Anyone that knows me or has read my articles in the past knows I’ve never been one to back down from a conspiracy theory or even a strong hunch. I’m getting that feeling again and it’s related to how both Microsoft and the gaming press in general are reporting on Microsoft’s Xbox 360 sales. Something is starting to smell funny, and it’s wafting this way from Redmond.
Find out what I mean, after the jump.
Anyone can cook up a good conspiracy theory, or rumor. Hell, I’ve written how you can do it in past articles. What’s better than making up rumors? Dealing with facts. What are the best kind of facts? Facts straight from the horse’s mouth. Numbers are great too, because there’s so little room for interpretation. They are what they are.
Let’s talk about numbers, shall we? Not just any numbers mind you, but sales numbers. Sales numbers that show Microsoft sold 7.73m Xbox 360’s in calendar 2007. While Sony sold 8.83m PS3s during that same period. The sources of these numbers are Microsoft and Sony and so far out on “teh interwebs,” nobody’s denying any of these sales numbers… but for the sake of this article, I’ll spell them out and cite sources.
If you were to go back to January ‘07 and check out this video (at the 6:30 mark) you would see Microsoft’s Robbie Bach announce they sold 10.4 million Xbox 360’s as of December 31, 2006. If you read this UK GameSpot article, you’ll see that they claim to have sold 17.7M Xbox 360s through December 31, 2007. Major Nelson confirmed these numbers. A simple subtraction of 10.4 million from 17.7 million tells us that 7.3 million Xbox 360’s were sold in calendar 2007. Can anyone really dispute that? I don’t see how.
So, we know Microsoft (according to their own numbers) sold 7.3 million Xbox 360’s in calendar 2007, but if you look here you will see that Sony reported that they sold 8.83 million PS3’s in that same time-frame (a reminder that Q4 ‘06-Q3 ‘07 is actually the calendar year of 2007… or January 1, 2007 – December 31, 2007).
I make it no secret that I’m a big fan of the PS3, but I’m left scratching my head at this point. Microsoft sold fewer Xbox 360’s than PS3’s in 2007? They sold fewer Xbox 360’s in 2007 than 2006?! How can that be? Everything I read in the gaming press said how horribly the PS3 sold and how well the Xbox 360 sold… how can these numbers stand in the face of what we’re being told?
Was it because the 360 did not do so well at all in Japan? Was it because the PS3 outsold the 360 in parts of Europe and is trending toward outselling the 360 for the entire region for 2008? Was it because of that pesky Red Ring of Death issue they had to deal with… I wonder how significant that really was to their sales? They acted like it was “no big thang,” but if these numbers are accurate, then it may have been “THE big thang!”
See what I concluded on page 2…
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Both companies play with the outright truth or shades thereof. The only people who don’t seem to realize this are hardcore fanboys or the terminally naive. This isn’t newsworthy.
as ive said in another post ive put up, i work at 2 different stores where the PS3 vastly outsells the 360, as asked before about the sales for them “Retailer to retailer” kinda thing and heres how it goes
Sony: records a sale when its sold to a Customer and only when the purchase is made and calculated everyday
Microsoft: Collects data of items sold when their shipped to the merchant and from what i can see, they dont pay attaention to sales since our stock rooms have over 50 360s sitting on the floor under the extra ps3s
im not a 360 fan but nor am i bashing them but where im from, if you ask a freind if he has a 360 they just laugh at you
as ive said in another post ive put up, i work at 2 different stores where the PS3 vastly outsells the 360, as asked before about the sales for them “Retailer to retailer” kinda thing and heres how it goes
Sony: records a sale when its sold to a Customer and only when the purchase is made and calculated everyday
Microsoft: Collects data of items sold when their shipped to the merchant and from what i can see, they dont pay attaention to sales since our stock rooms have over 50 360s sitting on the floor under the extra ps3s
im not a 360 fan but nor am i bashing them but where im from, if you ask a freind if he has a 360 they just laugh at you.
and as for rothbarts postings, i do agree. around 70% of the numbers are always wrong due to they dont count out broken and replaced items so that gets put back into the loop. now im not saying any PS3 numbers are wrong or right also but i can imagine theyr also off whether its higher or lower i can see all systems numbers being way off
Patrick had it right.
The sales aren’t in total, becuase 360 has a bigger market share in total (believe that). It was released a whole year before. But MArket saturation can coem quick to a console that is less well recognised. Sony has been aroudn a whole generation prior to Micorosft arriving on the scene. And this is why I put the sales numbers,a nd confusion abotu them down to this:
America is in it’s own dimension upon the earth. American companies, think America IS the market, when unfortunately for Microsoft, when they naively believed since they were the sole Operating System popular worldwide they assumed they could do the same for consoles. And America/American Influenced British media agreed, on terms of patriotism.
