009, the cost of producing Playstation 3 consoles had
fallen to 70% that of it in 2006, which is about $240 per console, thus increasing profits for Sony.
However by the end of 2009, Nintendo cut the price of the Wii and came out with the software release
of New Super Mario Bros. These factors increased sales for the Wii in December 2009 in the U.S. to
more than 3 million, taking the Wii out of their slump. To give an overall look at sales since the
console's release, Xbox 360 has sold more than 41.7 million units since 2005, Wii has sold 73.97
million units since 2006, and Playstation 3 has sold 38.1 million consoles since 2006.
Nintendo
Introduction
Nintendo Co., Ltd. is mainly engaged in the development, manufacture and sale of entertainment
products in home entertainment field. The Company's main products include leisure machine such as
portable and console game machines and software, as well as poker cards and karuta (Japanese-

8. style playing cards). As of March 31, 2011, the Company has 26 subsidiaries and five associated
companies.
History
As a card company (1889–1956)
Nintendo was founded as a card company in late 1889, originally named Nintendo Koppai. Based in
Kyoto, Japan, the business produced and marketed a playing card game called Hanafuda. The
handmade cards soon became popular, and Yamauchi hired assistants to mass produce cards to
satisfy demand. Nintendo continues to manufacture playing cards in Japan and organizes its own
contract bridge tournament called the "Nintendo Cup".
New ventures (1956–1974)
In 1956, Hiroshi Yamauchi (grandson of Fusajiro Yamauchi) visited the U.S. to talk with the United
States Playing Card Company, the dominant playing card manufacturer there. He found that the
world's biggest company in his business was only using a small office. This was a turning point when
Yamauchi realized the limitations of the playing card business. He then gained access to Disney's
characters and put them on the playing cards to drive sales.
The Nintendo Love Tester
In 1963, Yamauchi renamed Nintendo Playing Card Co. Ltd. to Nintendo Co., Ltd. The company then
began to experiment in other areas of business using newly injected capital. During this period of time
between 1963 and 1968, Nintendo set up a taxi company, a love hotel chain, a TV network, a food
company (selling instant rice, similar to instant noodles) and several other things. All of these ventures
eventually failed, and after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, playing card sales dropped, and Nintendo's
stock price plummeted to ¥60.
In 1966, Nintendo moved into the Japanese toy industry with the Ultra Hand, an extendable arm
developed by its maintenance engineer Gunpei Yokoi in his free time. Yokoi was moved from
maintenance to the new "Nintendo Games" department as a product developer. Nintendo continued
to produce popular toys, including the Ultra Machine, Love Tester and the Kousenjuu series of light
gun games. Despite some successful products, Nintendo struggled to meet the fast development and
manufacturing turnaround required in the toy market, and fell behind the well-established companies
such as Bandai and Tomy.
In 1973, its focus shifted to family entertainment venues with the Laser Clay Shooting System, using
the same light gun technology used in Nintendo's Kousenjuu series of toys, and set up in abandoned
bowling alleys. Following some success, Nintendo developed several more light gun machines for the
emerging arcade scene. While the Laser Clay Shooting System ranges had to be shut down following
excessive costs, Nintendo had found a new market.
Electronic era (since 1974)
Nintendo's first venture into the video-gaming industry was securing rights to distribute the Magnavox
Odyssey video game console in Japan in 1974. Nintendo began to produce its own hardware in 1977,
with the Color TV Game home video game consoles. Four versions of these consoles were produced,
each including variations of a single game.
A student product developer named Shigeru Miyamoto was hired by Nintendo at this time. He worked
for Yokoi, and one of his first tasks was to design the casing for several of the Color TV Game
consoles. Miyamoto went on to create, direct and produce some of Nintendo's most famous video
games and become one of the most recognizable figures in the video game industry.
In 1975, Nintendo moved into the video arcade game industry with EVR Race, designed by their first
game designer, Genyo Takeda, and several more titles followed. Nintendo had some small success
with this venture, but the release of Donkey Kong in 1981, designed by Miyamoto, changed
Nintendo's fortunes dramatically. The success of the game and many licensing opportunities (such as
ports on the Atari 2600, Intellivision and ColecoVision) gave Nintendo a huge boost in profit.

