PS3 and Xbox 360 to switch positions in 2009
The sales figures for the PS3 and Xbox 360 in the US have been volatile in 2008. The year started off strong for the PS3, outselling the Xbox 360 from January to the beginning of September in the US. However, the Xbox 360 kicked into overdrive starting mid September throughout the end of the year. However, early indications seem to suggest that both consoles may be switching positions this year.
The PS3 outsold the Xbox 360 by 1.52 million units up to September. The PS3 sold 6.32 million units while the Xbox 360 sold 4.8 million units up to that point. However, you can chronicle exactly where the Xbox 360 overtook the PS3 starting from the massive price drop in September. The Xbox 360 managed to make up ground lost to the PS3 from September to the end of the year. Both consoles ended the year with almost equivalent sales: PS3 (10.78 mil) and X360 (10.8 mil).
The Xbox 360 is definitely in a better position starting out in 2009 with the massive price advantage. Considering that the country is officially in a recession, pricing is an important factor. The January NPD sales figures show a reverse in console sales as well.
(courtesy of Ars Technica)
According to the chart above, you can clearly see that the Xbox 360 and PS3 have shifted positions for January from 2008 to 2009. The PS3 was coming off a smaller ($50) price drop near the end of 2007. This is similar to the Xbox 360 coming off a massive price drop ($80) near the end of 2008. The difference seems predictably equivalent to the degree of price drops.
It is more than likely that Sony will implement a small ($50) price drop near the end of the year during the holiday season to spur on a sales spike similar to 2007. The pieces seem to be in place so that the PS3 will start off slow and end with a strong finish. While the Xbox 360 will start off strong and flatten out near the end. The PS3 and the Xbox 360 will probably end up selling the same amount as they did in 2008. However, one key piece that is still unknown is what role games coming out in 2009 will play in the sales figures for each console. Will games like God of War III (TBA) force gamers on the fence to finally buy a PS3?
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52 Responses to “PS3 and Xbox 360 to switch positions in 2009”
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February 16th, 2009
1, 2, 3, 4, I declare a flame war!
I predict the PS3 and 360 will continue to sell much as they have the past year and that thier bigwigs will continue slanging matches.
Nintendo’s bigwigs will sit quietly enjoying the good things only money can buy – fast cars, & expensive prostitutes from amsterdam. Meanwhile the Wii will continue kirb stomping the PS3 and 360.
February 16th, 2009
*kirby
February 16th, 2009
Nope, because MS will pull yet another ace out of the hole with an additional price cut. Not to mention whatever megatons they bring to the table at E3, again.
February 16th, 2009
MIKE you are officially a sony fanboy!!!!!!
February 16th, 2009
Con you are officially a SDF… (hint I don’t mean Sony Defense Force)
February 16th, 2009
“PS3 and Xbox 360 to switch positions in 2009″
Missionary?
February 17th, 2009
@CON,
LOL, how am I a fanboy?
I pretty much say that the PS3 and Xbox 360 will sell the same – years end 2009, just like they did in 2008.
February 17th, 2009
YOURE BACK!! whyd you go away anyway harry?? you got another boyfwend I dont know aboot???
February 17th, 2009
i have plenty of boyfriends that you don’t know about!
I’ve been away because the mrs had a baby girl on saturday, and i’ve been basically living on 2 hours sleep a day, so i’ve had no time for games and shit.
February 17th, 2009
wow… congratulations dude… um… does this mean we cant make any more sexual jokes???
ahh its going to be so much fun for you when she’s a Teen…. AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA
enjoy it while you can my fwend…
February 17th, 2009
This is an interesting spin from what Ars Technica originally posted here:
arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/02/year-over-year-ps3-sales-drop-bad-news-for-sony.ars
106,000 more 360’s this year does seem to be a bit more significant than 39,000 more PS3’s last year. The price drop would have to be around $135 instead of $80 to make the argument that the increase in sales is equivalent to the price drop ratio. Other differences this year as opposed to last include “PlayStation 3 sales are also down year over year—not a good sign for the continued growth of the system, especially when the Xbox 360 saw solid year-over-year growth from 230,000 to 309,000.”
Regardless, it is safe to say that the PS3 still has enough quality games and sales to ensure it will last the generation and that it can provide any new owner with plenty to do.
February 17th, 2009
I agree Carl… I dont care if they make a 100 million profits… as long as the Playstation keeps on keepin on…
but kudos to Microsoft…
now can I get my check Mr Nelson???
February 17th, 2009
Mike your opinion (for that is all this is) seems to rest on the 2 notions that
(a) Sony will make a small cut and Microsoft will not and
(b) that a small cut in the price of PS3 will spur big sales.
Both suppositions are in my opinion completely wrong.
But at least I can point to what happened last time.
