@ TWRoO

I find it funny often when I tried to help make VGChartz more accurate with their figures, I was usually angrily told by 360 fans I should not dispute VGChartz' provided estimates. Now suddenly VGChartz' estimates and analysis isn't good enough anymore as it backs up my data that PS3 owners on average buy more software last year than 360 owners and relatively also more in the XBox 360 best software sales year?

I recently looked at a Ubisoft fiscal quarter report. Ubisoft published many XBox 360 exclusives in the past, but also their fiscal report shows they generated more revenue on the PS3 the last couple of years. Similar things can be read in fiscal year reports of other publishers, all the recent data always seems more to the advantage of the PS3 than one would expect based on install base differences/exclusive releases etc.

People that buy new consoles also buy games. Since PS3 has been selling more than 360 since 2nd half of last year, it will also sell more games. And i don't trust that list one bit. MW2 more on PS3 whut?

MikeB said: @ TWRoO I find it funny often when I tried to help make VGChartz more accurate with their figures, I was usually angrily told by 360 fans I should not dispute VGChartz' provided estimates. Now suddenly VGChartz' estimates and analysis isn't good enough anymore as it backs up my data that PS3 owners on average buy more software last year than 360 owners and relatively also more in the XBox 360 best software sales year? I recently looked at a Ubisoft fiscal quarter report. Ubisoft published many XBox 360 exclusives in the past, but also their fiscal report shows they generated more revenue on the PS3 the last couple of years. Similar things can be read in fiscal year reports of other publishers, all the recent data always seems more to the advantage of the PS3 than one would expect based on install base differences/exclusive releases etc.

Well on this quarterly is a powerpoint to prove my point at least:
http://www.microsoft.com/msft/earnings/FY09/earn_rel_q1_09.mspx

On that one when you scroll down to EDD it says: "record attach rate of 8.1 per U.S. NPD"

Like I said I have no idea why they stopped putting that it was from NPD on it but the numbers increase as a pattern so the current ones are from the same source as far as I am concerned. Microsoft doesn't put any data about software sales in their actual reports, and these slides they have only put that attach rate stuff.

@ TWRoO

I think they wanted to highlight the strong (already anticipated) performance of Halo 3 that quarter and mislead people with their headstart advantage for the US, claiming record after record (which is not that honest, as the attach rate always goes up in course of time if there is a normal amount of software sold and thus for example the PS2 and various other systems show a higher attach rate), including some with a short lifespan. The CD32 for example had a high attach rate in the UK because its company bankrupted yet games continued to be produced by 3rd parties.

They can't claim a 8.8 attach rate in combination with worldwide shipments, without specificing where they are introducing their bias like they did in that report. So I think Microsoft's latest figures are accurate.

The NPD results were probably painting a nicer picture than the worldwide data would have shown, hence they used that instead considering the release of Halo.

TWRoO is 100% correct, because i also remember that MS only provided USA attach ratio. Because both figures from NPD and MS themsels were similar. And we all know that in the rest of world 360 attach rate is alot lower then in the USA. And also this proves that VGZ overall attach ratio of 8.8 for 360 is wrong.

@ shanbcn

I don't think it's that different overall (taking into account equal timeframes from launch). Although we know relatively a lot more XBox 360 software is sold in the United States than in other regions, we also know the installed bases in those regions are significantly lower, that compensates with regard to attach ratios. (Also a reason why Sony can highlight its higher attach ratios for blockbuster multi-platform games there)

For Japan it may actually be higher (I haven't actually counted), as only hardest of hardcore gamers seem to be buying XBox 360s there (and Microsoft bought exclusivity to a lot of games there which on the PS3 could have become blockbusters). Of course it's so tiny this doesn't matter on a global scale.

@ mundus6

I think it's not that strange, there's a clear preference here in Europe for the PS3. The most popular XBox 360 model here seems to be by far the Arcade units (young kids seem to buy this model relatively often and usually don't use the console online apart from downloading demos).

It solves a lot of headaches to buy the game on the PS3. Not only do you have to pay extra to play online, you also need to make sure your friends who you would like to play with online pay extra to play online together. On the PS3 this is far less of a worry (and there are well more people here owning a PS3 instead of a XBox 360, especially more mature gamers I would like to game with).

MikeB said: @ TWRoO I think they wanted to highlight the strong (already anticipated) performance of Halo 3 that quarter and mislead people with their headstart advantage for the US, claiming record after record (which is not that honest, as the attach rate always goes up in course of time if there is a normal amount of software sold and thus for example the PS2 and various other systems show a higher attach rate), including some with a short lifespan. The CD32 for example had a high attach rate in the UK because its company bankrupted yet games continued to be produced by 3rd parties. They can't claim a 8.8 attach rate in combination with worldwide shipments, without specificing where they are introducing their bias like they did in that report. So I think Microsoft's latest figures are accurate. The NPD results were probably painting a nicer picture than the worldwide data would have shown, hence they used that instead considering the release of Halo.

It was nothing to do with that quarter.

For the first 2 or 3 quarters of the X360s life the slides didn't give any figures, but said stuff like "excellent attach ratios for peripherals and software" then (before Halo 3) they started giving the current NPD attach ratio every quarter, each one stating it was from NPD until about 4-5 quarters ago, the only thing that has changed since then is they dropped the bit claiming it was from NPD.

And I don't know what you mean by  "8.8 attach rate in combination with worldwide shipments".... they don't give out software shipment figures anywhere so there is nothing wrong about it. Ah hang on, you mean they shouldn't give an attach ratio out that has little to do with hardware shipment figures yes? if so then remember those slides are NOT the fiscal reports, they are simply information for investors, MS doesn't claim they are directly related. And the actual fiscal reports mention no software figues (sales or shipments) at all, only going as far as "increased software sales during the quarter" or something like that.

@ TWRoO

They are talking about the worldwide performance in the report. Highlighting data which would account for only one specific region has to be specified, or else it regards the worldwide performance (and no tracker or combination of trackers can supply this to Microsoft, however Microsoft itself knows how many royalties they get from publishers for their software shipments).

What don't you understand?

For example the PS3 outsold the XBox 360 many times over in Japan. Without specifying this regards Japan only as a bullet point in the presentation would be highly inaccurate and misleading to shareholders. Understand?