MikeB, I respect the fact that you feel the need to defend the PS3. I do agree that it gets attacked far too much. 2m units sold is very good for a system of it's price and such negative publicity. I have gone on record time and time again here and elsewhere to state my belief that the PS3 will beat out both the Wii and 360 in sales worldwide, due to good succuess in all 3 markets. However, to be fair, your comparison of the PS3 versus 360 launch is flawed. You are comparing merely the US and Japan - yes, a market both launched in. However, the 360 launched in Europe far before Sony will launch the PS3 in Europe. Due to this, your numbers are misguided and wrong. Microsoft shipped around 650k, 300k, and 100k during it's November-December launch window in all 3 territories, if not in less time. Due to this, your numbers are falsely leading to a better PS3 launch. It's obvious that the PS3 is by far the better hardware mover in Japan. However, Sony has had the advantage in your charts to only have 2 territories to worry about versus Microsoft's 3. This has escewed your numbers. Let's take a look at actual sales of the PS3 versus the 360 worldwide in the Nov-Dec-Jan period, to give a true depiction of how both systems manage to sell: _____________ 360 November: 375,250 - H/W in NA, 1,448,250 S/W in NA No EU or Japan sales PS3 November: 222,250 - H/W in NA, 261,500 S/W in NA 167,500 - H/W in Japan No EU sales _____________ In November, w/w, Sony leads by 14,500 units. MS leading S/W sales (US only) by 1,186,750 units. _____________ 360 December: 303,500 - H/W in NA, 1,390,000 S/W in NA 500,000 - H/W in Europe (300k at launch + 200k rest of month) http://www.johnporcaro.com/2006/01/xbox_news_from_.html 73,750 - H/W in Japan PS3 December: 537,500 H/W in NA, 1,240,000 S/W in NA 309,500 H/W in Japan No EU sales ________________ MS leads Sony by 15,750 units in H/W w/w, 1,336,750 units in S/W in the US ________________ 360 January: 269,000 - H/W in NA, 753,000 S/W in NA 130,000 - H/W in Europe (estimate) - Estimated by assuming Europe got 30% of MS's Q1 shipment(s) 32,750 - H/W in Japan PS3 January: 275,500 H/W in NA, 745,000 S/W in NA 146,250 H/W in Japan ________________ MS leads Sony by 25,750 H/W units, and 1,344,750 units of software. No spreadsheet working to show it, but here are the facts, if you want to be honest: The 360 matched the PS3 w/w in terms of hardware sales (roughly), and totally dominated it in terms of software in the US, and most likely abroad during launch. Even further, the 360 had a nice little lead being around for an extra year. Now, that might not matter, but as of right now, in the US, the 360 is out-selling the PS3 by about 3:1 since November. Quite a big discrepancy, eh? The 360 has also beat the PS3 w/w since launch due to great sales in the US (2.2m since November, versus PS3s 1.1m), and having Europe to offset PS3's sales in Japan. Again, I'm not a doom-and-gloom Sony anti-fan. I believe the PS3 will slowly gain momentum w/w throughout the year, and steadily improve shipments year over year for the next 3-4 years, top out, then have a gradual decline like the PS2 has. But if your wanting to argue sales, lets do it honestly and do worldwide, rather than hunt and pick sales not counting sold X360 systems in Europe, when it should be there. The PS3 isn't the PS2 - it lost the window to do business like it has done, and it's doubtful it'll be anywhere close to the PS1. Will it end up improving like the PS1 did over its lifetime? Yes, absolutely. However, at such a high pricepoint, the most we can hope for is the PS3 will match the PS2s REVENUE, but only about 60-66% of it's lifetime h/w sales.
Back from the dead, I'm afraid.
