PS3 vs XBox 360 attach ratio

[MikeB]

@ DarkisWR

Of course, the XBox 360 has a higher attach ratio, the console had a 1 year headstart in the US and Japan, a 1 year and 4 months headstart for PAL regions (2 additional holiday seasons!) and much more so for other regions... However today this does not matter anymore as all consoles have been on the market for a while. (BTW the Wii also had a headstart in Europe/PAL regions, one extra holiday season and that also distorts comparisons, but to a much lesser extend)

IMO it's so ridiculously simple to understand.

How do attach ratios work? Look at the PS2 attach ratio. Imagine Sony would stop selling the PS2 today, then the attach ratio will increase as the PS2 still sells software.

However the PS2 still sells very well, even beating the XBox 360 last quarter. Game sales are low due in part to piracy but probably way more relevant a very healthy 2nd hand market (I think the PS3 will likely get an even more lively 2nd hand market at some point due in part of the scratch resistance of Blu-Ray disc). So the attach rate can drop slightly.

Attach rates also drops relatively when you sell a lot of hardware in a short period of time as the new users didn't have enough time to buy enough games for their console.

Why do attach rates normally increase over time? Let's say your attach ratio is 8, new users normally don't buy 8 games the day they buy a console, however the ratio would normally still increase as the installed base will buy games as well.

Let's say the average console owner only buys 2 game per year. After 5 years the specific attach ratio for that sole console would be 10. (5 * 2 makes 10) There's a direct correlation with time.

VGChartz' and my info aren't flawed in this regard at all. Specify in what way you think they would be flawed?