To all English speakers, all we ever hear is American media, and that’s where the bias for the 360 is found. That is why all English media outlets only preach how the 360 is selling more than Sony’s PS3. And that is where this misguided article Author (or more likely misinformed by the media) comes into the mix. He is stumped, after all the American media, that somehow the more internationally recognised PS3 is outselling the 360.
This is the source of his confusion. By the way, if you accuse me of being nationalist, I can confirm I am a White Middle Class British Citizen.
Great post!
Official numbers show that PS3 outsold 360 for 2007!
Why is every single media site spinning this the other way and portraying PS3 as a failing system?
PS3 outsells 360 because it has finally proved it may be worth it in the long run, with some hopeful games coming out and a price cut.
Many people already have a 360, why do they need to buy again to keep the sales figures up?
This report should be exposed. I have also blogged this somewhere and it was removed by an admin. I used VGChart as a window to see that PS3 did outsold 360. To remove you from thinking me as a fanboy..Wii beat both ps3 and 360 in year 2007
People seem to forget there are well over 100million playstation2 owners out there likely at some points and time to upgrade to a ps3. I would be very confident in saying that atleast 75% of those owners will likely do so. This year with one more price drop by sony and i bet we see alot of those waiting on the fences to upgrade with all the great games coming this year. We could possible see as big a jump as Sony overtaking microsoft in sales by the end of this year or into the first half of this year. Thats just my thought on the subject not to even begin to mention all the other non playstation owners out there that might purchase one as well for bluray and what else the ps3 brings top the table.
I needed to edit my post above i didnt mean the first half of this year. I meant to say by the end of this year or into the first half of 2009 they will overtake second place in total sales.
Logikil is an idiot. True 1080p source resolution is only possible off either an HD-DVD disc or a Blu-ray disc.
My God, stories like this really bring out worst in people. I imagine these posts as 2 rival gangs, kinda like that scene in Anchorman.
@BUD: That is just sheer stupidity.
You can achieve “true” 1080p on a CD if you so wanted to, The video would just be REALLY short in that case (around maybe 15 min).
The thing that constrains 1080p is the hardware. You have to have a system powerful enough to output in HD, as well as the proper ports and cables (as well as a proper display). The benefit of blue-ray and Hd-dvd players is that they HAVE the power to output in that resolution, and their discs have adequate space to put a feature-length movie on them.
GREAT!
Maybe this site isn’t so xbot after all… Maybe now you guys can make a song about the 360? And take down that lame “PS3 song”
ok?
You know … something about “How you killed your lead, 360″
etc.
DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Or… “360 has no frickin games in 2008″
I expect to see these types of songs soon, or I will assume those two songs about the PS3 were paid for by Microsoft. And this site is totally xbot. OK?
Wow what dose it matter? Rothbart got shares in the company or something?
The only reason I could think of for them hiding sales numbers is they did stuff the channels in 2006 and don’t want to confirm it.
@Buttman: They already have one. It is called “Ring of Fire”
Not to bash Ps3, but it is arguable that much of the console’s penetration into the market is because of its use as a blu-ray player.
Therefor, software sales on the Ps3 could still be pretty low, as the GAMER adoption rate could be low.
Just speculating. Like I said, I oft with I had a ps3.
*Wish I had
“Sales numbers that show Microsoft sold 7.73m Xbox 360?s”
I think you meant 7.3 million
17.7 – 10.4 = 7.3
as far as I know – Sony counts manufactured and stored consoles. And Microsoft count actually sold ones.
IMO much of that ~9 mil is still on the shelves of the shops.
Bud:
Brilliant comment man. I mean it must have taken you what a whole day, to come up with that. Amazing. Now take a little peak lower at the comment from clstirens. See, a 1080P source can come from any media. Have you ever downloaded a video in 1080P off the web? They are generally a couple GB. Those could certainly fit on a DVD9. Now do you have HD audio all the other extras? Nope sure don’t, but the source video is still 1080p.
So do us all a favor…….crawl back into the hole you came from you dimwitted twat.
clstirens:
If you get the chance to get one I would highly recommend it. I still use my 360 mainly for gaming, but I love my PS3 for the tech. Love Blu-ray, the ability to put on an actual os, built in wireless. Hell they could probably not release any more games for it and I would be happy with my purchase.
not according to VG CHARTZ:
Did you ever think that after being out for 2+ years there are less people that don’t have a 360? Therefore there will be less people buying it. Most console fans will already have one by now.
