Worldwide installed base: The Wii has essentially matched, in one year on the market, the cumulative unit sales that the Xbox 360 built over the past two years. (The Wii and PS3 were launched in November 2006; the Xbox 360 in November 2005.) Price is a big factor here, with the $250 Wii coming in significantly lower than the PS3 and Xbox 360. And Microsoft may have its sights set more on Sony. But if the objective is to have the most consoles in homes, the Wii has come a long way toward that goal.
Sources: Microsoft earnings report, disclosing 13.4 million unit sales through Sept.; Nintendo earnings report (PDF) showing 13.2 million units sold through Sept.; e-mail from Sony spokesman, reporting 5.6 million sales to date. Note: Reports based on other data have shown the Wii already taking the lead.
U.S. installed base: In cumulative sales in the United States, Microsoft is still in the lead, according to NPD Group statistics. These numbers, like the ones above, include sales during the year that the Xbox 360 was on the market before the PlayStation 3 and Wii were launched. The Xbox 360's weaker showing on the worldwide chart above, compared to the U.S. ranking at right, can be attributed to factors including the Microsoft console's relatively lackluster showing in Japan.
U.S. head-to-head: This category is an attempt to adjust for the Xbox 360's head start, trying to make more of an apples-to-apples comparison. It counts sales only over the past year in the United States. (I compiled this chart by adding up the numbers from the NPD Group's monthly reports over the past year.) Among the new consoles, the Wii has led U.S. unit sales in 9 out of the 12 months it has been on the market, the market-research firm says. The recent exception was September, when "Halo 3" was launched, temporarily lifting the Xbox 360 into the monthly unit-sales lead.
Worldwide launch-year results: Finally, this chart looks at how each console did in its launch year, over roughly comparable lengths of time. For the Xbox 360, it shows worldwide unit sales in the period from November 2005 to September 2006, adding up numbers disclosed as part of Microsoft's earnings reports. For the Wii, the chart shows sales from November 2006 to September of this year, as described in Nintendo's earnings reports.
For the PS3, it shows worldwide sales over a slightly longer time frame, from November 2006 to present, as reported by a Sony spokesman this week, which means there are a few more weeks of sales in the PS3 number than in the others. Issues of manufacturing and supply also can limit first-year sales. Even so, it's interesting to note that the PS3 wasn't lagging the Xbox 360's launch-year pace by a whole lot.
Other considerations: For each company, market share is key from a strategic perspective. But it's important to note that unit sales are just one way of measuring a console's performance. Microsoft, for example, points to its U.S. lead in areas such as total revenue from hardware and software, and the number of games sold per console. Still, profitability is another important factor, and the company's Xbox unit hasn't yet started turning a consistent profit, despite billions of dollars in investment.
With one year of head-to-head competition now in the books, I'll be interested to hear how people think all of this will turn out.