Shane Kim: First console to 100 million wins

by Alexander Sliwinski { May 21st 2008 at 12:59PM }

Microsoft's Shane Kim now sees the end to the console war as a new magic number: first system to 100 million units sold wins, he tells Wired. That's an increase of 90 million over the 10 million mark Microsoft used to promote as the bellwether of victory. Kim believes consumers are still deciding what system to choose and that this console generation is different from the others. (Yeah, it's the first time Microsoft actually has a chance.)

Kim explains that Sony won the last couple generations, but Nintendo is clearly in first place this time around; however, he wonders if Nintendo can keep that momentum going up to 100 million (at Nintendo's rate of supply, it could take decades). He even questions it there'll be a clear-cut winner this generation. Finally, Kim assures that the Microsoft hardware guys are still working on reducing the cost of Xbox 360, in order to hit that "mass market" price point.

Tags: console-race, console-war, consoles, kim, sales, shane-kim, wired

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

baby sea tuna @ May 21st 2008 1:01PM

Countdown to first (real) RRoD comment in 5...4...3...2...

jcd @ May 21st 2008 1:02PM

Damn you! Now I wont say it!

deaftly @ May 21st 2008 1:09PM

sadly my PS3 hit the shitter on sunday, for some reason the hdmi output doesnt work anymore :(

A Pissed-off English Gamer @ May 21st 2008 1:10PM

Oh mah gawd, Microsawft onlah sell mawr 'cuz of teh Red Ringz!

But seriously, if Microsoft and Nintendo are making profit then don't they both win? I kind of agree on the "no clear-cut winner" idea.

Ninjakamster (XBL: RNK2K) @ May 21st 2008 2:19PM

You had a PS3 deaftly!?!? : 0

Wait, you just used it as a Blu-Ray player didn't ya?

deaftly @ May 21st 2008 2:24PM

@Ninjak yessirp :) , nah i love the games i have for my ps3 even though its not many and why the hell did i get voted up for my ps3 dying haha

Ninjakamster (XBL: RNK2K) @ May 21st 2008 2:32PM

Because people here in general hate the PS3, when one dies, its a good sign I guess. : /

Mine died as well this weekend, GTA4 killed it, lots of people having issues with that. Have a 360 now. : (

xFenixKnightx @ May 21st 2008 3:22PM

Ninjakamster

You have a 360 now but that gamertag you're sporting is invalid. I tried to add you yesterday and it wasn't in the database. So, what say you now?

Jason @ May 21st 2008 6:59PM

deaftly, my PS3 did the same thing and if you hold down the power button for around 5 second as you turn it on it will auto detect your output. This might fix it.

copa @ May 21st 2008 1:04PM

Here's the amazing part. This is the first time in console history that you're going to have three credible competitors making it through an entire lifecycle.

This is very good.

Haggard @ May 21st 2008 2:01PM

Kim is actually making some sense here. He's not really bashing the competition, just stating what he hopes will happen.

MarkHawk @ May 21st 2008 1:04PM

I kind of feel all gamers are winning this generation.

Sure there is shovel ware, typical shooters, glitchy games... it's not perfect but there is something for everyone and huge library for gamers. Best part is I am seeing updates to my Library every month now instead of just Nov-Feb.

baby sea tuna @ May 21st 2008 1:06PM

Good point. I haven't not had something to play in like, 2 years.

Courtney @ May 21st 2008 1:12PM

Totally agreed. Gamers win and I would hope that all three companies continue to perform well. The competition between the three makers can only help gamers more.

NATO_Duke @ May 21st 2008 2:05PM

I agree. People want to fight about their chosen system being best, but those who get each of them, and/or the handhelds would realize that the competition has been great for us all. There is always a back-log of games to play. Its quite impressive. There is no loser.

Nigeria @ May 21st 2008 1:05PM

So it looks like the DS has this generation wrapped up.

Dave @ May 21st 2008 1:14PM

Extremely good point.

Fernando Rocker @ May 21st 2008 1:09PM

The DS has everything:

Good price, bright screens, touchscreen, great battery life, nice design, amazing sales (70 million worlwide), a lot of first party support, the biggest third party support (more than 360), it's now the RPG games system, unique games... full support from Square, Atlus, and a lot more RPG guys.

Fernando Rocker @ May 21st 2008 1:11PM

The DS covers from the most casual games and games for women, to the most hardcore games.

That's the kind of support the Nintendo Wii needs.

xFenixKnightx @ May 21st 2008 1:22PM

Goes into

(DS is the best! DS is the best! DS is the best!) chant.

I sold my PSP, there just wasn't enough there at the time to keep me interested. Some favs I have are

Mario KartDS
New Supa Mario Brothas
Mario 64 DS
Sonic Rush
Bust a MoveDS

and still get to play a the GB Advance games I already had. I bring it to work sometimes to play on lunch since I get an hour and the ladies go gaga over New Super Mario Bros. :P

Bellerophon @ May 21st 2008 1:24PM

On that note, Microsoft will probably try and correct Shane Kim and issue another statement saying the first 'High Definition' console to 100 million wins.

Korova @ May 21st 2008 1:37PM

DS is not a console. You dont need to attach it to anything. Its a portable.

deaftly @ May 21st 2008 2:45PM

Super Mario Brothas?

http://grza.net/GIS/Mario%20Cosplay.jpg

xFenixKnightx @ May 21st 2008 3:25PM

Gold Deaftly, pure gold! LMAO! +1

ThornedVenom (Harley Quinn Defense Force) @ May 22nd 2008 2:59AM

@Korova

The Nintendo DS is closed proprietary piece of hardware designed to play games: it is a console.

