Rothbart’s Rant 80 – Xbox 360 Sales And The Media Blackout

February 4th, 2008 at 6:00 pm · 90 Comments

I have to admit, with the numbers presented as they are, it makes a very compelling case for the PS3 outselling the Xbox 360 in 2007. I really can’t see how I’m misinterpreting them, but it’s always possible. As much as I hate to admit it, I just have trouble believing more PS3′s were sold in 2007 than Xbox 360′s. Something in my gut tells me it didn’t happen, despite all the evidence to the contrary. The more I think about it, I think my uneasiness is due to nobody else talking about it.

I want to know why nobody else is talking about it?

Most industry analysts estimate the RRoD issue has caused a nearly 33% failure rate (at its peak, assuming we’ve seen that)… Could it be that sales were affected by this negative press to a much higher degree than the gaming press would have us believe? That begs the question of what would the mainstream gaming media gain by not reporting the news that the Xbox 360 was outsold in 2007? One might suggest Microsoft’s “bleed money until there’s no money left…. Ha ha ha, we’re Microsoft! There’s always money left!” outlook to the gaming industry. Microsoft spends a lot of money in the industry. Is there a reason Microsoft’s reporting their sales as cumulative? Did they not want to point out they sold more 360s in 2006 than 2007?

I leave it to you, the reader, to speak up about how you take this information. Do you think the Xbox 360 was outsold (worldwide) in 2007 by the PS3? If the PS3 is already outselling the 360 during its first full year on the market, what does that mean for the 360 in the near and not so near future? EA has already gone on the record stating they thing the 360 will finish third behind the Wii and PS3 respectively in 2008. For those keeping score, that’s this year!

If the “Media” won’t talk about it, we will.

[UPDATE: I would like to thank the fine folks over at GameBlews.com for pointing me in the direction of some of the source information in this article!]

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refinedsugar

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.
tanker9111

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
tanker9111

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
Kyle

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.
psfan

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?
Monkeyboo2

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?
Ryan

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
Sdogg

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.
Sdogg

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.
BUD

Logikil is an idiot. True 1080p source resolution is only possible off either an HD-DVD disc or a Blu-ray disc.
TOO KINGS

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.
clstirens

@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.
BUTTMAN

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?
BUTTMAN

You know … something about “How you killed your lead, 360″

etc.

DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BUTTMAN

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?
http://www.angryben.net Angry Ben

Wow what dose it matter? Rothbart got shares in the company or something?
Conflict

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.
clstirens

@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.
clstirens

*Wish I had
psfan

“Sales numbers that show Microsoft sold 7.73m Xbox 360?s”

I think you meant 7.3 million

17.7 – 10.4 = 7.3
Hotcooler

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.
logikil

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.
logikil

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.
http://userrankings.com/ Jim

not according to VG CHARTZ:
Sam

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.
BUTTMAN

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
BUTTMAN

@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.
http://catprog.tfcentral.com Catprog

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
tanker9111

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
khit

“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$
LJ

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.”
LJ

Jon Malloy is a douche’ not cause of fan boys sake, just cause he is one.
BUTTMAN

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.
http://www.sarcasticgamer.com Lono

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.
tanker9111

@ 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
Dan

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.
http://blah.org Dumbego

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.
Saigon

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…
Pingback: PS3Blog.net » Blog Archive » PS3 Outsold Xbox 360 Last Year
ppTheMart

@ CatProg

You are so full of shit. It’s widely known, and even came out of their own Mouth, that Microsoft report “SHIPPED” figures.

Only Sony and Nintendo report actual “SOLD” figures.

How you can even try to spin that is beyond me. It’s the plain truth.

They also consider consoles sent out as replacements as “SHIPPED”. With the largest failure rate out of any electronic product in history without a massive recall, you can easily see how their numbers are half fluff.

Pathetic.

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February 4th, 2008 at 6:00 pm · 90 Comments

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