Reasonable said:
PS3 launched March 2007 in UK I believe with 360 launching December 2005. So roughly speaking PS3 has had 53 months on the market and 360 has had 68 months which means that average montly sales for each has been 77,766 a month for the PS3 and 96,417 for the 360. So demand for the PS3 really isn't that much behind 360. Now, that's a flat average, and of course a lot of sales occur for Christmas, so of course the fact that 360 has had two extra holiday spikes means that it has an extra weight of advantage. Personally I'd say the evidence is that the 360 doesn't dominate the UK market over the PS3 and that the PS3 still sells pretty well in a crowded market. To me the 360's lead is simply a function of two additional peak spikes plus additional time in the market and a lower price rather than some huge preference, and that's what the numbers strongly indicate. The UK is actually close to evenly split across the HD consoles with the Wii being the closest to more dominant. The US, Japan and other European countries are where the PS3/360 see much more divisive gaps. I always find the assumptions about the UK funny, rather like Kow TBH, as in fact the market comes close to equally supporting both consoles, both offer unique features right now specific to the market (SKY on 360 and iPlayer on PS3 for example) and in fact it's Wii software that sells the most with the Wii still ahead despite recent dips. |
Good analysis, but both your numbers and current weekly sales for PS3 compared to competitors, show that there actually is margin for improvement, although less dramatic than not taking into account head start and more Xmas sales for XB360, but if you compare the UK gap to what PS3 did elsewhere in EMEAA, it looks again bad. Not to mention that head start and more Xmases don't apply to Wii and PS3 did compared to it worse in UK than WW.
UK is the best seller market in EMEAA for PS3, but it has also the largest unexploited potential for it, unless the total gaming population in other countries rise a lot.