9. The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
In 1980, Nintendo launched Game & Watch—a handheld video game series developed by Yokoi
where each game was played on a separate device—to worldwide success. In 1983, Nintendo
launched the Family Computer, known outside Japan as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES),
home video game console in Japan, alongside ports of its most popular arcade titles. In 1985, the
NES launched in North America, and was accompanied by Super Mario Bros., currently one of the
best-selling video games of all time.
In 1989, Yokoi developed the Game Boy handheld game console. The Nintendo Entertainment
System was superseded by the Super Famicom, known outside Japan as the Super Nintendo
Entertainment System (SNES). This was Nintendo's console of the 16-bit 4th generation, following the
Famicom of the 8-bit 3rd generation, whose main rival was the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. A fierce
console war between Sega and Nintendo ensued. The SNES eventually sold 49.10 million consoles,
around 20 million more than the Mega Drive/Genesis.
During the dominance of the Game Boy line, its creator, Yokoi, designed the Virtual Boy, a table-
mounted semi-portable console featuring stereoscopic graphics. Users view games through a
binocular eyepiece and control games using a gamepad. Rushed to market in 1995 to compensate for
development delays with the upcoming Nintendo 64, the Virtual Boy was a commercial failure due to
poor third-party support and a large price point. Amid the systems's failure, Yokoi was asked to leave
Nintendo.
The company's next home console, the Nintendo 64, was released in 1996 and features 3D graphics
capabilities and built-in multiplayer for up to four players. The system's controller introduced the
analog stick. Nintendo later introduced the Rumble Pak, an accessory for the Nintendo 64 controller
that produced force feedback with compatible games. It was the first such device to come to market
for home console gaming and eventually became an industry standard.
The Nintendo GameCube followed in 2001 and was the first Nintendo console to utilize optical disc
storage instead of cartridges. The most recent home console, the Wii, uses motion sensing controllers
and has on-board online functionality used for services such as Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and
Internet Channel . The Wii's success, as well as the success of the DS, introduced an expansion of
audience to broader and non-traditional demographics, a business model with which Nintendo has
had success.[citation needed] Contrarily, the new business model has also resulted in some long-time
gamers abandoning the Nintendo console for its competitors.
Nintendo unveiled their newest home console, the Wii U, on June 7, 2011 at the Electronic
Entertainment Expo.
Handheld console history
The Nintendo 3DS is Nintendo's latest handheld video game system which features autostereoscopic
3D. After the successful Game & Watch, the handheld development continued with the Game Boy,
the Game Boy Pocket and Game Boy Color, with the latter two differing in fairly minor aspects. The
Game Boy, the best-selling handheld and third best-selling console of all time, continued for more
than a decade until the release of the Game Boy Advance, featuring improved technical specifications
similar to those of the SNES. The Game Boy Advance SP, a frontlit (backlit in later editions), flip-
screen version, introduced a rechargeable, built-in battery, which ended the need for AA batteries in
previous consoles. The Game Boy Micro was released in 2005, after the Nintendo DS's release, but
did not sell as well as its predecessors. The Nintendo DS replaced the Game Boy line sometime after
its initial release in 2004, originally advertised as an alternative to the Game Boy Advance. It was
distinctive because it had two screens and a microphone, in a clamshell design continuing on from the
Game Boy Advance SP.
The Nintendo DS Lite, a remake of the DS, improved several features of the original model, including
the battery life and screen brightness. It was designed to be sleeker, more beautiful, and more
aesthetically pleasing than the original, in order to appeal to a broader audience. On November 1,
2008, Nintendo released, in Japan, the Nintendo DSi, an improved version featuring smaller screens,
improved sound quality, an AAC music player and two cameras—one on the outside and one facing
the user. It was released in North America, Europe, and Australia at the start of April, 2009. The

