The PlayStation 3 seems to be on its way to outselling the Xbox 360 in Europe, and it already has in France, Spain, Germany and Italy.
SCEE president and CEO David Reeves told MCV that he thinks the gap is closing on Microsoft's console. He points to December, where the PS3, PSP and PS2 all sold over a million units in the PAL regions. Reeves says that about 20 percent of the PS3's sales were in the UK alone, adding that they are "very happy with the performance of PS3 in the UK."
In markets like France, Spain, Germany, Italy and even smaller ones like Switzerland, the PS3 installed user base is larger than that of the Xbox 360's.
“It has not yet reached that in the UK, says Reeves. "But the team here expect to overtake the installed base of Xbox 360 across all PAL territories in late summer. It’s also worth mentioning that last week we outsold Xbox 360 in PAL territories by a ratio of three to one.”
Good for Sony! Of course, the situation is a bit different in the US. But if 2008 pans out as well as some analysts hope, Sony might be able to report something similar for North America in 2009.
Do you think Sony can catch up in 2008 in the US?
Contest:
1:59 PM on 01.24.2008
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It's the sounds of change in the air.
08 could be sony's year.
Ill pick one up eventually but not until FFXIII comes out, but I won't anything but one of the 20 or 60s off of Ebay with the EE chip.
Don't come across as a fanboy from your ignorance. This is about the # of consoles sold, not WHICH HAS MOAR FUNNER GAMEZ or the superior online service.
Numbers can be misinterpreted from several factors, but the raw numbers speak for themselves.
How about more competition? That's always good for business I say.
I'm staying with my 360 (and wii) however, because of one small, silly point. The controller on the Ps1/2/3 is the most uncomfortable thing i've held, since pruning rose bushes without gloves.
Some of those games that they brag "Oh look, MIIIICROSOFT! We are at 16gb!! lolroflzomgwtflollawl!!11" are not that special. Like Resistance:FoM. They bragged about it being nearly (16?) gigs I think, but there is nothing very special. The graphics are nice, blah blah blah. I personally think it is the result of poor compression. They are making them be that large. If they compressed them right you could easily squeeze it on a DVD-9.
Having said that, in the future, the PS3 will have an advantage. When the graphics power starts getting used up they will need more space and the 360 just cannot provide that unfortunately. But for now I think it is very even.
The games will be the biggest decider, the RRoD is pretty much gone in most consumers eyes. If all those games Sony has been waiting for surface, we'll definitely see a surge in sales. In the meantime, though, a ton of my friends who were Sony fanboys but bought a 360 early say they are staying where they are...And the look on their faces when I say "Told ya so" is priceless
No. Since launch, Xbox 360 has sold an average of about 100K consoles/week. Assuming this doesn't change radically, by the end of this year there will be over 15 million 360s in the US and Canada.
Right now there are less than 4 million PS3s in the US and Canada after more than a year of sales. I do not believe that Sony will be able to sell 12 million consoles (more than triple the first-year sales) in this territory in the rest of 2008, even with the rumored price drop.
Maybe, maybe Sony could catch Microsoft here in 2009, but Xbox brand loyalty is pretty strong in North America.
People seem to underestimate the power of the playstation brand in Europe.
In Ireland where I live 25% of households own a PS2.
In a country with a population of 6 million thats a pretty big damn number.
Funny how Mr Sony didn't mention Wii, isn't it? I wonder why.
As for me, I'm gonna stick with my 360. PS3 has no BC anymore so that kills a lot of interest for me. When it gets cheap enough with BC, if its still around in two years, then maybe I might invest. Sony have pissed me off too much to deserve my money for PS3.
Metal Gear? I love it but not enough to buy a console to play it. However RE5 and Dead Rising were the reason I purchased my 360. I guess it all comes done to the issue of console price again.
ps3 has not been gaining any ground whatsoever in the US. in fact, losing ground. sony faithful will point to "strong" holiday sales, yet in actuallity the ps3 lost more ground.
sony needs the price drop to 299 as fast as possible if they have any chance of getting out of third place.
Xbox 360 has about 111 weeks of European sales, and PS3 has about 44 weeks. If you look at the slopes of the sales charts, there's not much question that the PS3 is the more popular system in Europe -- it just hasn't been available as long. Only one holiday season for PS3 vs. three holiday seasons for Xbox 360, for example.
First year PS360 sales comparison for Europe
You are not very smart. A "saturated" market would be that of the PS2, which has an install base of 120 million, not less than 10.
@ no one in particular:
I can't wait for the PS3 to outsell the 360. I actually own a 360, but if you're not in to fps's, there' only a handful of quality games. If the PS3 increases its install base, developers will give it more attention, and I think its big name titles are less likely to be fps's.
Not one week in January has the 360 outsold the PS3 worldwide....let alone Europe. Granted that it's pretty close, but still, it's a no right now for the 360
http://vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=Wii®1=Total+Other&cons2=PS3®2=Total+Other&cons3=X360®3=Total+Other&start=39446&end=39467
I'm just saying IMO, most of the ppl who want a 360 already own one, and i've been looking for an excuse to buy a PS3 <was a huge sony fanboy a few years ago> but i can't justify the kind of a cash dump, they need some good games that aren't butchered by that "sixaxis" crap, i'm happy with a dualshock, i want FF, front mission, burnout, etc, the kind of stuff that made me love the PS2, but with more content <mostly bigger worlds with more exploration> and in 1080p glory...then i'd drop the cash i did on my 360 <which was only 300 btw, had an HDD from a friend's dead first-gen (he voided warranty before the extended one came out) so an arcade bundle has served me well. sorny was never the FPS guys, they were the games with depth guys, the paddle is just designed for different games.
