A top executive at the U.S. unit of Sega Sammy has voiced his skepticism over the long term success of the Wii, suggesting that the PlayStation 3 is still likely to become the most popular console of the new generation, despite currently sluggish sales.
Speaking in a Reuters article, vice president of marketing Scott Steinberg stated, "I am a little concerned about the creative depth of the Wii pool. I'm not sure if they will top out in 2008 or 2007. The Wii will start to look really dated in a couple years when developers get more value from the 360 and learn more and more about the PlayStation 3”.
"But how much value can developers and creative folks get out of this wrist motion two years from now, or 5 years from now, or 10 years from now?", he added. “"How can they design products that aren't too derivative of what's already out there?"
A long time rival of Nintendo during the 8-bit and 16-bit era, since Sega’s move out of the hardware market both companies have worked together successfully. Wii title Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz was a key launch release and the company has also enjoyed significant success with exclusive title Sonic and the Secret Rings.
As well as being one of the strongest third part supporters of the virtual console retro download service, Sega also has other exclusives scheduled for later in the year, including light gun conversion Ghost Squad and crossover Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games.
Despite this, Steinberg has predicted that the PlayStation 3 will ultimately enjoy the largest installed userbase at the end of the new generation, saying: “We know the PS3 pool is pretty deep. There's a lot to exploit there”.