10. successor of the DSi, with an expanded screen, is the Nintendo DSi XL, which was released on
November 21, 2009 in Japan and the first half of 2010 in other regions.
The successor to the Nintendo DS line, the Nintendo 3DS, uses the process of autostereoscopy to
produce a stereoscopic three-dimensional effect (glasses-free) and was released in Japan on
February 26, 2011, launched in Europe on March 25, 2011 and North America on March 27, 2011.
The console got off to a slow start, initially missing many key features that were promised before the
system launched.
Nintendo Wii
The Wii is a video game console made by Nintendo. This is the one of the most successful consoles
made by Nintendo to this date, and it is the successor to the Gamecube. It was released in
November, 2006, two days after the PS3 was released in NA. The Wii is a very interesting console,
having WiFi online capabilities, wireless controllers, and blue-tooth. But perhaps the most interesting
feature is the motion sensors in the Wii controller (dubbed Wii-Mote). It allows people to swing their
arms and the same motion will happen on screen in the game. It also has an infrared light on the end
of the wii-mote so you can point and shoot at the screen, kind of like the old duckhunt game one the
original NES. A speaker and vibration are included as well for that extra feel of realism.
The launch of the Wii was pretty crazy, and kept selling out at all the stores for many months after its
release, mainly because it's fun to play and is affordable compared to what is available from Microsoft
and Sony. As of December 2011, the Wii leads the generation over the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in
worldwide sale, and in December 2009 broke the record for best-selling console in a single month in
the United States.
Since its launch, the monthly sales numbers of the console have been higher than its competitors
across the globe. Retail copies of Wii games are supplied on DVD optical discs. Wii Optical Discs are
packaged in a keep case along with instruction information. On European releases, these retail boxes
have a triangle printed at the bottom corner of the paper insert sleeve side. The hue of the triangle
can be used to identify which region the particular title is intended for and which manual languages
are included. (Exhibit 6)
Marketing Strategies from 2006 to 2011
According to Nintendo's game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, the concept involved focusing on a new
form of player interaction. A distinguishing feature of the console is its wireless controller, the Wii
Remote, which can be used as a handheld pointing device and detects movement in three
dimensions. Another distinctive feature of the console is WiiConnect24, which enables it to receive
messages and updates over the Internet while in standby mode.
The console was known by the code name of "Revolution" until April, 2006. The Nintendo Style
Guide refers to the console as "simply Wii, not Nintendo Wii", making it the first home console
Nintendo has marketed outside of Japan without the company name featured in its trademark.
By December 8, 2006, it had completed its launch in four key markets i.e. the USA, England, South
Korea and Taiwan.
Nintendo hopes to target a wider demographic with its console than that of others in the seventh
generation. At a press conference for the then-upcoming Nintendo DS game Dragon Quest IX:
Sentinels of the Starry Skies in December 2006, Satoru Iwata insisted "We're not thinking about
fighting Sony, but about how many people we can get to play games. The thing we're thinking about
most is not portable systems, consoles, and so forth, but that we want to get new people playing

