| weaveworld said: Well i don't know exactly what has changed in the timeframe dec '07- sept '08 but i can look at the salesnumbers for each year Mr. stickball... march 07 - dec 07 PS3 sold 2.3 million, XBOX360 sold 4.4 million jan 08 - sept 08 PS3 sold 2.2 million, XBOX360 sold 2.1 million So to me it does not seem likely that your 'way of looking at it' is entirely UNBIASED??? Apparantly throughout the entire year the 'average consumer' is picking up this extremely expensive gaming system just about as often as the system that already was a lot cheaper... |
What that tells me is that during Christmas, and the holiday timeframe (Nov-Dec) is far more important than any other part of the year.
Lets look at the timeframe(s) of Jan-Sept, and Oct-Dec --- 9 months to a mere 3 months.
| System | Jan-Sept Sales | Oct-Dec Sales | Chg. |
| Xbox 360 2007 | 2,386,000 | 2,667,000 | +17.0% |
| Xbox 360 2006 | 2,278,000 | 2,153,000 | -5.4% |
| Playstation 3 2007 | 1,330,000 | 1,432,000 | +7.6% |
Now, looking at that shows one major thing: October through December sales, depending on who has momentum, will determine how the entire year plays out. In 2007, the X360 had strong momentum due to Halo 3, and it's first-ever price drop...Therefore it saw a very robust 17% increase vs. the entire 9 months before it. Likewise, the PS3 got a price cut in mid October due to the 40GBs, and saw a decent increase vs. the previous 9 months. This is in contrast to the Xbox 360 in 2006, which had only a few games to brighten up sales (Gears of War), but no price drop, and a rather restrictive pricetag of $300/$400.
Now, I must ask you: Will buyers at Christmas time pick up a much more expensive ($400) system or the much cheaper one ($200)? I believe they will pick up the cheaper one. That is the crux of my argument: The reason the Wii sells so well is not only the innovation behind the device, but the fact that it's certainly the cheapest too. I think that, at a $200 price point, we'll see a lot more systems move this Christmas.
I stick to my prediction: If the Playstation 3 does not recieve a price cut before Christmas in the USA/NA, the Xbox 360 will beat the Playstation 3 by 500,000 units in December. If you'd like to take me up on a ban bet, or sig bet, I will gladly do that with you, weave.
Back from the dead, I'm afraid.
