Before I start I'd like to point out that I don't buy into attach rates being a good way to track a system's performance and think that people who believe that 3rd parties will look at this number rather than at actual total sales are living someplace outside of reality. GC had a way better attach rate than PS2 but we all know 3rd parties preferences in regards to those 2 consoles. Anyway, recently I've read quite a few threads which pretend to offer honest breakdowns of attach rates for this gen's 3 consoles but end up muddying the waters by ommitting certain important factors so rather than continue to moan about it I thought I'd have a go at putting together a fair and balanced overview of attach rates.

My main gripe with previous attach rate figures is that they fail to take into account the average time each system has been owned which obviously has implications on software sales, i.e the longer a system has been owned the more games the owner will likely have bought for it. 360 has been out twice as long as it's competitors so obviously the average unit has been in the hands of it's owner for a long time relative to the others. The PS3, even though it has been out for roughly the same amount of time as Wii, sold a comparitively big chunk of it's install base around launch bringing up the average time the system has been owned. You get my point, so without further ado I give you software attach rates per console per month.

Wii - total months of system ownership : 48,429,999

total software : 33,858,879

games bought per month per owner : 0.699

PS3 - total months of system ownership : 21,022,083

total software : 13,631,231

games bought per month per owner : 0.648

360 - total months of system ownership : 107,171,061

total software : 64,576,927

games bought per month per owner : 0.603

So there you have it, not what you expected eh! The Wii tops the group with 0.7 games per system per month, followed by the PS3 on 0.65 with the previously thought of King of SW, the 360 on 0.6!

I realise that the Wii numbers are a little contentious due to the pack-in Wii Sports so rather than using the title's total sales and instead using a revised number based on the attach rate of the Japanese Wii Sports(56.8%) which sells as a stand-alone game we get a rate of 0.633 taking the system into 2nd place. A further problem for some will be the inclusion Wii Play as it can be interpretted as a controller with a pack-in game. As the Wii Play/Wiimote pack sells for $10 more than a stand-alone Wiimote(i.e. 20% of the $50 dollar RRP) I've applied a 0.2 multiplyer to it's sales taking it from 3,220,762 to 644,152. Taking this into accont gives the Wii a further revised rate of 0.581 leaving the system in 3rd place though only marginally behind 360.

So depending on how you want to interpret Wii software we have it taking the no.1 spot to trailing in last though still, I think it should be noted, in the same ballpark as at least 1 of it's competitors. Points which aren't down to interpretation are that 1) the PS3 is moving a very competitive amount of software based on the size and maturity of it's userbase and 2) the 360 aint the behemoth everybody, including myself, thought it to be. It trails significantly behind PS3 and just manages to best Wii when using the knocked down numbers!

Enjoy.

** My calculations were based on numbers presented on this site. I worked out the total months of system ownership by looking at the monthly charts and recording how many systems were sold during a specific month. For example 1 console bought in Nov 05 + 1 in Nov 06 + 1 in Dec 07 = 26 + 14 + 1 = 41 months. If anyone spots any errors in my sums let me know and I'll ammend them.

Well...interesting find. Although its hard to determine actual software (MS has bundles as do Sony), It seems pretty darn good for the PS3. So much for all the blu-ray only buyers.

That's pretty well thought out old boy.

Especially considering you don't think attatch rates are terribly worth while!!

Still, nice work. As much as attatch rates are worth discussing, these are the figures to do it with imo.

Shame there's no way to account for sony and microsoft pack ins, or the unofficial wii pack ins that are now the norm.  But equally, having pack in games is likely to lead to consumers buying fewer new games, as they'll already be starting off with one.  It would be impossible to remove all of these anomolies.

Interesting read. I have noticed that over the last month or so, the Wii has outsold the 360 in software world wide. By next xmas it'll be all Wii.

hrm an interesting twist on things. It makes sense though. Typical attach rates penalize the wii because the total number of systems is growing so quickly. As such, many gamers haven't had a chance to BUY games for it.

Of course, since your calculations probably include wii sports, most people will probably scoff at it :).

Well even the revised numbers which take into account the pack-in factor of Wii Sports and Wii-Play show that Wii is pretty much matching 360, couple this with the fact that Wii will pass the 360 in NA in the not too distant future and it is reasonable to conclude that Wii software will start to eclipse that of the 360.

Also just to confirm that this thread concerns NA only. I would have liked to go WW to give an overall picture but 'Others' monthly numbers don't go back until 360's launch.

How about doing it for Japan biggerboat?

Nice comparison Biggerboat. Maybe this can kill the "3rd parties are afraid of teh Wii!!!" stories.

I read your last Attach Rate thread, but it got flamed real fast.

This will work in the opposite way attach rates do: it will favor systems selling well over systems selling poorly, and newer systems over older systems.

Thus, it is not surprising that the order here is Wii - PS3 - 360. I don't want to discount the significance of this analysis -- I made my own thread about PS3/Wii software selling better than they're given credit for -- but I think it's worth noting that these results are not unsurprising and don't necessarily mean the Wii is actually better for software sales.