So the NPD stats are in and the rumours were true. The PS3 managed to outsell the Xbox 360 in the US and by quite a considerable margin.
The Xbox 360 also has not received a price cut in the states so there is no reason to believe that this trend is not going to continue. A few people have been claiming the untimely death of the 360 already and they may be onto something.
Obviously Microsoft are still claiming shortages but it must be worrying for the 360 fans that there console has now lost all three main regions… I can’t wait to see what happens in Europe now with this price cut.
Not to forget that the Wii once again trounced all and was only beaten by it’s baby sister the DS.
So onto the numbers
Hardware
Wii – 432,000
PS2 – 351,800
PS3 – 280,800
360 – 254,600
As you can see the PS2 is still a major force to be reckoned with and I do think that it depends on who can win those buyers over as to who is going to win in the end. The local price cut now has the 360 competing virtually head to head with the PS2 which is going to be interesting.
Last Updated: March 14, 2008
ocelot
March 14, 2008 at 09:00
The PS2 is truely incredible. Drop the price to $100 and release the new version and watch it sell bucketloads.
abe
March 14, 2008 at 09:00
I cant believe some of those words actually came out of your mouth Lazy, Im impressed!
The PS2 sales are def the most important thing here and I think it shows just how strong Sony’s mindshare actually is!
I find it hard to believe that people who are still buying the ps2 now will ever upgrade to an xbox, as surely if they wanted an xbox they would be buying them now as the price difference isnt that great!
Burns ZA
March 14, 2008 at 09:30
I’m not sure what MS’s gameplan is here. I’d be surprised if they let the US go to Sony. But possibly they feel they have hit their projected sales target and realise that it might take another generation of the Xbox to nullify the Sony bias in the console gaming market.
Suffice to say that the xbox 1 ate away at Sony’s monopoly and the 360 ate a considerable chunk – they may be happy with that.
Banana hammock
March 14, 2008 at 09:46
I think it’s absolutely insane that anyone can claim the death of the 360 because of this.
I have no doubt that the PS3 will win this generation, even against the Wii, but i also firmly believe that all 3 consoles will come out of this generation doing very well. Sony will have lost some market share but they will end up with the most sales. Does it matter? Not really.
What i don’t get is the 30% surge in PS2 sales; was there some big release or something?
ThrawnZA
March 14, 2008 at 09:55
I have to say that I don’t think this is the death knell for the 360. I’ve seen this data being used to say the 360 is going the way of the HD-DVD, which I simply cannot believe. I, for one, will still buy games for the 360, and I can imagine a lot of others will do so as well.
I don’t think the 360 will dissappear soon.
abe
March 14, 2008 at 10:05
“will still buy games for the 360,”
This has been my argument for ages now, All three consoles have established a large enough install base that games will continue to be released and although I too believe Sony will ultimately sell the most I dont think it actually matters, as we will all be able to continue playing our beloved games!
Fox1
March 14, 2008 at 10:11
I have 2 theories about this:
1) The 360 is still at shortage in the US in order to fill up the shelves in Europe???
2) There are just too many 360’s in the US and the number of consoles per gamer is starting to break even???
“Microsoft weren’t kidding – PS3 shifts over 25,000 more units”
It seems as though MS were prepared for this.
DarthPenguin
March 14, 2008 at 10:37
I have a few theories.
1) The price cut has just come into effect. Those stats don’t reflect the difference the price cut is going to make in sales.
2) Microsoft will slowly gain a bigger market share in Japan as there are some excellent RPGs for the 360 and the big one that they have been holding out for keeps getting delayed.
3) Microsoft have a very powerful line up, and so does Sony. I think more and more people are going to own both consoles. There won’t be a clear console winner this generation. I do feel that the PS3 will sell more though as there are a lot more PS3 fanboys than 360 fanboys that will refuse to buy the 360 just because they are biased idiots who won’t open their eyes to an excellent product. Many 360 fans will buy the PS3 though for its exclusive titles.
4) Kinda related to number 3 – the reason there are more PS3 fanboys is because generally a fanboy sticks with a product they know, you don’t usually switch to a product and suddenly become a fanboy. The 360 is new, people switched there for the better gaming experience. People who do that would play anything for that gaming experience. Sony also offers a good gaming experience.
5) The Wii won’t stop leading.
6) Most people won’t read my post because there are too many words in it :).
Banana hammock
March 14, 2008 at 10:49
@Darth, I read your post. But you make me think you’re the fanboy with comment No 3. You make some valid points but saying that Sony fans who refuse to buy the 360 are biased fanboy idiots who won’t open their eyes to an excellent product is just wrong.
I think the 360 is an excellent product. But i only have time for 1 console. So i went with Sony, why you ask? Simple, i had a great experience with the PS1 and PS2, also think about what happened to the first XboX. So yes, i trust Sony and they EARNED my trust.
They are both great products but sometimes you have to choose, you can’t buy EVERY great product out there. Can you blame people for sticking to brands that have served them well in the past?
boredhousewife
March 14, 2008 at 11:14
What is interesting to me is the fact that the non HD uber graphics machines (PS2 & Wii) sold 250 000 more units than their HD counterparts. I think this illustrates the importance of price in the console market.
PS3 is definitely experiencing a resurgence on the back of BD’s “success” based purely on the fact that at $400 it is the same price or cheaper than most stand alone players.
Having said that as an affordable high end media device they are only accounting for 20% market share.
darthdad
March 14, 2008 at 11:23
It will be interesting to see the figures in two weeks time.
I think the 360 is going to have a huge surge after the price cuts. Werther it will sustain it, is debatable.
Fox1
March 14, 2008 at 11:58
@Darthdad- There was no price cuts for the US announced as yet 🙁
boredhousewife
March 14, 2008 at 12:02
As far as I know they have not announced any pricecuts for NA yet
DarthPenguin
March 14, 2008 at 12:52
@ banana hammock… point taken.. if thats the case I can understand… but on a larger scale, with USA and UK in mind… that point doesn’t exactly hold much water.
doobiwan
March 14, 2008 at 16:08
balh blah.
Remeber these are February figures, the pirice cut was only announced mid march for Europe ONLY.
So here’s a bit of rocket science. Waht do you do if you’re planning on cutting a price to go mas market? You stockpile. Chances are the shortage is engineered to build up stock of PAL 360’s.
Lets start discussing impact in April afte the so called “shortage” is over?
sabagamma
March 17, 2008 at 21:03
@ abe – I think you have it wrong (or semi-wrong) Sony must be hugely upset that the PS2 is outselling the PS3. I mean what does that say about their “next generation” console? The people who just bought a PS2 wont be planning to buy a PS3 for some years to come. This is more of a problem for Sony than MS.
To those people who are predicting the death of the XBox, were you guys not predicting the death of the PS3 1 and a half years ago?
“News of my demise has been greatly exaggerated”, regards XBox 360 & PS3.
doobiwan
March 18, 2008 at 00:15
What constitutes console “death” anyway?
If the PS3 only ever sold 12million units but over it’s life sold to a profit, is that considered dead?
I don’t think so.
doobiwan’s last blog post..Ranting in my armchair: The 360 Price Cut & Why the Arcade wins
boredhousewife
March 18, 2008 at 11:58
For any consumer product their are two measures of success , profitability and market share. Sometimes companies will sacrifice the former to gain the latter as it takes business away from the opposition. Now in MS case they have achieved profitability and gained market share so in some sectors that would be considered a success. The reverse is true for the PS3 at the moment – but its still early days