Okay, let me get this out of the way first. During my time writing here at Sarcastic Gamer, coming up with daily topics to write about, I’ve had several “almost” ideas for articles. Maybe it was just an inkling of an idea, a discussion I’d like to see take place, maybe an incomplete, but still worthwhile argument to be worked out. I’ve decided it’s time to stop ignoring those nuggets of interest and put them to (hopefully) good use. This isn’t one of my typical posts, but more like a discussion seed. I’ll toss it out there, you guys can crap on it (oh come on, you know you love my metaphors), and we’ll see what grows out of it!
The question I ask: What’s the deal with Microsoft losing the entire first quarter of 2008’s hardware sales to the PS3 and Wii while not really seeming to give a crap? Is it all show (the not giving a crap part) or what?
Maybe I should start taking bets for what Microsoft’s “official” reason will be this time. They’ve already used up “underestimated demand” and “production capacity issues“. My money’s going on “Who cares about March anyway?! March is a stupid doo-doo month!”
In anticipation of Thursday’s official release of the NPD sales numbers, analysts are predicting that Sony outdid Microsoft for March. I’m not sure about you, but I was getting used to seeing Xbox 360 sales as the metric people really watched, while Wii sales were a never-ending fluke we expected to crash at any moment and the PS3 was the little system that (never) could.
When the PS3 outsold the 360 the first time, we all agreed… it was a fluke. Then it happened again, but that was okay since it was sort of a mistake on Microsoft’s part combined with another fluke success on Sony’s part. Now, we’re approaching official confirmation of the third time (in a row no less,) suggesting this is edging toward an actual “trend” with the monthly order of hardware sales repeatedly coming in Wii>PS3>360. Maybe someone should call Microsoft and point out that they’ve now seemingly lost the entire first quarter of the year to the competition in terms of hardware sales.
Okay, jokes aside, when does this start becoming a bigger (or as Dave would say “realer”) deal to people? I’m sure there will be a few retorts of “Yeah, but look at the software attach rate!” or crap like that from the ardent 360 supporters, but in the end, if you’re consistently outsold, you’re losing ground and eventually software sales will follow hardware install base. Something Sony knows all too well, but Microsoft doesn’t really seem to be acknowledging. It’s almost as if they think it’s fine as long as they have an explanation… any explanation. It shouldn’t be fine though. I know you don’t want to publicly rush to push the big red PANIC! button, but I’m curious when you guys think that time is? Four consecutive months of last place sales? Five months? Half a year? How many times losing out to your competition is when you have to man-up and admit something is wrong?
If we look at the immediate “big name” releases, we’ve got Gran Turismo 5 Prologue hitting the PS3 this week in the US. That’s an April title to which Microsoft doesn’t really have a counter. Then we have Grand Theft Auto IV on both platforms which I think everyone (including me) expects to sell better on the 360 simply based on install base (personally I think the DLC will matter a lot less than some vocal folks would have you believe.) Except I see a PS3 GTA IV hardware bundle being advertised (in Europe) with no counter from Microsoft anywhere. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the numbers of GTA IV sales a lot closer than some folks think (especially when considering their difference in current install base.)
Will GTA IV + DLC move more 360s than GT5P + GTA IV on the PS3 for the month? I don’t think it will and if by some chance Sony outdoes Microsoft in April, they’ve got May to make it up because June’s going to be Sony’s month with Metal Gear Solid 4, possibly the biggest PS3 release to date coming out without a comparable blockbuster in the Microsoft camp. At this rate, I could easily see the PS3 outselling the 360 in 5 or 6 months of the first half of the year. Certainly sometime between now and then a lot of folks need to stop, survey the gaming landscape, and say “WTF is going on here?!” What’s the different between 3 consecutive flukes and a trend? When is it “safe” to call Sony’s momentum a comeback? Certainly that can be done before they outright have a larger install base than Microsoft, right?
So to get this ball rolling, I ask… What in the hell do you think?
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Statistically, three in a row is a trend. You are right to imply that MS should be very worried. No more flukes, no more excuses, if Sony does pull off three-in-a-row, they have turned the tide of this generation of systems.
Well a lot of people already own a 360 so demand is smaller than it used to be.Oh, and PS3 don’t cost a fortune anymore.
