The Playstation/Xbox market hasn't grown in terms of audience

This is just sad. As their games cost so much more to make and zero growth in potentail buyers for 24 years it's a no wonder these two are looking to go third party like Sega. Why is this System Warriors? Why can't these two break their stagnant market? It's sad to see this as these two have been reaching out to more and more countries every year. The growth should be going up.

Nintendo audience actually shrunk, the Wii and the DS combined were 250+ million units. The Switch only has 140.

What are the Nintendo numbers🤣Wii+DS was trashing the Switch in numbers

It's unfair to ask Playstation to carry the load

/rimshot

Yep, this is why the gaming business is going in the direction that it is going.

Console gaming hasn't grown but some folks on here would use sales as a counter but never look at the overall picture. But, it is fun to stoke the fire despite this fact.😂

Hopefully this causes them to lower budgets, and focus less on expensive graphics and more on fun.

Not likely, but I would love to see it.

So Nintendo got worse?

Multiple people can game on a single console. Households now are significantly more likely to have adults *and* kids that game than ever before.

@SolidGame_basic: yeah, the wii and ds definitely makes switch look small. On the other hand their revenue and profit is at a record high...I don't even understand how that is possible, to sell 100 million less units but double the profit.

If we factor in wider console market there's growth. 6th gen combined sales from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony was around 235 million, excluding handhelds. 7th gen it was around 324 million combined. 8th gen it went down to 241 million between PS4, XB1, and WiiU. 9th gen, Nintendo Switch is like 140 million by itself, and with combined Series X|S consoles and PS5's and time those will still be selling, I've no doubt we'll see combined gen-on-gen console unit sales growth over 8th gen.

Still, if we look at overall including handhelds, overall we see a decline in unit hardware sales between the big three. Perhaps another area to explore about the market is combined game sales revenues for software between all three. Companies aren't all that forthcoming with this information, especially with respect to digital sales. Sometimes quarterly/annual revenues for say Sony or MS game divisions focus on total revenues which hardware could be a larger contributor thus a lower profit margin.

I don't think gamers overall are losing interest. We live in an age of growing economic uncertainty and ever tightening budget for niceties for things like video games. Also the shift in gaming from traditional SP games to online live service games with MTX and subscription services changes the dynamics of the direction where the total video game consumer spending goes.

I also think at large, with consoles like PS5 and Series X|S having access to the larger 8th gen libraries, consumer have more choices of how to better spend their money when new full priced games come on the market. Perhaps they wanna play those games, but until the games reaches a better price point people are willing to spend money on, there's still a wealth of titles gamers can pick up cheap to hold them over.

@blaznwiipspman1: And they didn’t do live service.

How much has PC gaming grown over the years?

@blaznwiipspman1: R&D for 1 system is cheaper that 2. Increase in digital sales = more profit along with not having to give money to 3rd party distributors.

Um don't MS & Sony make more money than Nintendo?

It's not the growth they need to worry about it's the budgets of each game that is getting out of control.

@Black96Z: Problem with PC is that 25% of its user base admitted to stealing/pirating games last year. That's from the people who admitted it, then there are those who didn't so that number will be even higher.

To do live service, you first need a service capable of handling a live service🤣

@lamprey263: The shift to mobile games has been huge and the market numbers are there to validate it. Anecdotally, the highschool students that I talk to at college events mostly play on their phones. Most who are in the degree for Game Design, game on PC or mobile. Console gaming is the minority for the past 4 years at the university I am currently at.

That's exactly what I have been saying for years now and consolites every time tried to DC it, especially cows by well, hiding behind Switch even though they hate it. That's the same thing even Shawn Layden brought up years back. Good to see consolites finally coming to reality but still attcking Nintendo as somehow that will make it easier for them.

Then Sony got worse as well when you factor the PSP combined with the PS3. Almost 170 million for the PSP + PS3, and the PlayStation 4 sold how much??? Downgrade!

@luxuryheart: The truth is, this gen has been very depressing...especially coming from Sony despite the hardware PS5 is doing okay in sales but the growth is just sad overall. And this is why I miss the 7th gen.

That's good. With the Wii and DS they were making lots of games. Almost too many to keep up with. Now with Switch, they're making way less games. Awesome that the sales reflect that. Hopefully Nintendo starts making more games again.

Core gamers are the niche

Xbox and PS are AAA platforms, and big-budget games are just kinda boring. Either boring movie game or they care more about forcing you to keep playing than actually making it fun to play.

Do kids even play consoles nowdays? Or just mobile?

Mostly mobile. Grown men and women are the main market for console wars.😂