Last time the PS3 did get a small price cut and sales did pick up (but hardly by huge amounts).
Last time Microsoft did respond with a bigger price cut (in fact they cut price twice last year)……btw do you honestly think an $80 price chop is “massive”!?
LMAO.
So, tell me, why do you think it is reasonable to suppose that they would not do the same this year?
(particularly as it is pretty much agreed that they actually make money per unit sold now, unlike Sony on their PS3)
You keep claiming (like all the resident PS3 fanboys) that any moment now everything is suddenly going to turn around and be great for the PS3.
Unfortunately the facts do not hold this up.
The PS3 is the only console of the current leading 3 to actually lose sales year on year.
This is, at heart, symptomatic of the myth doing the rounds atm, the final fanboys dream.
The PS3 support imagine that there are hoardes of would-be PS3 owners out there just desperate for that $50 price cut and then suddenly they will all come rolling in to buy.
It’s delusional nonsense.
February 17th, 2009
Full PS2 BC and the majority of the quality portion of the PS1/2 library available over PSN (with trophies and PSP compatibility on small screen practical ones) with a price drop would see a significant portion of would be PS3 owners making their purchase.
February 17th, 2009
at least put ps2 bc in and a trophy patch on ps3 games like mgs4
February 17th, 2009
I would like to see some PSP games come to the psn with updated resolution (Tekken 5, Gripshift).
God of War: Chains of Olympus, LocoRoco 1 and 2, just scream for a PSN release.
February 17th, 2009
uncharted got it y not all the ps3 games
February 17th, 2009
I could see trophy patch for multi console released games as the trophies exist already as achievements, but you’ll probably not get it in MGS4.
February 17th, 2009
“Missionary?”
Tut, harry, don’t be so boring…
Congratulations on the little girl.
“Last time Microsoft did respond with a bigger price cut (in fact they cut price twice last year)……btw do you honestly think an $80 price chop is “massive”!? LMAO. ”
Don’t be so fucking pretentious. There are many people in the world who would consider a $80 a massive amount, especially in the current climate of swingeing job cuts and loss of income, with many looking to stretch budgets. Not everybody is living the life of financial luxury like you clearly are Happy.
February 17th, 2009
Harry,
Congrats on the birth. Best wishes to you and your wife.
-Arvis
February 17th, 2009
Congratulations Harry!
February 17th, 2009
Thanks boys!
February 17th, 2009
@happyhockum,
Your right, WTF was I thinking!
Sony is dooommmed, I am so wrong for saying that the PS3 will sell as much as the Xbox 360 this year!
No-one will buy a PS3 because there are no good games or exclusives this year! Playstation division will go belly up and all 21 studios will shut down by years end!
Happy? Hokcum?
February 17th, 2009
Harry a father? nooo… really?
Congratulations, welcome to fatherhood.
February 17th, 2009
So what is this then Mike?
A fluff piece blowing some warm air up the PS3 fanclub’s skirts or what?
I never said the PS3 was “doomed”
(but interesting that you did even if in jest).
It has failed to become number 1 pretty massively though.
I just don’t see it doing anything much above & beyond what it’s doing right now.
Is that especially hard to see?
There’s no indication whatsoever of PS3 sales picking up right now – and with the way the economy is going, all over the world, that’s not really the back-drop to expect better as this year wears on.
Especially if, as would seem very likely, Microsoft match and/or exceed anything Sony do, again.
lock_down
There’s nothing “pretentious” about calling an $80 chop for the small amount it is.
In fact I’d say what with it being a small chop it will make damn-all difference to those for whom the PS3 is too expensive.
Cut $80 and it’s still expensive (which is pretty unlikely anyways, I’d bet large that $50 is all you’re going to see this year).
……and congrats to you & the Mrs harry.
February 18th, 2009
Fluff piece, definitely.
If PS3 sales are on the downer and 360 sales are on the rise, then by year’s end, the opposite must be true, right?
Mmm, Logic.
BTW my email spam has increased 10 fold since I signed on to this site, anyone else notice this?
February 18th, 2009
It makes you wonder which 360 version MS actually makes money on “each one sold”. It has been reported that Nintendo only makes $6 on each wii sold. Now if MS is selling a device that has a lot higher tech in the box, then selling a HDD for $30 for a grand total of $230 they wouldn’t be making anything on the arcade and in fact losing money on it.
You’re telling me the cheap wii could possibly cost $14 more than what MS is charging for the arcade 360 and still be claiming they are making money off the hardware. Hardly believable. This the version of the 360 that is inflating the numbers. Bundle that with two crap games and it makes you wonder how much MS lost to get those 360’s in people houses.