I’d say Sony are already finding their “groove” as it were, and they’re gonna sit in it and ride it all the way to the bank. It was always a matter of, atleast in my head, give the PS3 time, and in time it has grown, it has gained a larger install base, and is about to get the games to support all of that.
If MS fail to do anything, which I think they will unless they have some surprise release planned, then it is gonna set Sony even further into that groove, making it harder to pull them out of. So in my opinion the “war”, between PS3 and Xbox 360 atleast is over. Sony have matched the Xbox 360 so now it will be a matter of push and shove for a small margin in the NPD numbers.
Nice article but I must ask, which company do you work for? Sounds like Microsoft signs your paychecks. lol. j/k. Listen, this shouldn’t really be about 360 vs ps3. They are both great systems. MS makes a ton through game sales and Live subs that monthly hardware sales are likely not too big of an issue. Besides, the PS3 is a really good system that is starting to actually see some light. PSN store has just been overhauled and looks nice with the new 2.30 patch. There are some promising new games coming out and the price is not as high as it used to be. Bottom line, I think it should come down to what system we(the consumers) like to play and enjoy since neither appear to be going away any time soon.
k, so when the PS2 came out the PS1 was still pushing out quality titles and the dreamcast had a strong grip on the early adopters and in the U.S. the PS2 release numbers were less than stellar. Sony made less screw ups with the Ps2 than they did with the PS3 but I’m sure our buddies over in japan are pulling their heads out of the collective rectum and we are going to see some quality titles and hardware over the next few years. Not bashing the 360… but my money is still on Sony for the long run
I remember an article a couple of months ago with a Microsoft Rep saying ” This will be their summer” I cannot imagine Microsoft waiting till summer for a price cut and releasing their blockbuster games. Sony will have gained to much . To shock everyone they need a price cut on all models by at least $79. (US) dollars before the release of GTAIV. They need to get people looking at the system again with advertising, showing off what games have been release and what’s coming out, Sony has by showing Metal Gear in their ads for sometime. They need to show the consumer that there is still good games coming out on the system. COME ON MICROSOFT WAKE THE HELL UP. Competition is good. Stop worrying about Goggle and think about what you are loosing and who you’re loosing too.
I think the PS3 has a better hardware than the 360, in term of blu-ray, every unit has a HDD, built-in wifi, the cell, retrocompatibility to larger library software (PS1 AND PS2 for 60 and 80gb), costs pretty much the same as the 360 and is more reliable on a short and long term service.
What do you expect the sales number to be ? I am happy to see that even if you’re an international corp like microsoft, if you screw up big times, people won’t buy that and might go for the underdog instead. If sony would have made such a crappy console design, I would have wished them the same as I wish microsoft right now. Die quickly and to stop ripping off customers with overpriced consoles that don’t meet expectations (16+% RRoD).
This is where Microsoft’s rush to market and defective units are probably coming into play. They flooded the market which gave them more games and more users as people flocked to the larger install base (both developers and gamers).
Now PS3 has had time to mature, get through its debut year, and developers are learning to use its features.
Bluray won the format war, so PS3 sales will be up as it makes a good player. Big time titles are on the horizon for PS3 so that will increase sales, plus they don’t have near the failure rate so people on the fence that research both brands without having bias, might sway to PS3 because of RROD.
PS3 also provides a larger disc media for developers to really cut loose, hard drives in every unit means you don’t have to worry about some users not having one (I’m looking at you arcade).
Overall, a lot of questionable calls by Sony are paying off. I think games will peak much faster on 360, while PS3 will continue to grow with its features.
There’s a lot to be said for momentum, it kept 360 on top for a while. Now PS3 is picking up steam and I doubt they will slack off.
Many of the poster make good points here that I believe affected sales:
1. Blu ray won, so people like myself finally bought a PS3 for Blu-ray
2. Exclusives: MGS4 and eventually Final Fantasy XIII will tip the scales in favor
3. the point about all the pack-in like wi-fi, blu ray and HD actually do make the PS3 a good bargain.
People were holding off on the Ps3 becuase of the price, lack of quality exclusives and uncertainty of the HD format war. Now that these things are resolved, the flood gates have opened!
