January Figures Are In, PS3 Outsells 360
In a surprising turn of events, the numbers are in for January and it seems that the PS3 has outsold the Xbox 360 for the first time in an averaged month. The PS3 sold 269,000 units, while the 360 pushed 230,00. The grand leader of the current generation is still the Nintendo Wii with 274,000 consoles sold in January.
Microsoft attributes the lower than usual sales to the short supply of Xbox 360 Premium and Elite bungles, while the Arcade packs are sitting on shelves. Does that mean most hardcore gamers don't want a console without a hard drive? I'm picking, this wasn't a normal month for Microsoft. Their supplies were probably depleted from the holidays. Regardless, this is a milestone for Sony and may prove to be the beginning of the neck and neck struggle between them and Microsoft.
Here are the totals:
- Wii - 274,000
- PlayStation 3 - 269,000
- PlayStation 2 - 264,000
- Nintendo DS - 251,000
- PlayStation Portable - 230,000
- Xbox 360 - 230,000
Toots
Posted to Video Games on 14 February 2008
· Comments (6)
Other stuff like this: ps3, sales figures, wii, xbox 360
Name: Dave
I don't know if you can call it a "neck and neck struggle" when one of the two is about 7 million units ahead.
To put it another way.... if the PS3 outsold the 360 by the same margin as it did this month for every month going forward, the PS3 would take over the #2 spot at the end of July 2027.
I don't own either console... I'm just saying.
I think we'll see this trend increasing... which is too bad, because I really wanted PS3 to fail (fuck Sony). Though, I guess the impending victory of Blu-ray over HD-DVD is a nice consolation prize, since I think that's the better tech.
Unless licensees really snub PS3 (which doesn't look likely at this point), the PS3 is going to fast become the better choice for gamers. MS needs a major price drop on the Elite and make XBL free to remain competitive, and even then, their best hope is that a) the included Blu-ray player isn't as big a draw in the coming years as it seems it will be and b) Game devs don't put in the effort to optimize games for the cell processor, thereby eliminating any possible graphics advantage the PS3 has.
I don't own a PS3 or a 360, but if I got fed up with the lack of Rock Band on Wii today and decided to pick up another console, it would be a PS3. And that kind of gives me a stomach ache.
Could it be because everyone already owns a 360? Hmmmm?
Either way, good, worthwhile games need to show up. Mine's still collecting dust since Christmas compared to my 360 and Wii.
As I said on Kotaku, Sony needs to make backwards compatibility a priority before I even consider picking up a PS3.
Not sure if Im that surprise.
These are the things that prevent me from picking up a 360.
- Scared of the failure rate, however exaggerated.
- I really hate the profile thing and not being able to just play. (minor considering that Im a PC player).
- Games that I want to play on the 360 I can also run on my PC. With mouse and keyboard!
Things in favour on PS3:
- Blurray seems to be winning.
- Exclusive games not found anywhere else (Final Fantasy, GT, etc).
- Lower price that it was before.
I'd admit the lack of backward compatibility, smaller harddrive, less USB is a minus. However, I've recently bought a PS2, and the 360 fares no better in the harddrive department. ;) I'm not keen on Online gaming (even on the PC) so the whole Live just doesn't do it for me.
I will be buying a PS3 over a 360. I think what kills it for me is that games I want on the 360 are also available for the PC - talk about shooting yourself in the foot. :)