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JWeinCom on 15 January 2014
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GribbleGrunger said:
JWeinCom said:
GribbleGrunger said:

Didn't it beat the 3DS last week?

..........America.....Europe
3DS:    86,555     116,940
PS4:    98,590      119,852

Surely you can't include a region the PS4 hasn't even released in?


You can.  You can argue that it's not a fair comparison without Sony having launched in Japan, but you could also argue that it isn't a fair comparison if you take out the 3DS's best market.  Basically, comparing 3DS sales to PS4 without including Japan would be like comparing PS3 to 360 sales without Europe.  It significantly skews the results.

But, at any rate, sales aren't about arbitrary bragging rights, but about getting machines into people's hands, creating a market, and generating money so that companies can survive.  So, regardless of the PS4's availability, the 3DS is building its install base more at the moment which is really what matters.

Comparing selectively is completely different to comparing relatively. I agree that if you compared the 360 with the PS3 and only compared the UK and America, it would be wrong, but that's because those consoles HAVE launched in all territories. When it comes to consoles that haven't launched in certain regions you can only compare the regions it's released in, so including a region that one console has released in but the other has not, skews the result unfairly. Once the PS4 releases in Japan, THEN we can compare the WWS. Perhaps the 3DS will still outsell the PS4 in WWS but as of right now, the PS4 is beating the 3DS in the regions it has launched in.

I agree with your last comment though. The only real concern a gamer should have is that the install base becomes big enough to create a bigger market and encourage more support from devs going forward.

Well, sure you could say the PS4 is outselling the 3DS in Europe and America, but you couldn't make the statement "the PS4 is outselling the 3DS" because that just wouldn't be true.  You can however make the statement "the 3DS is outselling the PS4" because that is true.  Of course you'd have to put an asterisk or something, but it still holds.

Ultimately it would be hard or impossible to ever have a truly fair comparison because of the numerous factors involved, so I think the best way to do it is just comparing WW sales without trying to alter the data in any way.  That's just me though.