Home Gaming PS3 outsells 360 in the US?

PS3 outsells 360 in the US?

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This was unexpected. The latest NPD sales data for the US has been released and the PlayStation 3 has actually outsold the Xbox 360 for the month of January.

It also just missed outselling the Wii by a mere 5 000 units.

The final figures for January were

Wii  – 274,000
PS3 – 269,000
360 – 230,000

So what happened? I know the Wii was out of stock for most of the month but the 360? Is this some fallout from the Blu-Ray / Warner announcement?

Source: Simexchange

[Thanks to Abe and Hilt for the tip]

Last Updated: February 15, 2008

41 Comments

  1. Darthdad

    February 15, 2008 at 10:19

    Was there a stock constraint on the 360?

    Reply

  2. LazySAGamer

    February 15, 2008 at 10:22

    There does seem to be a worldwide shortage at the moment…

    I am trying to find out why…

    Reply

  3. Abe

    February 15, 2008 at 10:47

    I love the fact that this article follows Doobi’s 😉
    Well with all due respect to the xbots, If sony’s machine is able to do this so early on in 2008 with the major titles still to come, then I think the xbox might be going somewhere afterall!

    Reply

  4. Ewie

    February 15, 2008 at 10:48

    mmm. might microsoft be announcing a price drop soon, and just wait for the channels to be a bit lower on stock.

    Now would be a great time for a big price drop. maby
    announce at gdc.

    Reply

  5. hilt_ctn

    February 15, 2008 at 10:52

    LOL ! Who’s done economics 101 ? If demand exceeds supply, prices usually go up, not down. Look at the platinum price 🙂

    Reply

  6. PS3>360

    February 15, 2008 at 10:56

    The reason is because people are waking up to see exactly what my name says.

    Reply

  7. PillsburyDeeBoy

    February 15, 2008 at 10:57

    Look, we could all speculate as much as we like. Seriously. However, allow me to state the obvious – the PS3 outsold the 360 in the month that Metal Gear DID NOT come out; LittleBigPlanet did not come out; Resistance 2 DID NOT come out; Killzone 2 DID NOT come out…see a pattern?

    I don’t know…maybe all my ramblings that the PS3 was gonna drop the 360 in 2008 wasn’t so far fetched after all. Oh, and before people accredit this to 360 shortages…look how close the PS3 came to the Wii. Before you accredit that to Wii shortages…Nintendo has had over a year to come right. Microsoft justifiably stole 2007 destroying the competition along the way…but “Metal Gear”-year changes everything 🙂 .

    Reply

  8. Fred

    February 15, 2008 at 11:06

    I predict that in every month of 2008 the ps3 will outsell the 360.

    Reply

  9. LazySAGamer

    February 15, 2008 at 11:23

    @Pillsbury, I see a pattern. Everytime nothing gets released the PS3 sales increase 😛

    I predict a price drop and a drubbing of the PS3 in the States until at least August. Month on month…

    Reply

  10. Tan365

    February 15, 2008 at 11:25

    Not to mention how the PS3 has rocked to 1 million sold way before the PS2 did and of course the ‘i had a full year to myself headstart’ Xbox360.

    link -> http://www.ps3blog.co.za/?p=10

    Com’on chaps, the predecessor sold way over 100 mil & the PS3 is a beast @ a very good price. It really is inevitable.

    Reply

  11. scotty777

    February 15, 2008 at 11:40

    it’s still early days, so making assumptions like this isn’t wise, but there maybe no real winner to this war. just someone who did a lil better…

    Reply

  12. Fred

    February 15, 2008 at 11:41

    I’m sure that Sony will be able to counter a price drop from Microsoft since the the ps3 now costs a lot less to manufacture.

    Reply

  13. doobiwan

    February 15, 2008 at 11:50

    I’d actually be the first one to shout “excuses excuses” it all seems to convenient, but I have first hand experience of not being about to get a new Pro.

    Although I agree with hilt, if it is the case, it’s bad news for a price cut.

