Xbox 360 beats Wii to 10 million US sales - PS2 outsold PS3 in last year
By Dave Parrack
Microsoft are the masters of spinning sales figures to make it and the products it sells better. So it is again, as the company has talked up the fact that it has sold 10 million units of the Xbox 360 in the US. This comes at the same time as sales figures for the last year show that the PS3 is still being outsold by the PS2.
The Xbox 360 was released in America in November 2005, being the first of the current generation machines out of the door. It was immediately snapped up by loyal Microsoft fans who had previously been playing the original Xbox. Over the next year the console continued to sell strongly, at least until the Playstation 3 and Wii were released for Christmas 2006. Then it all went downhill.
Despite the fact that the Xbox 360 has been roundly beaten by the Nintendo console nearly every month since it came out, Microsoft has now heralded the fact that the Xbox 360 is the first console to hit 10 million sales in the US.
Yes, that may well be, but this is only in America, not worldwide, and it’s hardly surprising when the console has been out a full year longer in the country than its two rivals. But Microsoft has chosen to conveniently forget these facts to cite the first past the post as the reason that the Xbox 360 will win the hardware sales battle.
Don Mattrick, Microsoft senior vice president who heads the company’s Xbox business told Reuters:
“History has shown us that the first company to reach 10 million in console sales wins the generation battle,”
Personally, I can’t see it. The Xbox 360 is indeed a fine console, but not only is the Wii kicking its butt on a monthly basis, the PS3 is also now supposedly finding its momentum.
However, that momentum doesn’t seem to be enough to even beat the aged Playstation 2. New figures direct from Sony show that in worldwide sales figures from the 2008 fiscal year, the PS2 beat the PS3 despite being 8 years old and counting.
According to T3, the PS3 managed to sell 9.2 million units, while the PS2 managed a colossal 13.7 million units. The Playstation 3 is surely a disappointment for Sony, and with the Wii beating it every month, the PS2 beating it over the last year, and the Xbox 360 reaching 10 million sales way before it, Sony’s great hope is surely at the bottom of the current hardware pile.
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May 14th, 2008
Trying to shove off Gamer.Blorge’s recently acquired “Sony Fanboy Site” status, eh DAVE PARRACK?
Personally, I love the fanboy spin you guys put on these “news articles” all three ways. It encourages discussion, and everyone knows that the comments are the most interesting part of this site.
But I would be remiss in my duty if I did not point out that Sony planned from the start for the PS2 to have a life cycle of over 7 years, and I really doubt the 360 will still be selling with any signifigance in 5 years. But I’ve been known to be wrong before. At least once. I think.
The PS3 on the other hand…. well, so far Sony is 100% correct in their predictions of the life cycle of their consoles. So, let’s revisit this article in 9 years, shall we?
I also have a problem with the article referring to the PS3 as “Sony’s Great Hope,” considering they’re not exactly in a desperate situation right now. They are profiting greatly from the PSP and PS2 (not to mention televisions, etc) and the PS3 almost single-handedly won them the HD Format War, a victory that will be paying Sony premiums for at least the next 5-8 years. So Sony has quite a bit of breathing room while they’re waiting for the PS3 to find its legs… and considering what the sales figures have been showing lately, they won’t have long to wait.
*reads post*
Oh man, Kevin is going to HATE this post…
-Arvis
May 14th, 2008
Arvis,
Put aside your personal need to be a fanboy for Sony and attack the author of this article for a second to realize that Sony has changed it’s initial “instant success” philosophy with the PS3 to the “10 year” philosophy because they had no choice in facing console sales facts.
Also, take into consideration whether Blu-ray will be as much of a factor as Sony makes it out to be 9 years from now as technology and bandwidth are both accelerating exponentially.
Any breathing room Sony has, Microsoft equally has, at least as of now.
May 15th, 2008
am I missing something here?? is there a new format for a DVD that can hold more than a Blu-ray??
I seriously doubt the future of the 360.. because of its loyalty to DVDs… a big library of good games mean nothing if future games turn up in multiple DVDs… but as of now… it is the better console for online and game choice… because more people play on LIVE and it has a biggeer library…
I hope Haze and MGS 4 and Killzone 2 and Resistance 2 boost PSN traffic… so that Sony can hurry up with the upgrades…
I find it funny that MS claims it has beaten the Wii… XD HILLARIOUS!!!
DAVE PARRACK!!! You are an Anti-American poopy head… which means you are a commie and against democracy… REPENT BY ASKING FORGIVENESS FROM KEVIN!!! NOW!!!
May 15th, 2008
sony and nintendo were late leaving the gate. congrats microsoft. you won the war. the war is now over. blorge has run out of things to post.
May 15th, 2008
DWH, what your missing is a little thing called the internet, which will be much more advanced, available, and less expensive ten years from now. Especially wireless and enhanced broadband speed (much faster in the future than what we have now), which would make even full 1080p downloads take only a few seconds.
Tack on a few terabytes worth of hard drive and you have all your 1080p movies in the same physical space of 3 Blu-Ray discs, which would then be obsolete. If you really enjoy buying the same content in different formats every decade or so, I guess I can understand how you would support Blu-ray.
Myself? I only need to watch a movie once to get it. If I really like it, I can rent it again for the same monthly flat fee of $20 a month that I am already paying. This equals out to about 4 discs a week, or $1 per viewing (no movie will get more than 3 views in 10 years for me).