I think that with the current install base of the 360, and the number of subscriptions for Live, Microsoft is in no position to worry as long as new games keep coming out. It would take quite some time for PS3 to catch up with the number of units sold.
PS3 suffered a lot for its first year. The reluctance of software companies to adapt to the difficult programming required to optimize games on the system caused a lot of hurt. Uncharted and Ratchet and Clank Future were the heralds of PS3’s power however and games will steadily become better.
Sony needs to work on getting companies to make exclusives though. So long as they are settling for multi-platform releases, especially when the games are being programmed for 360 and then ported to PS3, there will be no growth. PS3 needs to take full advantage of the difference in storage capacity offered by the Blu-Ray which won’t happen so long as the 360 is the benchmark.
I’m really shocked that 360 got the downloadable content for GTAIV. Sony should have pushed to have that same content included on the Blu-Ray.
I have a lot of hope for PS3 in the future.
Bluray. MS needs it quick. Every ps3 bought for bluray is a 360 still sitting in a warehouse.
Even if PS3 sold more consoles, it didn’t sell hundreds of thousands more than the 360. The difference is minuscule when looking at the big picture. This discussion just hides the fact that people are buying this to play blu-ray movies and not play video games. That is a huge problem.
MS is making money hand over fist off of third party published games, licensing agreements and XBL. I think Rothbart, if you’re going to ignore attach rates in your discussion, then the entire discussion really doesn’t work for me because you’re ignoring the real factor: Software.
PS3 is the red headed stepchild of videogame publishers, despite a few exclusives and one or two exceptions, publishers, up until this point in the console war, develop for the 360 first and then port to PS3. The PS3’s cross platform games are an afterthought.
So win, win, win as many months as you can PS3, because until people start buying games for your system, you’re still just a glorified DVD player to most.
Lol….i told peeps since day one ps3 was going to be a beast. yet all those xbox fanboys just laughed at me and called me a retard. Eh what can i say revenge is a b!tch huh? But at the mean time, when should i bury my brother xbox360?
was good everyone and i’m a loyal Playstation fan…Ya’ll shouldn’t be surprise buy this as we seen before with the PS2 n XBOX PS2 won the console war and now its time for SONY PS3 to do it again…n also about the developers feeling more comfortable on the XBOX 360 of course thats natural cause it came out first b4 the PS3 so they are just being lazy instead of working hard to make good solid games on the PS3 but WTH look at metal gear that show evidence of what they can do IF they stop being so lazy n wanna stick to sumthing that is simple if u wanna have the best games things are never simple..but hey who am i to say anthing but thanks for listening
The prob with the XBOX 360 for me and many people is the RROD and then the fact that it’s really a cheap ass PC in a box. I can’t wait for Mass effect but my pc (work/gaming) will do the job just fine so no exclusives really on PC. Also considering that there has been over 5 or 6 upgrades for XBOX 360 it worries that if I buy the latest one, eg. elite… it will be old in a matter of months. Whereas with PS3, you know what you are getting. And yes the 360 has got a larger library – but they have had one year head start but what’s to come? PS3 has only been around a year and compare that to 360’s first year is pretty much a good match in software to play. But there are big blockbusters coming to PS3 and soon. Exclusives like: Metal Gear, FF13, God of War, Resistance 2, Killzone 2, Getaway… but hell I never predicted the Wii would be so popular so take my opinion with a pince of salt!
Lono,
Seriously, every XBOX sold is money out of Microsoft’s pocket. The hardware failures are manifold. 16% is a gross underestimation – and that’s just RRoD, what about the DVD transport issues? MS accountants have put aside millions of dollars to offset the cost of replacing faulty units.
I own an XBOX 360. My bro-in-law convinced me of buying one for XBL. He’s just had to replace his, for disk whirring. I said if I have to send mine back to MS for 6-weeks while they sort it, I’m getting a PS3 and eBaying my 360 upon its return.
It’s simply not on to ship faulty goods. They have had years to sort this system, I bought my HDMI Premium last November and I have no-way of knowing if it’ll be okay.