    @Fred. “A lot less to manufacture” means less than the $900 it cost at launch, so at $400, I’m pretty sure they’re still taking a big hit. I’m guessing it’s about $500-$600 now. And that’s to manufacturer and doesn’t include things like tax, shipping or retail margins.

    Predictions? I make none. I still think Microsoft will hold onto the US this generation, Sony will probably run away with Europe.

    Reply

  14. Evilredzombie

    February 15, 2008 at 12:08

    @doobiwan why get a new pro?
    Another one bites the dust…

    Reply

  15. Fox1

    February 15, 2008 at 12:23

    I want a piece of the next gen pie too!

    Well it seems that nobody has done IT economics. The 360 uses ordinary PC stuff. The cost to manufacture it has greatly reduced so that means a drop in 360 pricing is imminent. I guess thats why my bud can’t get a Pro.

    MS is turning out a hardware profit due to that. That in turn has dropped the price of 360 games.

    Don’t get too excited about the PS3. It’s jumping on the BD market at the same time as a console.

    There will never ever be a price cut on the PS3 this year. Why? No other manufacture wants to buy Cell CPU’s so there isn’t a demand hence no price drop. Sony should have learned
    that their proprietary gimmicks don’t suffice in the market. Take my Cell for example R260 for a 512mb Mem Stick! A 1gig Micro SD costs R129. Oh and then their Home Theaters come with DM PORTS. No other manufacture cares squid to make devices that use it. Why? USB 2.0 is the same thing and cheaper! What about the 8mm tapes that their Camcorders uses. Other manufactures just went with DV Tapes. Cheaper and better. So in the same manner they charge you an extra R100 for the same title thats available on the 360.

    Reply

  16. Evilredzombie

    February 15, 2008 at 12:35

    and the PS3 will get boosted more…

    European PlayStation 3 Bundle Includes Uncharted And Sigma

    http://www.psxextreme.com/ps3-news/2587.html

    Reply

  17. HungryHooligan

    February 15, 2008 at 12:38

    Its only cause people are buying blue ray players. Look at the software figures, that should tell a story.

    Reply

  18. Fox1

    February 15, 2008 at 12:58

    I forgot to ramble about something else interesting. I was at Hi-Corp yesterday and the SONY Bravia full HD LCD TV is R29 999. A Samsung Full HD LCD TV is 19999. Both are 42″.

    Now why did I specifically compare those to brands?
    Sony and Philips LCD’s use the same panel. They co-own another company that manufactures the panels.
    Here’s the link:
    http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=328368

    Reply

  19. AveshR

    February 15, 2008 at 13:15

    @Fox1 – You meant Sony and Samsung co-own that company therefore the use of the same panels 😉

    Reply

  20. Fred

    February 15, 2008 at 13:38

    Sony has a reputation attached to their equipment , so they charge more , cause they can.

    Reply

  21. Abe

    February 15, 2008 at 13:39

    haha fox.. “Sony should have learned” what that there previous console smashed all records? That there products are sought after and known for brilliant quality? You are right they really need to start doing things right 😉

    Reply

  22. JimBob

    February 15, 2008 at 13:58

    “There will never ever be a price cut on the PS3 this year. Why? No other manufacture wants to buy Cell CPU’s so there isn’t a demand hence no price drop.”

    Which console supports standard laptop hard drives and standard Bluetooth peripherals? Hint, it’s not the Xbox 360 with its its R2000,00 hard drive.

    And commoditisation of the PS3’s components is happening faster than with the Xbox 360. It got to a 65 nm CPU manufacturing process faster than the 360, and it looks set to get to 45nm pretty quickly too. Indeed, most analysts are foreseeing a price cut again this year.

    There’s still a quesion mark about BluRay, but prices of the diodes are also being brought down very aggressively.

    Reply

  23. JimBob

    February 15, 2008 at 14:00

    It’s also worthing noting that while the 360’s CPU has more in common with older PowerPC architectures than the cell, it is pretty much used only in Xbox 360s at the moment.