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/12/01/forbes-nintendo-making-6-profit-on-every-wii-sold/
February 18th, 2009
Harry,
You should name your daughter after a female video game character. Maybe Mrs. Pacman? Or Princess Peach? I’m sure the Mrs. would love it.
February 18th, 2009
Harry,
Actually, Barnabe raises a good question. Have you and your wife settled on a name?
I always figured that if I ever had a daughter, I would name her Cadence.
-Arvis
P.S. Chillyfish, I have no more spam than I ever had, so maybe your email got to the spammers in another manner?
February 18th, 2009
HAHAHAHHHAAHA
Mike apparently has a sense of humor… nice…
knowing you Arvis… youd probably name your boy sephiroth or jaggamar… har har har…
February 19th, 2009
Who said the Wii was making less money per console than 360 phranc? Everybody knows Ninty is banking big time and really does not have to drop the price of the Wii anytime soon, regardless of what Microsoft or Sony does in the foreseeable future.
Considering it was reported as early as 2006 ( techspot.com/news/23612-microsoft-makes-tiny-profit-on-xbox-360-hardware.html ) that Microsoft was making a profit on their consoles, over two years seems like more than enough time to adjust for the arcade version to break even and still make a ton of money off software sales. 20GB HDD’s can’t be that expensive, especially if they already have them, and considering the optical drive was reported to be less than $20 over two years ago compared to $125 for the Blu-Ray, let alone almost $300 less for the motherboard compared to Sony’s ( xbitlabs.com/news/multimedia/display/20061120132150.html ), I think they might be doing comparatively well to Sony, especially considering Microsoft’s year over year profits compared to Sony’s loss reported this year. The two kiddie games bundled in are just that, for the kids, and they still wound up scoring better reviews than 160 PS3 titles.
February 19th, 2009
I mentioned the wii to make a point that MS is no longer making money on their “most sold” 360. The one that is actually bumping their sales is sold at a loss. I never mentioned the PS3 though..you did.
February 19th, 2009
“I think they might be doing comparatively well to Sony, especially considering Microsoft’s year over year profits compared to Sony’s loss reported this year.”
I can’t talk for Microsoft, but Sony’s gaming division made a profit…it’s Sony Electronics that is losing them money.
Though look at all the big CE and Japanese companies; they’re all losing money…even Nintendo is having to slash profit forecasts.
February 19th, 2009
phranctoast, where is that link to the specific detailed info saying “MS is no longer making money on ‘their most sold’ 360?” The one you provided just has speculation that it is breaking even. So it breaks even on the “most sold” 360 while making money off of the others, let alone software sales… makes sense to me.
February 19th, 2009
source article: forbes.com/2008/11/28/nintendo-wii-wii2-tech-personal-cz-cs-1201wii.html
February 19th, 2009
It’s simple logic. No link needed.
Can we agree that the 360 cost more to make than the 360?
So if Nintendo only makes $6 on a console that cost $20 more than the cheapest 360, How can it not be argued that MS is losing money on each arcade sold.
You can say the devision is making the money than the same argument can be used for Playstation devision. They do have the psp and ps2 still selling.
February 19th, 2009
*360 cost more to make than the wii*
February 19th, 2009
True. It is simple logic. No link needed.
We can agree the 360 Arcade costs less to make than the 360 Pro or Elite and Nintendo makes more money off of it’s console than the other two company’s. It can be argued that MS either breaks even (as your Forbes source article states), or could even make six times less than what Nintendo is making off of the Wii ($1). And yes you can say the Playstation division is making money as well as the 360 sold more than PS3’s and PS2’s combined in January. Good points all.
February 19th, 2009
*PS3 costs more to make than the 360*
*Ninty is still letting the Wii print money for them*
February 19th, 2009
In all fairness, I believe Nintendo is making more than $6 a console. How could they not? It’s a slightly faster Gamecube that at the end of it’s lifetime was selling for $100. Maybe they are factoring in R&D……..?
February 19th, 2009
*blu ray still more expensive than dvd, but dropped substantially*
*Sony spent more on R&D than MS since IBM more or less let Sony fund development the technology that is in the 360 processor*
*The Nintendo print money option is buried in the settings.*
*printer not included*
February 19th, 2009
It would be interesting to see what the price of the blu-ray is now.
February 19th, 2009
My guess….. $50-75. I’d like to believe it’s cheaper by now though.
February 19th, 2009
the motherboard seems to be where Sony is spending the most…
February 19th, 2009
Carl,
Have you seen the PS3 motherboard? It’s a work of art…
-Arvis
P.S. @DWH: *PUNCH IN THE FACE*
February 19th, 2009
last time I heard… Ninty was making about $6 profit from the Wii… heard that like a coupla months ago… verify it yourself….
