because of it's original pricing.. my first console was a 360 myself because it cost over $1000 for a new ps3 only rich people could afford it, and ever since sony decided to take a risk they let microsoft in and microsft started buying people for timed dlc which got xbox owners to stay with the xbox... in the end it's sony's fault that they arn't a market leader yes they will eventually overtake the 360 but it will be after the 720 and PS4 are fighting it out... but nobody owns anystates that is proof of the xbox so next gen is really up to who ever has the best console and which console has the next call of duty

I thought I made it clear in my first sentence that quote:  "The wii did the unexpected this gen but by next gen that too will be considered a "failure" in NA." unquote. By unexpected I meant outsell the xbox brand.

I will however admit that the sentence you highlighted was indeed a contradiction but it is early in my working morning.

Few things:

1. The original Xbox was not a "flop"... it was M$'s first foray into console gaming, and they managed to outsell Nintendo's latest system in the US, and Nintendo had been doing the home console thing for nearly 20 years by that time. The reason it was discontinued as soon as the 360 was launched was so that Microsoft could put all their efforts into supporting the system and encourage people to upgrade to the 360 faster, which if you ask me, was a pretty successful strategy.

2. The main reason for the PS3's poor sales in comparison to PS1 and 2 was that it was prohibitively expensive at launch... $299 for PS1/PS2 at each launch vs $499/$599 for PS3 just 5 years later. Prior to this generation, every console that launched at more than $300 was deemed a failure in the NA market (Saturn was the last one to do this at $399, and we all know how that turned out).

3. Even after all that, the PS3 has still managed to outsell the Xbox, GameCube, N64, and Sega Genesis at the same points in their life cycles in NA, and it has outsold all of these consoles PLUS the SNES in total worldwide sales to date.

So to answer your question, no. The PS3 is not a failure in America. Not by a long shot.

Oh I totally agree that PS will very likely globally dominate sales next gen. It's not only Europe and Japan but the rapidly emerging markets like Russia, Turkey etc where I read they are putting in the groundwork.

But this thread is about NA and there I honestly think PS will be a distant second or third. That could be a good or bad thing depending on what the future holds.

well xbox is the only console that hasn't been at top and i would like them to but when i think about it microsft are snobs and arn't respected at all by many devolopers so if they were to be at top they would get arrigent

but if sony returns to the top they will be lazy and stop producing and devoloping more exclusives

and if nintendo were to stay on top they will keep doing more stupid innovations [coming from a nintendo fan]

so really what ever console were to be on top were screwed :D

Compared to the PS1 and PS2 the PS3 has of course been a bit of a failure in the US. Not a total failure but certainly it represents two steps back for Sony in that market.

Five things clearly were at the root of this:

1 - Xbox/Halo and Live set the scene for gamers who would have turned to PC to turn to a console

2 - 360 launched earlier and with both one killer app (Halo 3) and one strong new IP aimed squarely at the same PC gamer as Halo (Gears) securing an initial lead in the market and, perhaps more importantly, establishing the 360 SDK first with western developers who were turning from PC to PC/Console to increase sales

3 - Live. MS saw that in US online for consoles would be huge and they did a better job of offering a good infrastructure with Live that PSN trailer for many months. The early launch of 360 also allowed Live further time to grow before PS3/PSN launched

4 - The Wii quickly took the non-PC centric demographic that had previously gone with Sony consoles, leaving the PS3 to fight the 360 for one demographic and the Wii for another. Instead of buying a PS2 with dance mats and family titles people bought a Wii for similar experiences.

5 - Blu Ray. The PS2 rode the success of DVD while the PS3 had to champion the growth of BR instead. BR pushed the price point of the PS3 up way above 360 and made the PS3 an expensive "early adopter" bit of tech rather than a handy "second DVD player in the family room" bit of tech.

The PS3 has rallied pretty well actually but Sony will really have a challenge next gen. To be honest I suspect they have more chance of taking the more casual demographic back from Nintendo than taking the PC demographic back from MS.

but how can you garuntee this? it's who ever produces the best console remember how domintent the Playstation was? and the Playstation 2 was in usa? and because xbox outsells ps3 by 12million unit's in america there doomed to not be on top that's total bs! if you go by that facts you wont get very far... if xbox can overtake a massive marketshare why cant Playstation??

I can't garantee anything and never will in matters such as this. I just THINK that the game has change since the PS2 days and every gen after those days is a new script.

The PS2 had no competiton... relatively speaking, of course. The PS3 faced a resurgent Nintendo and a massively financially backed xb360 that had gained  foothold a in the market with it's predecessor.

All I can do is make a prediction based on what has gone before. It is not an exact science. You could very well be right.

I am not so sure it's about who produces the best console either but that subjective and not worth going into.

but microsoft got desperate so they released an unfinished console and the only reason it's doing well right now is because of the kinect fad and the lack of sony advertising because sony is keeping everything for the ps4

playstation and xbox and nintendo all have an even chance in america

the same in europe

xbox will never win japan sony and nintendo will fight it out

Cause in whatever future Sony marketing will always suck... :P