    Reply

  24. Ewie

    February 15, 2008 at 14:12

    The Xbox 360 will in all likelyhood sell in its lifetime between 50 and 60 Million consoles. And is not failing at all. It is in actual fact doing a lot better than the previous xbox.

    In Japan It already Outsold the Xbox 1 with 109% sales in just over 2 years. the same with america and the PAL areas.

    In the us it is already at 66% and in the the Pal areas on 71 % Bear in mind that that most of the xbox 1 sales was done at pricing below $200. In the americas it was launched at $300 and within 6 months it was selling at $200

    In the UK it launched at 300 uk pounds and within a month droped to 200 pound. The xbox would most likely reach those thresholds sometime this year, and would start showing tru value after this.

    Reply

  25. Burns ZA

    February 15, 2008 at 16:29

    lolololol @ Abe and Sony fanboys. Sony make average equipment across the bar, there are very few items leaving their warehouses that fit into the ‘prosumer’ range – generally middle of the run tv’s, home theatre setups and sub standard cameras. The only thing Sony have learnt is that slick marketing and high gloss exteriors appeal to the B range consumer.

    Reply

  26. Fox1

    February 15, 2008 at 16:55

    @JimBob- You don’t get IT economics. Haven’t you heard of Moore’s Law? The PowerPC CPU is a standard CPU. Similar to the AMD Athlon64 FX. Now these CPU’s are actually absolutely to manufacture due to the age of them. The PowerPC CPU made enough money in the G5. The only expensive bit of tech that the 360 does have is the 10MB EDRAM. It’s dedicated memory for AA and AF. This will only be seen on the 9 series of NVIDIA GPU’s. Apparently it’s highly expensive.

    Back to the Sony ramblings:
    The PS2 was the “only” console available in a worldwide market so they capatilised on it. They even went has far as creating the Emotion Engine chip. This was told be the next big thing in the tech industry. It was supposed to be found in every device. So other manufacturers decided that it’s just a GPU and CPU combo and it was not worth it.

    This same chip caused the 80gb and 60gb PS3’s to sell for R6700. So instead Sony dumped their own tech and introduced the 40gb model for R2000 less.

    This is the same thing that’s going to happen to Cell.

    Anybody know how Sony Ericsson came about? 😉

    @Abe- What Sony products are sought after? Their products are too expensive and Samsung and LG provide better and cheaper products.

    Reply

  27. Fox1

    February 15, 2008 at 17:04

    @Lazy- Any idea why there are no Pro’s??? I had no luck with any retailers as to why 🙁

    Reply

  28. doobiwan

    February 15, 2008 at 17:52

    Fox1, it’s, like, the biggest news this week! 😉 Demand for the Pro’s and Elite’s have been way above Microsofts expectations and they can’t meet demand. They expect the channel to normalize through March.

    Reply

  29. JimBob

    February 15, 2008 at 18:32

    ” You don’t get IT economics” Typical fanboy – resort to insults.

    I bet you a game of the winner’s choice that by the end of 2008 there will be another substantial drop in the price of the PS3, thanks to the ongoing improvements in the manufacturing cost of the unit, including the 45 nanometre maunfacturing process.

    Are you willing to put your money where your mouth is?

    Reply

  30. Fox1

    February 15, 2008 at 19:53

    JimBob- A new manufacturing process has zilch to do with price cuts. It’s demand. It’s IT economics. Nothing personal.

    Reply

  31. JimBob

    February 15, 2008 at 23:33

    Of course, the manufacturing process matters. Economies of scale matter, too, but the more efficient the manufacturing process, the more cheaply you can sell the product.

    Ars Technica explains why succintly:

    “The 45nm Cell will use about 40 percent less power than its 65nm predecessor, and its die area will be reduced by 34 percent. The greatly reduced power budget will cut down on the amount of active cooling required by the console, which in turn will make it cheaper to produce and more reliable (this means fewer warrantied returns). Also affecting Sony’s per-unit cost is the reduction in overall die size. A smaller die means a smaller, cheaper package; it also means that yields will be better and that each chip will cost less overall.”