At least SONY dealt with its hardware issue prior to shipment. Even though the original XBOX was my favourite last gen machine, and Halo and COD have given me hours of fun, I’m happy Microsoft’s incompetence is resulting is fewer sales.
ok, people will hate me for sayng it, but hey…
I think something bad is looming at microsoft. Vista failed, Bill Gates bailed, and the 360 snailed. Other MS execs have left too. Ok, it might not be a big deal, but when you got some experienced employees walking out, you have to replace them, and most of the time, they don’t do as good. This could be a part of the problem, plus bad PR (RRoD, Disc drive failure), bad consumer support, Live being what it was in december and january… They’re digging a grave, and some people are running away instead of facing it. It IS too early to say MS is dead, but they do go in that direction (since december)…
Well MS did go on their decrease the price on xbox plan but it didn’t work too well, so their options are probably : try to push Gears of War 2 to a closer date to MGS4, which would steal some thunder of sony, of course another decent plan would be to bundle GOW 2 with a xbox360 elite for a real price-value deal…
We are gamers and while I agree in the fault Lono finds in the argument I have another question:
Why do we care?
Does it matter which system sells more? Will that actually, individually, affect anyone on this site? If Microsoft sells a million more consoles in April than Sony does that matter? Do we have stock in the companies? Will my wife be relieved if Sony sells more consoles than Microsoft for four continuous months?
Do we really not have anything better to do than wrap our egos around which system out performs the other? I mean, if that is the important thing…
I guess (after work and school) I’ll just go home and play a game. On what console I’m not sure, but I’ll just simply play a stupid video game and enjoy myself.
But then I’m a “b!tch” if I play it on Microsoft’s system and something equally exciting if I play it on my PS3…
Do we really not have anything more important to spend our time on? We purchased a system: either feel good about it or don’t. The choice is yours.
Why do we care?
@Tyger: So what? What does anything in your post have to do with Rothbart’s article, My response or reality?
Everyone is well aware of the RRoD issues. AND people don’t seem to care. Their sales haven’t slowed that much if you look at the numbers, and MS had supply issues as a result of a falling out with a major components manufacturer….
So, what does your post have to do with anything?
Everytime someone argues that the PS3 will never catch up to the 360, I always point them to this graph (it’s updated weekly too!):
http://vgchartz.com/hwlaunch.php?cons1=PS2®1=All&cons2=PS3®2=All&cons3=X360®3=All&weeks=156
This is what it shows: the PS3, despite having been called a failed launch (to which I agree), has already proved itself to be as successful a console as the PS2, and is well on track to be the next winner (and most certainly more successful than the 360) among high-end gaming.
Also worthy of noting: the XB reached 25million units sold before it was discontinued, and based on current trends, the 360 is looking to close at around 35 million total (it is at 18million atm, so I’m actually being quite generous; tbh I think they’ll cap at 30 mil)
On the other hand, the PS2 is already at 120million and is STILL selling, and there are good reasons to believe the PS3 end up doing even better when it is 8 years old (2015). And that reason is simple; the millions of Wii users will eventually CONVERT over to the PS3. This is something that most “industry figures” do not seem capable of understanding; that gamers MATURE.
We all know that a good bulk of Wii consumers were people that previously did not play videogames. What most don’t realize is that the Wii could also serve as a “gateway” system, and that by the time these Wii users want a system to hook up to their new HD TVs (XMas 2009), the PS3 will be at $300.
In other words, the Wii’s explosive popularity really only serves the greater good of the videogaming industry; and it will eventually benefit the higher-tier companies who offer the kind of experience that they will THEN be able to appreciate (for example, the words 1080p do not register to Wii users today; but they will resonate loudly in a couple of years).
@Lono: I’m not saying this is Doom and Gloom for Microsoft, I’m _asking_ is this the _beginning_ of Doom and Gloom for Microsoft?
It’s clear the PS3 is picking up steam (some would argue that was the only thing possible), but as much as Sony is slowly increasing their numbers, you CANNOT IGNORE the stumbles everyone’s precious Microsoft have made. What great advance have they made from hitting the market a YEAR before the Wii and PS3? The Wii’s already kicked their ass in install base and I’d argue profit for the console maker. The PS3 is lining up attacks on multiple targets as well.
