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It would have seemed inconceivable just a few years ago, but Xbox 360 sales in the UK look set to overtake the Nintendo Wii in the very near future.
For its first couple of years on sale in the UK, the Wii rocketed out in front of all the other current-gen consoles, to such a degree that Sony and Microsoft were considered to be fighting it out for second place.
But, as the sun sets on this generation of consoles, it looks as if the Xbox 360 will pip the Wii to the post. According to GFK Chart-Track, Microsoft’s console was just 200,000 units short of that target at the end of December.
Indeed, across 2012 the Xbox 360’s sales figures were over four times those of Nintendo’s console.
Analysts predict that the Xbox 360 will also overtake the Wii in the US. Industry research firm DFC Intelligence said, "The success of Microsoft and the Xbox 360 during the past two years highlights a radical changing of the guard in the game industry.
"Much has been made about a steady video game sales decline in the past three years. In reality the decline has mainly been due to the aging console systems and more importantly because of Nintendo's collapse."
So with the UK and the US seemingly sewn up, you'd think that the Xbox 360 would have the biggest global sales figures within its grasp. But not so.
Globally, the Wii is still comfortably in the lead, with a total of 97 million units sold by September 2012. In comparison, by October 2012 the Xbox 360 had sold 70 million, while the PlayStation 3 hit 70 million in November 2012. That would seem too big a gap to close.