    And the PowerPC chip used in the 360 is only used in the 360 – it’s less exotic in design than the Cell, but it’s still a custom job, designed for Microsoft.

    Reply

  32. PillsburyDeeBoy

    February 16, 2008 at 01:36

    @Lazy – until August? What? Not a chance 🙂 . Quote me on that. You are so painfully wrong. Who do you think you are? Nostradamus? No, you’re not. You know why? Cuz I’m Nostradamus 😀 . Hehe. On a serious note, though, if Sony cannot flex its muscle starting 2008…I see problems for them…

    Reply

  33. LazySAGamer

    February 16, 2008 at 07:20

    @Pillsbury, I agree the PS3 needs to flex its muscle this year but I do think you have fallen into the belief that Microsoft has shown its hand already.

    Not everyone obsesses over MGS you know 😉

    Reply

  34. Fox1

    February 16, 2008 at 08:08

    I get your point JimBob. Since you put it that way then it may work well. Here’s a good exmaple: Intel dropped the price on their Quad-Core chips by half without swapping to the new 45nm process.

    Well, I hope PS3 price does come down. It makes an expensive BD Player.

    @Lazy and Doobiwan- My friend managed to get the last of 2 Mongoose consoles plus FORZA2, VIVA PINATA and HALO3 for R3799. The guy at BT Games was extremely helpful. He says that they are Pro’s but limited stock.

    Reply

  35. Abe

    February 16, 2008 at 19:22

    If you follow the link, you will see that sales of the Xbox were below predicted levels, therefor if there really was/is a stock shortage then Microsoft are extremely stupid!
    Not having enough consoles to even cover your bases is pretty stupid, and they gonna have to up their game if they hope to stay in line with the PS3.

    Reply

  36. LazySAGamer

    February 17, 2008 at 07:08

    @Abe, those predicted levels were the levels predicted by the SimExchange game and not by Microsoft or NPD.

    Also the Wii has never been able to meet demand since it was released so I think it would be harsh to say they are stupid to not have enough consoles to meet demand.

    We seem to be having a 360 shortage in SOuth Africa as well so I wonder if something is going on?

    Reply

  37. evilredzombie

    February 17, 2008 at 14:31

    Why then is there at least 2 Wii’s at every CNA ?
    just go look at Cresta, Sandton City..

    Reply

  38. Confused

    February 17, 2008 at 17:58

    @LazySAGamer – Every shop I have been to have xbox360 stock.

    Reply

  39. doobiwan

    February 18, 2008 at 00:08

    Well every shop in Cape town that I’ve been in only has 360 Arcades.

    You want a little more credible evidence of new 360 SKU’s? try this: Amazon has all current models of the 360 already listed as discontinued!
    http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-Pro-Value-Bundle/dp/B000W91YTA/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1203284583&sr=8-1
    “Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes”

    You know what, we can stop arguing nonsense, and just watch the numbers. It’s like the PS3 launch, lets see what next month looks like.

    Reply

  40. AD

    April 3, 2008 at 11:32

    hi guys
    I must say over the last 15yrs of gaming other than technology not much has changed in terms of fan boys. As far as consoles go its clear at lets be honest fan boys aside xbox is kicking ass.i expected sony to pull it back by now but heh heh they seem to be struggling hey.if sony loses this yr too then this round will belong to microsoft which im not gonna complain for.change is good.
    To be honest my ps3 is the most unplayed console in my house.iv even played more on dreamcast :).
    One of my xboxs(being a core) packed up. Can it be swapped out at cna for an arcade?
    Anybody wanna swap ps3 games.
    Later

    Reply

  41. LazySAGamer

    April 3, 2008 at 12:13

    @AD, yes the core can be swopped for the Arcade as long as the warranty is still valid.

    The best place to swap PS3 games is http://www.tgx.co.za, you can send in your PS3 games and then get whatever platform games that you want.

    Reply

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