Sony’s getting their sh*t together, Microsoft’s twiddling their thumbs staring at the floor, and Nintendo are heating their offices with bonfires of cash.
Every “comeback” has a moment you can look back and say THERE! That’s the point in time it really started. What I’m curious about (and it’s hard to tell at the time) is whether or not January ‘08 was that time.
Surely software sales will pick up for the PS3… they can’t possibly go DOWN while the install base climbs. The list of known PS3 exclusives coming in ‘08 will ensure both software _and_ hardware sells.
The article was somewhat open-ended, but I never implied Microsoft is done and Sony’s already kicking their ass… I’m just wondering who put a Roofie in Microsoft’s drink at the Christmas party because I think their about to get SCREWED by someone, and I don’t think it’s consensual.
@Rothbart: I didn’t ignore MS’s problems. On the contrary, I believe that MS is doing quite well, in spite of those problems. You need to realize that they have had to deal with these problems and are still only about ten or twenty thousand units sold away from the PS3’s BEST months.
Once the supply stuff gets straightened out, MS’s 360 sales will keep up, or even exceed the PS3’s sales, especially if the rumored price drop occurs around the time GTA IV comes out.
I agree a price drop _should_ speed up the 360’s sales, but the “supply constraint” stuff is cotton candy if you ask me… it’s SO sugar coated and spun SO hard… that’s the only name for it.
Time will tell if now is the beginning of change…
I think one thing the ps3 has over the 360 is it is constantly in the news and getting attention. Whether its rumour about home, updates for games, rumble, store redesign. I dont know if this is on purpose or just a by product of how sony run things at the moment but i believe this is having an effect on the perceptions of both consoles with the ps3 being seen as the up and coming hotness and the 360 a has been that peaked with xmas07. Maybe ms has a big comeback planned for e3 but as far as I see it the ps3 is just going to gain more and more ground over the coming months.
As for the ps3 not overtaking the 360 in total sales, we are still in the early days compare to the 100+million the ps1 and ps2 sold. I predict that the ps3 will hit 40million sold before the 360, but i would say that being a fanboy.
If you’re looking for a turnaround point, the PS3 began gaining momentum when their last advertising company put out the new ads with the PS3’s various features, Nov 2007. As a 360 owner, we all knew it would peak before the PS3 and it has. We all knew the PS3 had superior functionality.
Both consoles will split more market this generation than their counterparts did last generation. No turning point indicated a winner. The gradually increasing support of 3rd party developers for the PS2 sealed the deal. So Sean, there doesn’t have to be a comeback-signifying moment in a generation, simply a factor.
Microsoft’s comfortable rein at the top of the hardcore market has come to an end. PS3 is larely affordable and blu-ray is the HD standard. 2008 has a bunch of hit titles and PSN is free and revamped. Microsoft better come up with something fast. I’d start by making xbox live free [what idiot at MS is refusing to do that?]
@NeonSkull: LOL! You’re such a fanboy… I’ll say 39M!
Some of these last posts have felt like an attack of the clones…
The 360 currently has sold more consoles than the PS3, right?
Bout twice as much?
The combined copies for Halo 3 have exceeded what? The sales of the PS3 outside of Japan? And that’s not counting the Master Chief helmets.
How many PS3 are used as either Blu-Ray players or grills?
How much money does the PS3 lose when it’s sold? $250.
The problem with 360 is that is has that one awful Arcade bundle. They couldn’t even package Halo the game with its console?
Why must you pay extra for Live Gold?
Microsoft marketing seems to be in the porcelain horse.
Maybe bundling well-known games with some mediocre Microsoft ones, coupled with Live, a headset, and a charger (or get a controller w/ charge n play) with a 360, and pull it off for $500 dollars, an you have a casual gamer hooked on it like a preteen on porn.
They can’t pull in people with HD-DVD anymore…
Doesn’t Microsoft have bigger fish to fry as of now? Like Yahoo?
@tyger “every XBOX sold is money out of Microsoft’s pocket”
Every console sold is money out of the manufactorer’s pocket (except maybe Wii). The PS3 definitely costs more than $399 to make, especially with their BluRay and larger Hard Drives. Their service shops get less calls though.
