spectrum48k

"Two days after the third anniversary of its launch, Microsoft has confirmed with MCV that Xbox 360 has sold more units to date worldwide than the original Xbox did during its entire lifecycle. Although MS did not disclose exact numbers, the 360's predecessor sold through 25 million units from its launch on Nov. 15, 2001, through May of 2005. Rival Sony recently revealed that global sales of PlayStation 3 have reached 17 million units since the console went on sale Nov. 11, 2006."

Hell of an achievement, given it's outselling Sony's PS3 and given the PS2 had an installed user base of over 100 million units. A LOT of people thought Sony was going to wipe the floor with Microsoft again, which is certainly not happening.

"MCV also reports that MS had not expected to reach this milestone for one to two more weeks, implying that sales of the 360 could push further beyond that of the first-generation Xbox by the end of the holiday shopping season. 360 heads into the holidays in the wake of a major interface revamp, the New Xbox Experience, and a year which saw substantial price cuts, placing its core Arcade SKU at $199."

Of course the Xbox360 is much more developer friendly than the PS3, allowing them to get up and running far quicker and turnaround games in a shorter space of time - the irony being that's ONE of the main reasons the original Playstation gained industry popularity (in comparison to it's then competition, the Sega Saturn and Nintendo 64 later on)

The much vaunted and mysterious extra horsepower of PS3 has yet to be shown, if indeed it has any, with Xbox360's Gears of War II cited as the best looking next-gen title yet.

Now, if they can just get their reliability sorted, they'll be fine

DISCLAIMER
Before the Sony fanboys jump down my throat, I have a PS3 as well, and love it's superior build quality and connectivity. Sadly, all of that is apparently insignificant when it comes to unit sales and attach rates.

As an aside, I wonder how much significance Sony and MS will put on being first out the door with the next generation boxes ?

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

Sony cant afford to be first out of the door with the next gen. Too much is invested in the PS3 and they have to see a return on that before they can move onto the PS4.

Geezer

So, the Xbox 360 has sold 8.33 million units per year since launch, the PS3 8.5 millions units per year since launch and that's good news for MS? Assuming that Sony will drop the price of the PS3 further in it's third year and maybe make inprovements to things like MS have done with theirs, it will be interesting to see the final tallies.

I suppose it's impressive in terms of how good the Xbox 360 is in it's second gen, but will they deliver next gen?

I hope they do, it's good for competition, but that's also assuming Sony don't learn from the problems they have had with PS3 launch and complexity after the complaceny and domination of PS and PS2.

Good time to be a gamer!

Geezer

Iain Young

MS stated that this generation their aim was to put a big dent in the market dominance of Sony. Looks like they've definitely hit their targets. It will interesting to see what they do with the next generation...

P1Fanatic

Figures like that mean nothing. As a PS3 owner Im not being defensive but until you know the mark up on both consoles those numbers mean nothing. IIRC MS was selling the original Xbox at a loss, not sure if thats the same this time around.

Units sold does = more games sold = more royalties etc but profit per unit would be interesting to see.

Simon

Iain Young

MS are making a profit on each console now, but I suspect it will be some time before they offset the huge development costs (and of course the RROD returns costs).

Last I heard (a few months ago) Sony were still making a largeish loss on each console sold, but they launched after MS, so are behind the curve on getting costs down.

Both camps make most of their money from their slice of the game sales. Would interesting to see those figures...

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

The console + game market for Sony and MS is based on the razor and blades model of sales. Nintendo are the only one to never sell their console at a loss. As stated MS were starting from a long way behind Sony and the PS so this generation if they can establish themselves as a major player with Sony they'll have achieved their goal.

phil_wrx

iTrader: (2)

well i bought an xbox for my little un today, brand new arcade with 4 games and 2 controllers £159 compared too ps3 bottom choice £319 with 1 game i wonder why 360 are out selling ps3.

plus the new experience is great, i have copied the games i play most onto my elite's hard drive which

1. helps it run sooo quite

2. it runs really cool as the dvd drive isnt spinning constantly

awesome gaming machine

Shaun

Would it be fair to suggest the "extra" horsepower that was touted by Sony is in fact "not there" over the 360? Let's be honest, if you were the manufacturer and/or developer, you would of done something about this now to at least have the monica of the "most powerfulest" console to be flogged to death.

Personally I think it was all the "numbers" hype and Sony have dropped one of those tangible "clangers".

And yes I do own both consoles.... in fact I was one of those muppets who spent over a £1k on a JDM Launch Day version. roflol

phil_wrx

iTrader: (2)

yep i think sony dropped a clanger with the ps3 but developers are using the 360 as the primary development machine for next gen consoles so ps3's only get ported titles unless its ps3 exclusive

PeteBrant

I think , as a gamer, you can only be pleased at the 360's performance. It has forced Sony to raise it's game.

Good competition raises quality, and we all benefit from that, whether you own one of, or both of them.

phil_wrx

iTrader: (2)

very true

RB5-Black

Agreed.

Ms's Priority to take a large chunk of market share from Sony was the game plan this gen. With the next Xbox gen likley to start Late 2010 and sony still pushing the PS3 (Think they wanted 10 year cycle). It will be very interesting to see the jump in performance that the third generation Xbox will provide.

With Live very well sorted and the posibility of Crysis like output from a home games console how will the PS3 compare against that ?

scoobyverysoon

iTrader: (1)

Out of them figures how many had meltdowns I would love to see the figure

phil_wrx

iTrader: (2)

lol well ive had one since launch day and only had rrod once, loads of my mates have xbox'sa dnthey have never had problems but only 2 of my mates have ps3's and one of those broke whitin 2 weeks