| snowdog said: It already has surpassed the 360 in terms of installed userbase imo. These figures don't take into account the number of replacement PS3s and 360s due to YLOD and RROD, do they..? I know several people that have bought at least 2 360s due to having their console dying. Isn't there something like a 1 in 3 failure rate or is that an urban myth..? |
This is a major dead-end. It's impossible to tell without knowing directly from Gamestop and other companies. Basically, every console that died (let's assume 100%) was replaced. The question is, did gamestop count their replacement warranty thing as a new sale, or as a return, or something else? If one were to figure that out, and figure out the accounting involved in the gamestop warranty program (someone has the numbers), one could eventual figure out the install base. But right now that is almost impossible.
The evidence though, is that gamestop stopped offering warranties on 360s. You sell a warranty for usually 1-5th to 1/6th of the price, maybe less, and hope that less than that breaks within your warranty timeline, thereby you make money under the assumption that you yourself are covering the costs of a replacement. If gamestop pulled 360 warranties, it could point to them counting every replacement they gave as a "new sale". There could be other factors, but unfortunately, these are impossible to figure out, like I said. There may have been some kind of injunction, or other internal pressure to stop offering.. but it's very likely, in my opinion, that gamestop was treating their in-store replacements as new sales.