The thing with full 1080p (keep in mind 1080p will probably enhance to 3D in the future as well) movie downloads when they do it right will be that you download it once and if you ever lose it you can download it again for free. Another thing will be you can simply stream it (with no hiccups in the near future) for the same monthly flat fee as NetFlix (NetFlix already has this capability with ‘watch instantly’, but the tech is still in its infancy and capabilities are limited - not for long).
Another thought? What starts with movies (actually music) will continue to games.
May 15th, 2008
bah..who cares..? i mean really..it’s only the biggest single market….
sony owns japan…oh wait…nevermind.
sony owns europe…oh wait…still waiting for numbers….
sony owns Tonga..i just feel it…
May 15th, 2008
it’s funny the ps3 fanboys ignore the historical fact of the first to 10 million….
it’s over… once the price drops, buh-bye ps3 in NA.
a 360/wii pair sounds about right.
May 15th, 2008
it;s funny that kevin only has something new to say when MS has a press release.
May 15th, 2008
kevin, even if the PS3 doesn’t outsell the 360, it will still have sold millions worldwide and have done quite well for Sony. The price drops you mentioned will help both consoles.
Though Blu-ray is a step backward in many ways, it is still a good interim technology before bandwidth and storage capabilities become faster and cheaper.
May 15th, 2008
carl - given sony is losing upwards of $200 per console, one would need to buy very high amount of bluray movies to offset. more sales is nice, but only if the hardware is in the black. otherwise, sales are only the “razor” part of the equation. w/o “razor blade” sales, the monetary hemorraging continues. not good for sony. especially from the back row where they are.
May 15th, 2008
kevin, MS (1 year head start) experienced losses at launch and afterwards on each console as well, but are now netting profit, Sony will follow suit.
May 15th, 2008
true. sony will eventually see money on the hardware. the prob is; it won’t be for several years. it’s waaaaay more expensive to make than the ps2.
time will tell. it could very well be too little, too late.
May 15th, 2008
Several years? That’s a bit of a stretch isn’t it? Wouldn’t later this year or next be a bit more accurate?
May 15th, 2008
How many of those 10 million shipped are just replaments of broken,overheated and RRODed consoles.
The RROD is now 70% + so its given more then half the number are already broken beacuase its not selling because of games the console has none.
May 16th, 2008
Xbot, not many, because Microsoft replaces those broken consoles for free and they do not count in retail sales figures or estimates.
The RRoD is now 16% and dropping as almost 100% of the problems were with the old motherboard and it’s overheating. Valhalla will most likely bring this to below 3%.
Unfortunately, Sony doesn’t offer the same replacement guarantee after 1 year for the 3% of it’s consoles that fail.
In addition, your argument ignores the fact that software sales such as GTA IV are still almost two to one in favor of the 360 vice PS3. This wouldn’t be happening if over half of all customer’s 360’s were deadlined.
Moreover, you are also disregarding the fact that the 360 has almost twice as many existing games rated 8.0 (and 9.0) or above out 10 in comparison
to the PS3.
http://gamer.blorge.com/2008/05/08/xbox-360-clear-winner-over-ps3-wii-in-terms-of-quality-games/
May 16th, 2008
carl - from what i’ve read, the ps2 hardware didn’t see black for well over 2 years from launch using a simple dvd drive that costs a FRACTION of a bluray drive. Add in “teh cell”, and other bells and whistles not heard of on the ps2, and the equation is not good news.
i don’t see sony profitting on hardware ANYWHERE this year and the fact sony isn’t even hinting at it should underscore this for you.
May 16th, 2008
kevin - good points, all.
I do believe Sony is profiting off PSP and PS2 hardware by now though, not to mention it’s dualshock 3:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/tretton-april-software-was-a-one-two-punch-for-sony
May 16th, 2008
CARL - true, sony is profitting on the ps2 and psp. however, the losses created by the ps3 is so vast it swallowed up those monies and more. SCE
May 16th, 2008
Kevin,
Yoink:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/14/business/14sony.php
-Arvis
May 16th, 2008
ARVIS - we’re talking about profiting on hardware. nowhere in the article does it say sony is profitting from hardware sales.
before you call the parade to celebrate, remember the original xbox also had a profitable qtr after the launch of h2, just to sink again aftewards.
expect the same from the SCE, even tho sony is blaming it on the yen.
we’ll see..but one would think that with “120 million ps2 owners” on the market and literally thousands of games, (both sold at profit) their profits would be much, much greater.
it would have been if not for the ps3. the real bad news is; sony is ramping down the ps2… it’s the only real money maker they have. not good.
May 16th, 2008
kevin - actually, it will probably ramp up sales as ps2 owners will no longer have a selection at retail after it has been phased out, combined with a ps3 price drop and redesign.
Don’t worry though, MS will probably follow suit and see more sales as well… of course, they have already phased out the original XBox long ago… (though they are making more money on each 360 at this point) interesting.
May 16th, 2008
Quit while your in front eh, wu tang and Kevin. Lets call and end to the “battle” while 360 (was) in front. The others start to overtake and “oh, didn’t you hear, the battle is over and 360 has won” how funny is that….
Were in a 30 lap race, do 5 laps in the lead and when it looks like the others are ready to overtake, pull out of the race and say you have won it already.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. That was good reading though.
Who really cares?
May 17th, 2008
the 7 year marathon