First off I’d like to congratulate MS for well and truly forcing their foot into the door of the industry that we all love, gaming. They have created a brand that is recognisable and popular (in some parts of the world), as well as introduced a lot of interesting new IPs to gamers. During a questionable start with hardware reliability they still managed to grab a lot of sales and 3rd party support, although much of this was done with next to no competition, it’s still an achievement. Microsoft came out guns blazing in a wild rush that paid off in a lot of ways but, my question is, without the advantage of a head start and Sony’s various slip ups, will MS be able to keep the market share they’ve grabbed?
Looking at it from an optimistic standpoint I could point out the differences between last gen Xbox sales and 360 sales and easily assume that the two totals create an upward trend. However a good scientist knows that more evidence would be needed and there are many factors that could make 360’s success appear as nothing more than an anomaly. The price, for example, 360 has been cheaper than PS3 for the entirety of its lifespan, making it the more attractive choice for non-gaming parents everywhere. There is no indication of any pricing for next gen systems as of yet, which means that the advantage of price could disappear; especially when you consider the rumour that MS intend to force a new (probably more expensive) version of Kinect onto gamers. Judging from past consoles, it’s nearly always the cheaper option that sells best in the US and probably UK too, would this mean MS resort to ‘gimping’ specs in order to maintain a price advantage? It could very well be.
The second advantage in Microsoft’s favour came from the early release, although, as mentioned, this may have backfired slightly with RROD. They still had over a year to themselves on the market and it’s something that has given them bragging rights for almost this entire generation, which is odd considering PS3 has managed to sell just as many units in less time. In fact, if you look at it closely you can work out exactly how much faster PS3 sold:
Although official figures aren’t released just yet you can bet they will be pretty close so for this example I’m going to say both are neck and neck at 80m right now.
Xbox 360 has been on market for 8 years (ish)
PS3 for 7 (ish)
So Xbox has sold (on average) 80m divided by 8 years, which is obviously 10m per year.
PS3 has sold (on average) 80m divided by 7 years, which comes to 11.4m per year (rounded down), which is made slightly more impressive because of the higher price point. Obviously this is just rough approximates but it does go to show that PS3 has done well in spite of the disadvantages it has faced.
Anal analytics aside, the advantage of time is something that MS, most likely, no longer have, well, that is unless they release the 3rd Xbox in the next couple of months, which is ludicrous. Sony has stated a “holiday 2013” release for PS4 putting any chance of another long MS competition free timeframe to rest.
It’s the loss of these advantages that is making next generation so interesting for me; we may get to see clearly, without so much confusion and misdirection clouding the truth of things. What I’m trying to say is that it could turn out to be a fair race this time and it’s anybodies to win, these are exciting times.
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you raise a very good question. Many people feel the way you do that the only reason Xbox maintained a small sales lead was because of the 1 year head start. Most would agree the PS3 had a weaker start and a stronger finish while the Xbox had a stronger start and a weaker finish. Either way it adds up to an overall great generation for both companies (and Nintendo as well). I for one just look forward to another great upcoming generation.
Oh, another sales blog.
When all is said and done, the Xbox 360 sold threefold what its predecessor did, while the PS3 only managed 50% of what its predecessor accomplished. Tens of millions of PS2 owners switched to Microsoft, Nintendo, and PC this gen.
What will be interesting to see next gen is that you can bet devs and publishers are well aware of M$'s sharp growth and Sony's decline; which platform would you be more confident in putting your game on knowing this?
I think we'll see SONY desperating searching for their own Mario or Halo with a variety of new IP's. Many will flop, but I can see them really finding something and making the PS3 just a bad memory. If they can't penetrate the market as the PS2 did and if they continue to lose market share, I think we could see a SONY exit from the console race within one or two gens.
I write a blog about the potential level playing field in the up coming generation and people have jumped on the relatively small section about sales and started trolling -sigh-
Thanks to chrismichaels04 & MrBeatdown for putting the trolls in their place for me, bubs for you both.
Again I'd like to spell out my intent for those with low reading comprehension:
It's my opinion that the advantages Microsoft have had in this generation will not exist in the next generation, which would put both the PS4 and Xbox 3 on a clearer and much more even playing field. This means comparisons will be much easier to draw up with little room for fanboys to distort facts in their favour, hopefully meaning less misinformation and greater competition among manufactuers leading to better experiences for gamers.
This is NOT a sales blog.
its not about cnsole its about games..i will get that one which has better games
I think there are other factors to take into consideration:
1) The PS3 launched 1-1.5years after the 360. The 2nd largest market - EU didnt get the PS3 until 1.5 years of the initial 360 release.
2) Unlike the 360, the PS3 for its price and lack of support in the early years was bashed to high heaven by journalists, compared to the 360 which not only had the media behind them, but an amazing marketing campaign throughout the generation, more capital to play about with and a lot more developer support.
3) Sony on the other hand lost a lot of developer support due to the difficult system architecture and it took them a longtime to get their support back.
4) As a result of the bad press and other factors, Sony lost Exclusive rights to some of their biggest games that drove sales of the previous console e.g. GTA, FF, DMC and Tekken
5) not only was it a more expensive console, but there were further costs added on top of the cost of purchasing the console. Most of my friends didnt buy a PS3 until they were able to afford a HD TV and HDMI cable, unlike 360 owners which weren't pushed as much into that direction.
In the end, all based on opinions as facts can be made to swing anyway depending who is driving them. However, logic is a different matter all together.
1) There will not be a huge difference between the 2 consoles launching
2) The PS4 has already got a huge amount of support from Indies right up to the big AAA developers and publishers due to its simple to use architecture and simple subission process.
3) unlike the PS3, now there is a ready and fully fledged eco-system ready for publishers and developers to sel their content on, ranging from the home console, to handhelds, to tablets and mobile phones and with Gaikai, maybe even TV's and PC's.
It is hard to comment on the next XBOX due to the lack of official information, but I suppose we will be able to have more informed discussions when this information is made available.