You guys are idiots, SONY DOES NOT COUNT SHIPPED/STORED/ETC..
http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/fr/07q3_eleki.pdf
“*Beginning from Q1FY07, the method of reporting hardware and software unit sales has been changed from production shipments to recorded sales.”
If anything, M$ was the one caught red handed lying about shipped vs sold in 2006 after making stores buy massive amounts of 360’s and piling them up.
AND THE RED RING SONG IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH. IT WAS LAME COMPARED TO THE PRODUCTION VALUE OF THE PS3 SONGS, I SMELL M$$$ MONEY
@Jim
You’re a DUMBASS, 2007 for companies = fiscal year 2007 = MARCH 07 to MARCH 08. THE PS3 WASN’T EVEN LAUNCHED IN EUROPE UNTIL MARCH 07, FYI. That accounts for lower sales.
SHIPPED != SOLD
+ Microsoft Stuffed the channel at then end of 2006 and so they were not able to ship for a while
@BUTTMAN
Sony Used to track
Factory->Warehouse
Now they track
Warehouse->Store
Microsoft has always tracked
Warehouse->Store
just read what i posted earlier about sales i already told yall what they both companies do as im in charge of ordering / stocking them
“Lol…not to be a fanboy here….But all the 360 lovers are trying to make peace now with us PS3 people….Saying “Who cares, as long as we get to play our games”…..4 Months ago it was “HAHAHA the PS3 is selling like crap ahaha, the PS3 sux and will be the new Dreamcast”….Not so fast there silly man”
Lol, not to be a fanboy here, but you do realize the 360 is still ahead by ~8 million consols, right? At this pace it would take the PS3 ~7 years to catch up. BTW, I’ll buy a PS3 when it comes with rumble (Last gen features FTW) and is about 400$
Not my comment but good the same.
“VG Chartz allowed the PS3 to literally gain 1 Million systems sold in one single day–all because Sony changed their point of view of what “Sold,” meant. And Xbox 360 actually LOST 1 million sales on VG Chartz on TWO seperate occasions, and that STILL hasn’t been fixed! Sony used to consider “Sold,” as being “Sold from a retailer to a consumer.” Now Sony considers “Sold,” as being sold from the Sony Manufacturer to the Retailer–even if the Playstation 3 systems remain “Unsold,” and collect dust in the stores. The bottom line is that VG Chartz has information that is very messed up; it isn’t accurate.”
Jon Malloy is a douche’ not cause of fan boys sake, just cause he is one.
SHUT UP LJ, M$ DOES THE SAME THING.
Did you notice VGChartz has the PS3 at 9.76 million?
That is less than 10.5 million shipped by sony. So those figures are probably pretty spot on.
Unlike M$’s tactic in 2006 where they shipped millions of 360s to stores and piled them into stores in huge stacks just to say they sold a lot more than they did.
Reminder to everyone: VG Chartz are based on Projections, not real numbers like the NPD. VG Charts numbers should be taken with a grain of salt.
@ Buttman
not just last year lol, my wal-mart has something like 40 360s that are covered with dust in our back room lol and their still sending more lol
Let’s say it all together now:
“Competition is good for the consumer”
“Competition is good for the consumer”
“Competition is good for the consumer”
“Competition is good for the consumer”
I knew you could.
I would like to make this clear before I start-I am the proud owner of a PS3. I thoroughly enjoy playing it, and have found that the same titles on the 360 as on the PS3 do not run as well on the 360 (my friend owns a 360 and has all the same games). However, couldn’t the fact that PS3 outsold 360 be due to the fact that the 360 had already had its year on the market? Think-a lot of people already had 360’s. Sure, the Red Ring of Death affects that number some, but still, most 360 owners did not buy new consoles in 2007. Many new happy PS3 owners were made in 2007. Side note-PS3’s customer base may have been partially depleted by 360 owners who didn’t wanna wait.
The only thing I have to say is that each company can not lie to their investors about their position in the market or Sales…do you know how fast MS and Sony stock would drop if they reported false information…Its risking your company to go out of business.
Dont forget that in some countries the PS3 has out sold the wii…dont forget that in some countries the 360 is paper holder…and like in NA the 360 is dusting the PS3 and this is also going on in other countries such as the UK…
The other thing to take into account is your fiscal year numbers you have them inncorect. The fiscal year for a company begins Q2 and ends at the end Q1 of the next year…
One other thing you did not mention was that if a console was sold by retail and it is broken the retail gives a brand new system as long as it is under a warranty and it also counts as a sold item and the broken items get sent back to the manufacturer…and so on and so on…
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