A portable console: it's just not a home console.

killploki @ May 21st 2008 1:08PM

i would say each company is a winner when they start to see a profit on the systems they sell.

Chris @ May 21st 2008 2:04PM

@baby sea tuna:
CREEPY!

Chris @ May 21st 2008 2:05PM

ha, I'm dumb. Wrong one. By bad buddy (didn't want to take the time to spell out your name ;-) )

LaughingTarget @ May 21st 2008 1:10PM

I win. Three kick-ass consoles, two solid handhelds, the trusty PC and more awesome games than I can even afford. Where's my first place trophy?

baby sea tuna @ May 21st 2008 1:13PM

http://www.petesbears.com/static/images/product/congratulations.l.jpg

LaughingTarget @ May 21st 2008 1:22PM

That is...disturbing.

tc @ May 21st 2008 1:16PM

the winner for me is the one that ends up with the best hardware, coupled with the best software to go with it. Guess i'm just old fashioned like that!

Better scan over that comment...ah yes, i maintain my strong position on the fence!

epsilon343 @ May 21st 2008 1:17PM

I doubt there'd be a clear cut winner this generation. I think that this generation is also going to be dragged out a little longer than the last one because it seems like there are still a lot of great games on the horizon for at least the next year, if not into 2010 and neither company seems to be eager to push out another product.

marauder800 @ May 21st 2008 1:18PM

I say first system to 100 great games wins!

In all seriousness, there seem to be a lot more multi-platform owners than in past generations. I don't think there is going to be any one winner. As long as great titles keep coming to the 360, and great titles START coming to the PS3, I'll be more than happy to support both.

Shignami @ May 21st 2008 1:27PM

Who said we would know the winner a year after launch?

Methinks it was a Sony employee....

arrrgh @ May 21st 2008 1:44PM

hahahah a +1 for you sir!

tmacairjordan87 @ May 21st 2008 1:28PM

This has been one of the most fun generations of gaming for me and we're only in year 2 or 3 (depending on the console). Now if the wii could get 5 truly great new IPs that are meant for me and not my little sister in a year or so I might be enticed to actually keep one of the wii's I buy instead of selling it.

Co @ May 21st 2008 2:00PM

lol my god u just couldn't hold back could ya, kevingarnettscottypippen86

tmacairjordan87 @ May 21st 2008 2:03PM

What I'm serious if they could pull it off I would consider keeping one. I know it's a massive if, since they don't like making new IPs, but I would seriously think about it.

joeyg @ May 21st 2008 1:40PM

so if the wii hits 100 million, but then the 360 and the ps3 also hit 100, the wii wins cause it got there first? this logic doesn't make sense. Sounds to me like if 3 hit 100 million, all 3 are winners and laughing all the way to the bank

josh @ May 21st 2008 1:45PM

this is exactly what i came into this comments section to post. the whole idea of a race is pretty silly. yes, the ps2 was "the winner" last time... because it sold waaaaaaaay more than the others. all 3 consoles can be winners if they sell well, make consumers happy, and make money for their creators.

BPM [MKWii: 2578 3585 8392] @ May 21st 2008 1:53PM

The question is: Will more than one system hit 100M?

Only two systems had done it before: PlayStation (102.49M) and PlayStation 2 (127M). The competition for each of those generations didn't even come close (Saturn: 17M, N64: 32.9M, GameCube: 21.74M, Xbox: 24M).

Can the market support more than one system to go that high? History hasn't shown it to be so. But, eh, who knows. Maybe things will be a bit different this time.

Haggard @ May 21st 2008 2:04PM

The market does appear to be expanding though. The kids who are coming into game-playing age are obviously picking up consoles, but the adults who were into games when the Atari and NES were around are mostly still playing.

Games are constantly becoming more mainstream - besides, a lot of gamers own a Wii as well as a 'hardcore' console.

Korova @ May 21st 2008 1:43PM

The first thing I thought when I saw the 100 mln figure was "PRICE CUT".

It sounds like Kim is laying the groundwork for $50 drop. At this point, MS needs to max game sales to keep that attach ratio up and giving gamers a fity will very likely mean an extra game sold. So, Christmas 08?

zero2dash @ May 21st 2008 1:56PM

I'm going to elaborate on the "we're (gamers) all winners" sentiment and say I think it's even better because this generation of consoles has introduced gaming to a whole lot of other people who would never have played games until now (with the Wii) and despite the fact that I may not (and others may not) get the most enjoyment out of it, that it opens the door for future gamers to buy more systems, new systems, more games, etc. and keeps the hobby we all know and love alive.

Despite what anyone thinks about the consoles they don't own or each respective company - we can all agree that we don't want another "videogames crash of 1983" on our hands that pretty much wiped out all of the console manufacturers and a lot of the game developers at the time.

/This ends my feelgood comment of the day./

born2kill @ May 21st 2008 2:00PM

Considering that the PS2 broke 100 million before the next gen even began, its moronic to say 10 million = console win...its a marathon and based on the rapid growth of the industry, we may not know who wins until someone breaks 150 million units....or if Sony goes through w/ the 10 year plan, maybe 200-250 million...who knows??? alot of this is just speculation and guessing gamees.

CharleyTony @ May 21st 2008 2:01PM

any console that sold more total units at that time is that time's winner !!! what a quote !!

seriously, Ive got an Xbox360 and a NintendoDS and I couldnt be more happy with my choices. Exclusive titles that are out of my reach are few in between and I like my games... enough said...
Im just gonna cry when FF13 comes out (when is that again? 2010?)