Nintendo’s DS handheld and Wii console are selling like hotcakes. Thanks to this Nintendo, the world’s largest maker of handheld game players, surpassed Sony in market value as its Nintendo Wii home console outsells the rival Sony PlayStation 3.
Shares of Nintendo, based in Kyoto, western Japan, rose 1.8% to 46,250 yen as of 10:33AM on the Osaka Securities Exchange, valuing the company at 6.55 trillion yen ($53 billion). Sony stock fell 0.8 percent to 6,500 yen, giving the Tokyo-based company a value of 6.51 trillion yen ($52 billion).
Sony overtook Nintendo as the world’s biggest console maker after PlayStation 2’s introduction in 2000, has this console generation suffered production delays (due to the blue diodes needed in its Blu-Ray player being in short supply) with the release of the PlayStation 3. The Wii’s lower price, simple games and a wand-like controller that players swing like a sword or tennis racquet have helped Nintendo outsell the PlayStation 3 by two to one since the debut in November 2006.
Research firm Enterbrain said Nintendo sold 251,794 Wii machines in May in Japan, topping PlayStation 3 sales by a five-to-one margin. The PlayStation 3 trailed the Wii by four to one in April. Sales were boosted by games including Wii Sports and the latest Zelda.
Sony last month sold 81,600 PlayStation 3 units in America, the world’s largest video-game market, while Nintendo sold 338,000 Wii’s, according to data compiled by NPD Group Microsoft sold 154,900 Xbox 360s. So the PlayStation 3 trailed the Wii by four to one in May.
Mainly thanks to its 40+ million selling DS, Nintendo may exceed Sony in sales this year. Nintendo posted revenue of 966.5 billion yen ($7.83 billion) in the year ended March 2007, and forecast 1.14 trillion yen ($9.24 billion) this business year. Sony reported 1.02 trillion yen ($8.27 billion) in sales at the game business in the past fiscal year. The company didn’t disclose a sales forecast for the unit. Sony plans to more than double its software lineup to more than 200 titles worldwide and increase the number of downloadable games this fiscal year to boost sales.
Financial data reported by Bloomberg.