Stop this stupid shit now please. We ALL know the machines are almost identical in power and graphics, ask ANY developer and they will talk about slightly better AA or minor differences in texture memory etc. Minor.
I think destructiod should have a filter to eliminate these vrs graphics posts by now.
Its all about the games, but I know you can't have one without the other.
I'm by no means a sony fanboy, never have been. Was more of a Squaresoft fan. And while it looks like FFXIII probably won't be seen around here until late this year/early next year I still intend to get a PS3 for my birthday...then the next day I will have Crisis Core woohoo.
if you think the SIXAXIS butchers games and is crap, then don't you think maybe you shouldn't get a PS3? sorry to have to tell you this, but motion control is not going away on the PS3.
"What I'm saying is that graphics have peaked with 360 and PS3"
I believe that statement to be false. The 360 has been out 1yr longer than the PS3, I think we have much more to see for improvements on the PS3.
Still selling units for any system is good news.
you basically made my argument for me, one of the main reasons outside of the price is the controller that killed my desire for the black dust magnet
"PS3 gets it for me. I know they need to do something great this year to get sales up to where they should be, but I think the Wii-factor is slowly going to drop off, and continuing hardware issues and no Blu-Ray is going to greatly damage the 360 this year. With the PS3 people will get a Blu-Ray player and a console with some great games."
PS3 should definately get a big market share in the UK/EU this year, and next year I see it getting there big time in the US.
I still don't have enough reasons to buy a PS3. PS3's future-proof concept is a load of bull. The PS2 lasted for ten years because no one buys PS3's. Mark my words, M$ is going to stick with the five-year model, and when the next M$ console comes out, Sony will be forced to follow suit, even when they don't have a new console in R&D, because M$ will apply everything that this generation of consoles learned about new high capacity media, motion control, and parallel processing to their new box. Sony will have no choice, be outpowered, or upgrade before their Absurd twelve year goal.
The PS3 is going to improve in sales as it becomes increasingly affordable and it gets a game worth shelling out for to play(has yet to happen). Also, the playstation name has huge brand power throughout the world. I still think it's pointless to buy a PS3 right now if you own a 360, there just isn't enough incentive unless you are a die hard mgs fan.. The vast majority of upcoming games are multiplatform, and most of which so far have played the same or noticeably better on 360 (Orange Box, Assassin's Creed, EA games in general) and there is no evidence to seeing a change in that trend, with Rockstar pointing to the PS3 as reason for the delay of GTA4. And the few better exclusives are on the 360, and despite the PS3 having *WOW* mgs4, which had a rather poor response from the playable demo anyways. I'll take ninja gaiden 2 and call it even thanks.
Also, the vast majority of people are idiots, most of europe included. The insane number of people who bought the wii tells me that. No offense. Microsoft appeals to the hardcore, nintendo appeals to the casuals, and sony appeals to complete morons.
lol, ignorance is bliss.
In the UK it all comes down to which system can sell you GTA 4 for the cheapest price. I'm expecting a big price cut for the 360 in time for this.
And oh for God's sake, the Wii isn't even worth talking about. Everyone and their brother's dog's bunghole has a Wii with 3 extra nunchuks and the Crossbow attachment. Ugh.
1. BRD Market has pretty much killed HD-DVD format, so all HD movies will now only come to BRD. So Sony's gamble made them win the format war and now good chunk of income will be coming in to Sony from the movie industry and thanks to this, more PS3's sold and BRD movies.
2. Game Developers (like Incognito) will have a much better grasp of the PS3 architecture (which was very hard for the first year) that will be releasing allot better and more interesting innovative games. (same thing happened with the PS2 at launch and look where it stands now)
3. The space in BRD. Developers will create more impressive games such as Heavenly Sword to a much better extent that could never be achieved in the 360. (NOw they just need better handling on the controls, lol)
4. This year more AAA titles will be coming out for the PS3: LBP, MGS4, (hopefully) one of the FF13's, Grand Turismo 5, Resistance 2, ect... so PS3 owners will finally get the treats.
5.Once you buy the system, PSN is free, its fast, and no lag time on Online games depending on your connection. Played Warhawk, UT3, CoD4, Resistance at max people in giant zone's and 0 lag time at 1080p 40" LCD. Pretty fucking impressive with all the HD graphics going on.
6. you can MOD the system (for fuks sake you cant do it on your 360 or you XBL will be canceled permanently). Add a new HDD if you want, put the files you want in it, do whatever you can do to it, its yours, no penalties.
7. The Technology behind the Cell allows the PS3 to be used for research institutes, schools, Sims, Fast Servers. Something no other gaming console has ever done.
8. The new upcoming features: Home, XMB, movie player, Chat, music player, will only get better through updates. The MP3 effect is fucking impressive with the 3D Earth and the 3D effects.
9. The Eye Toy is pretty impressive. The stuff indy developers have been creating for its very creative and has never been done before.
10. and finally, it is a system that if you take good care of it, it can last. The 360, I doubt it wont live much longer after the 3 year warranty has voided.
*rolls eyes*
Is Sony secretly the Shinra Corporation?!no that would be Microsoft.....
I already got a PS3 in the UK - although the 60GBs are now selling like hotcakes on ebay for extortionate prices - i had to pay £475 for mine without any games- 40GB is a ripoff for serious gamers - they need to bring out the 80gb here or at least 1 SKU that is different from the non-backwards compatible 40GBs(although i do agree theyre a good idea for ppl not interested in PS2 games or who cant afford it)