11. games.‖ This is reflected in Nintendo's series of advertisements on TV and Internet in North America.
The ad slogans are "Wii would like to play" and "Experience a new way to play."
Since its launch, the monthly sales numbers of the console have been higher than its competitors
across the globe.
In the first six months of 2008, the Wii had sold 318,000 units in Canada, outselling its nearest
competitor, the PlayStation 3, almost 2:1. While Microsoft and Sony have experienced losses
producing their consoles in the hopes of making a long-term profit on software sales, Nintendo
reportedly has optimized production costs to obtain a significant profit margin with each Wii unit sold.
In December 2008, Forbes reported that Nintendo makes a $6 operating profit per Wii unit sold.
Kenji Hall of Business Week called the company "a bright spot in an otherwise dismal Japanese tech
sector" citing the unique qualities of the Wii. Wii sales drop by 47% in the fiscal year 2008 – 2009. Hall
argued "Nintendo's big advantages are disappearing" amid price reductions of the Xbox 360 and
rumours of Sony unveiling a motion-sensing wireless controller.
In September, 2009, Nintendo announced its first price drops for the console. In the United States, the
price was reduced by $50. Nintendo sold more than three million Wii consoles in the U.S. in
December 2009, setting a regional record for the month and ending 9 months of declining sales, as a
result of the price cut and software releases such as New Super Mario Bros. Wii. In December 2009,
Nintendo Wii broke the record for best-selling console in a single month in the United States.
Over 509.66 million Wii games were sold worldwide as of December 2009, with 54 titles surpassing
the million-unit mark. The most successful game is Wii Sports, which comes bundled with the console
in most regions, and has sold 67.71 million copies worldwide as of September, 2010 and surpassed
Super Mario Bros as the best-selling game of all time.
Nintendo announced the successor to the Wii, called Wii U, at the Electronic Entertainment Expo
2011. The Wii U will feature a controller with an embedded touch screen, output 1080p high-definition
graphics, and be fully backwards compatible with Wii games and peripherals for the Wii. The Wii
Remote and Nunchuk controller, and the Wii Balance Board, will be compatible with Wii U games that
include support for them.
Wii Family Edition
The Wii Family Edition is a revised Wii model, released in October, 2011, which, while being the same
dimensions as the original model, is designed to sit horizontally instead, and is not compatibile with
Nintendo Game Cube games or accessories. It was announced in August, 2011.
The "Wii Family Edition" is to be made available in Europe as part of a Christmas bundle with a Wii
Remote Plus, Wii Party and Wii Sports. In October, 2011, Nintendo UK announced a blue Wii Family
Edition would be released to coincide with the release of Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic
Games to release in November, 2011. In the same press release they hinted additional colors to be
available in late 2011. In October, 2011, Nintendo of America announced a black Wii family edition to
be released shortly and would come bundled with New Super Mario Bros Wii and the official
soundtrack CD of Super Mario Galaxy.
Unlike the PlayStation 3 Slim and Xbox 360 S which were released in 2009 and 2010, respectively,
and replaced all older models, the Wii Family Edition did not. The original Wii is still sold as normal.
Technical Specifications
The Wii is Nintendo's smallest home console to date; it measures 44 mm wide, 157 mm (6.18 in) tall
and 215.4 mm (8.48 in) deep in its vertical orientation, slightly larger than three DVD cases stacked
together. A red Wii system bundle was made available in Japan in November, 2010, commemorating
the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros.
The Wii console contains 512 MB of internal flash memory and features an SD card slot for external
storage. An SD card can be used for uploading photos as well as backing up saved game data and

12. downloaded Virtual Console and Wii Ware games. Wii is roughly 1.5 to 2 times as powerful as its
predecessor but the least powerful of the major home consoles in its generation.
The console also features parental controls, which can be used to prohibit younger users from playing
games with content that would be considered unsuitable for their age level.
The console supports regional lockout, which means that software purchased in one region can be
only played on the hardware of the same region.
Game designer Will Wright shared his thoughts on the Wii within the context of the current console
generation: "The only next gen system I've seen is the Wii – the PS3 and the Xbox 360 feel like better
versions of the last, but pretty much the same game with incremental improvement. But the Wii feels
like a major jump – not that the graphics are more powerful, but that it hits a completely different
demographic."
Using the Wii is often seen as being more physically demanding than other game consoles. Some Wii
players have occasionally experienced a form of tennis elbow referred to as "Wiiitis." A study
published in the British Medical Journal states that Wii players use more energy than they do playing
sedentary computer games. It is, however, indicated that while this energy increase may be beneficial
to weight management, it is not an adequate replacement for regular exercise. In 2009, IGN named
the Wii the 10th greatest console of all time, in a field of 25.

13. Exhibit 1

14. Exhibit 2

15. Exhibit 3

16. Exhibit 4

17. Exhibit 5
Table 1: 1995-2000 game console unit sales
Brand Market Share (%)
Sony 47%
Nintendo 28%
Sega 23%
Others 2%
Table 2: Market share of game consoles by vendor as of Dec 2000
Brand Market Share (%)
Playstation 37%
Nintendo 23%
Game boy color 21%
Dreamcast 11%
Playstation 2 8%
Table 3: Dec 2000 market share of games
Type Of Games Market Share (%) Market size
PC games 23% $30 million
Console games 77% $110million

18. Exhibit 6
Total Sales and Market Share for discrete years

19. Exhibit 7
Number of Units Shipped yearwise (In million)
30
25
20
Japan
Americas
15
Total
10
5
0
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010