@Brooklynflyboy “PS2 won the console war”
Of course PS2 beat XBox. It was MS’s first console which came out a year after the PS2 with nothing more than a handful of titles to the PS2’s thousands. We haven’t “seen this before” as the circumstances are entirely different.
@Gothdom “It IS too early to say MS is dead, but they do go in that direction”
Like we didn’t say that about PS3 and Sony last year. Sony and Microsoft will never die because they are simply too big and have too many markets.
@Orakga
You can easily use your Wii statements to compliment 360. The Wii is only a transition system to Gaming in general, not a particular machine. If anything, gamers would just buy the next Nintendo system.
Despite what I say in defence of Microsoft, I own all the consoles and am looking forward to PS3 exclusives. The fact that BluRay won does give the PS3 much more value. Without BluRay, however, I do not think we would have seen the sales increase.
I can’t pick one system, as I don’t see the point. Being a fanboy of any one console would restrict me to only certain games and features. I’d rather have them all. Sure, Microsoft can’t make hardware, but their Third party tools and support are the best. Sure, the Wii has a huge install base, but it’s aimed at a market which the 360 and PS3 do not actively compete in (casual). And yes, the PS3 has more stable hardware and better value, but it’s game support will not be as important as it’s media support.
All I gotta say is good job PS3. And to you people who try to force arguments out of irrelavent data… bash only appropriate subjects.
Did anyone hit the panic button with Sony’s poor first 9months on the market until they dropped the price twice?
You make it sound like MS are not selling any consoles. They are selling hundreds of thousands a month in NA and while Japan is worthless they do rather well in EU/UK as well. The 360 has been on the market a whole year longer than the PS3 and while it has given them an advantage of a bigger install base it also means that they are going to reach saturation faster than the competition. In the world wide numbers it is still going to be at least a year before Sony can reach the 360’s install base and that’s if the 360 stops selling completely.
I agree that MS need to step up their game and respond to Sony just like Sony stepped up and responded to MS. To call them anywhere near dead is a ridiculous statement only made by uninformed childish fanbois.
The PS3 is doing well right now, they’ve had 2 years to get it together and everything they’ve been working for is coming to a head right now. All those promises and teasers are now coming to fruition. Just like the 360 had it’s very solid year in 07 and in NA beat the PS3 every month. If it wasn’t for the Japan the PS3 would of fell way short of the 360’s 07 total hardware sales.
Somthing I find annoying is that people seem to write off the existing library of games too quickly. You all act as if the game isn’t coming the next 6 months it doesn’t exist. There are a TON of games that dwarf the PS3 and Wii in quality that haven’t gone away and are still a great reason to own the 360. Then you have their upcoming games like Ninja Gaiden 2 in June, Too Human, Halo Chronicles, Halo Wars, Left 4 Dead, Alan Wake, Warhound and many others.
Now, if MS does nothing and simply sits back on excuses and doesn’t make any moves then there won’t be any need for discussion the 360 will fall slowly out of the race and their will be no doubts.
The PS3 has been profitable for awile now, and the 360 even if selling at a profit is paying off the massive amount of money spent to extend warranties due to RRoD. The trend of the PS3 outselling the 360 may not continue all year but they will definitely stay neck in neck every month regardless of a price drop on MS end, a price drop for the PS3 would see it screaming off in the distance but neither Sony nor MS are gonna do that for at least the next few months, probably not until late summer or fall. The 360 is sitting around 18 mil and the PS3 probably around 12 or so by now, not nearly the significant lead that it had at the end of last year. It seems that Sony are going to continue the trend of staggering releases so that every couple of months from here on there will be killer games coming out, MS can’t do that. Anyone that thinks any of Microsofts big titles this year are going to sell massive amounts of systems are sadly mistaken as most of those fanbases currently exist in people who already have 360’s. Gears 2, Fable 2, and NG2 are it after GTA4 which will only sell better on tyhe 360 due to install base but I would gather that it will generate more consoles sold for Sony in the month of April and May. The 360 peaked and the sooner most people come to terms with that the better.
Microsoft isn’t doing or saying anything because Microsoft cannot bring it’s unfixable issues into the light. That unfixable issue is:
Hardware choice
Now that Blu-ray has won the format war the PS3 is a very compelling piece of hardware.