Arvis… youre only pissed because you were secretly going to name your kid after an RPG charactor… WERENT YOU!!! I knew it…
pfft you dont scare me… Im the strongest of the Jaggamars in all of Jaggamuffin land…
February 19th, 2009
where can I see a pic of the PS3 motherboard??? WHERE!!! Ive been lonely for a while and need to “cool off”…
ohh my sweet ps3… how I love you so…
February 19th, 2009
It needs to be more a work of gaming than art right now (not at the tail of the console’s life), and it looks like a stub without the emotion engine:
http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/1723/07111120mb9lx8.jpg
February 19th, 2009
Sorry, forgot about the moderation… more games than art right now (not at the end of the generation); it’s only a stub of it’s former self without the ee:
img386.imageshack.us/img386/1723/07111120mb9lx8.jpg
February 19th, 2009
Lies… Lies… Lies…
I know that Sony fanboys like to be lied to and for the most part tend to not do research.
This is an example, look how many people agree with this article and even believe it.
Now, I will do the proper math since the write seems to have a broken calculator or probably is reading Sony’s version of NPD.
Now, I know I will catch some heat since.. as I said many sony fanboys do not care about facts or if they are being lied to as long as they are told what they want to hear.
“the Xbox 360 kicked into overdrive starting mid September throughout the end of the year. ” LIE!
Prior to the price drop the xbox 360 managed to beat the PS3 in March, April, August and September…
The price drop was in October.
“The PS3 outsold the Xbox 360 by 1.52 million units up to September.” LIES! Once again!… in September the xbox 360 was already leading by 114,800!
July was the highest month for the PS3 where it leaded the xbox 360 by 289,200.
Where does this idiots get the 1.52 million lead from? Who the hell knows… are we looking at the same NPD? because I am giving you the link and sources of each NPD chart for each month in 2008.
“Both consoles ended the year with almost equivalent sales: PS3 (10.78 mil) and X360 (10.8 mil).” hah!? really? did the calculator lose battery? The xbox 360 sold 1,122,200 more units than the PS3…
Yeah! “PS3 and Xbox 360 to switch positions in 2009″ based on the lies and poor ability to add simple number… sure the PS3 will do just that… lol!
Jan (PS3 Wins by 41,000)
——————–
http://www.unscripted360.co...
PS3 – 270,000
360 – 229,000
Installbase Lead (For the year): PS3 leads by 41,000.
Feb (PS3 Wins by 26,200)
———————
http://www.unscripted360.co...
PS3 – 280,800
360 – 254,600
Installbase Lead (For the year): PS3 leads by 67,200.
March (Xbox 360 wins by 5,000)
———————
http://www.gamegrep.com/ind...
PS3 – 257,000
360 – 262,000
Installbase Lead (For the year): PS3 leads by 62,200.
April (Xbox 360 wins by 900)
———————
http://www.digital-digest.c...
PS3 – 187,100
360 – 188,000
Installbase Lead (For the year): PS3 leads by 61,300.
May (PS3 Wins by 22,100)
———————
http://www.1up.com/do/newsS...
PS3 – 208,700
360 – 186,600
Installbase Lead (For the year): PS3 leads by 83,400.
June (PS3 Wins by 185,700)
———————-
http://exophase.com/psp/jun...
PS3 – 405,500
360 – 219,800
Installbase Lead (For the year): PS3 leads by 269,100.
July (PS3 Wins by 20,100)
————————-
http://news.teamxbox.com/xb...
PS3 – 224,900
360 – 219,800
Installbase Lead (For the year): PS3 leads by 289,200.
August (Xbox 360 wins by 9,800)
———————
http://news.teamxbox.com/xb...
PS3 – 224,900
360 – 219,800
Installbase Lead (For the year): PS3 leads by 279,400.
September (Xbox 360 wins by 114,800)
———————
http://news.teamxbox.com/xb...
PS3 – 232,400
360 – 347,200
Installbase Lead (For the year): PS3 leads by 164,600.
October (Xbox 360 wins by 114,800) *** Xbox 360 price cut…
———————
http://news.teamxbox.com/xb...
PS3 – 190,000
360 – 371,000
Installbase Lead (For the year): PS3 leads by 49,800.
November (Xbox 360 wins by 458,000)
———————
http://exophase.com/psp/nov...
PS3 – 378,000
360 – 836,000
Installbase Lead (For the year): XBox 360leads by 408,200.
December (Xbox 360 wins by 714,000)
—————————– ———–
http://xbox.joystiq.com/200...
PS3 – 726,000
360 – 1,440,000
Installbase Lead (For the year): XBox 360leads by 1,122,200.
February 20th, 2009
sony closes playstation store in USA…
uh-oh…
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i2Y8wxtWabo-10lz7rnFwMRlGIsg
February 20th, 2009
they were joking about Microsoft buying it and setting up shop…