The DVD drive and the lack of HDD on the xbox are now limiting factors to the system. Many games have had capactiy problems in the past. With games now bumping into the Blu-ray limit this can only get worse.
RRoD Many fence sitters I know have opted to avoid the 360 because of this reason.
The Xbox was launched in typical Microsoft fashion. Microsoft counted on the weight of it’s presence and earliness to market to corner the developers/publishers thus cornering the majority of good games and thus gamers. Making poor hardware decisions a moot point once they controlled the market. Unfortunately Microsofts gamble did not pay off.
Microsoft is facing market saturation. That’s why they’re trying to clone the Wiimote…They think it will give them access to the same casual demographic that loves the Wii so much. Naturally, they’re missing the point completely – it’s not the controller that sells that system, it’s the buyer perception of the product. Everyone knows Wii has fun, casual games…Most people don’t realize that the 360 has some, too.
Probably also doesn’t help that older people see their children or grandchildren playing Halo 3 on the 360 and assume the system isn’t for them. That aside, though…
I think the big thing pushing the PS3 right now is the Blu-ray player functionality. The PS3 is pretty much the best Blu-ray player out there now, and it’s fairly future proof. Since Blu-ray won the format war, we’re now seeing people picking it up as a Blu-ray player, and not just as a game console.
Sure, Microsoft has a nice RENTAL service…But people like to BUY movies, too, and they generally aim to purchase the best of the best if they’re willing to splurge on high def content. Throw in the potential for bandwidth limitations for individual users and they’re having a hell of a time convincing people that the 360 rental service competes with a built-in Blu-ray player.
There’s also the Netflix factor…A lot of people don’t want to pay $4 for a movie rental, downloadable or not, if they’re already subscribed to Netflix and don’t have to pay anything to get their next movie. I know I don’t. That’s just pissing away money, especially when I can rent a Blu-ray and get better video and sound quality at a total cost of $0.00 more than I already pay per month for Netflix.
Because of these factors, the downloadable rental system the 360 has will never be the selling point that the Blu-ray player is for the PS3.
Either way, the PS3 has some nice exclusives coming out over the next year, and its feature set will be more fleshed out as well. In-game XMB and Home are supposedly coming at some point in ‘08. I wouldn’t be surprised if those factors kept sales of the PS3 up for a long time to come.
This will actually end up being better for everyone. It will put competitive pressure on Microsoft, so 360 users will likely see some functionality improvements as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if certain costs were cut for online usage, too, although I wouldn’t hold my breath on that count.
I do find it hilarious that people are surprised by this. Did you honestly think that the PS3 was just going to roll over and die? It’s a good system with a lot to offer…Don’t judge it based on the fact that badly ported games look and run better on the 360.
Why is the author so surprised? Were you asleep during the last two console wars? Or did he REALLY buy into the notion that the 360 had a chance against the PS3, did he honestly?
The answer is simple, one is an Xbox, the other is a Playstation.
The biggest thing that people misunderstand is the install base. It’s too early to just simply say the install base is larger so XBOX 360 sales will be greater. In the end the PlayStation 3 is the cheapest system on the market to date. It might not look like it but it is even down to the controller.
I know a lot of XBOX 360 fanatics felt they were riped off last generation so they moved to the XBOX 360. That alone should tell you something and it’s mostly Americans. For some odd reason Microsoft only cares about Americans. Big mistake because America isn’t the end all be all of things.
I honestly think Sony will deliver this generation and most people just made the move to XBOX 360 cause of last generation. Haze, Metal Gear Solid 4, LittleBigPlanet, Killzone 2, Heavy Rain: The Origami Killer…etc. are going to move consoles. This is Sony’s second year not third so install base means nothing at this point in time.
If people really think the install base means a lot this time we’ll see if Gears of War 2 can make these sales again. Remembering that it came out before the launch of the PlayStation 3 and Wii.
In conclusion it’s a lot of PlayStation 2 owners moving toward the PlayStation 3. With PlayStation Home around the corner people are underestimating Sony’s ideas.
lol cat.. why does my comment not appear on the site?
and now it randomly says i have already posted that :s
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