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Forums - Sales - So how much does releasing a console first in a generation relate to sales?

Chark on 30 March 2012

@zero129

Yeah, 360 lost most their lead, but you might be right about still holding more sales over the PS3 by the time all next gen consoles roll around. But PS3 sells more than 360 does in a year, hence the lead shrinking. In the end its to be expected that PS3 will still continue to sell longer than the 360 will, but there are rumors that Microsoft is trying to continue selling 360 after next gen, like Sony did with the PS2. Given current sales trends it might be a hard market for 360 to keep selling, and by no means as much as PS3 will, especially if the US market jumps to next gen quickly as its their prime market.



Before the PS3 everyone was nice to me :(

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KeptoKnight on 30 March 2012
UnitSmiley said:
zero129 said:
UnitSmiley said:
zero129 said:
Wii launched last and wiped out the PS3 and 360 in sales.
@Chark i don't think the xbox 360 having a 3 million lead over the PS3 is having almost all their lead lost, if it was 1 million lead i could see where you are coming from, but the 360 has pretty much kept that 3 million lead all this gen.
Back to the OP, the Saturn launched before the PS1 look what happened there, same with the Dreamcast etc.
Launching first doesn't mean you are going to win. It takes a number of factors, such as price, games and mass appeal.


I'm pretty sure the 360 had a much bigger lead than PS3, and for this entire gen that lead has been shrinking.

Mostly cos of japan cos they seem to hate the 360 over there (Don't know why, as MS has tried to do alot more then sony to win them over). But still a 3 million lead is 3 million and im pretty sure the lead was only something like 5 or 6 millon (I could be wrong??). so no matter what way it goes by the time next gen comes around MS will of beat sony this gen when it comes to sales. As the is no way Sony is going to be able to catch up with that 3 million lead with the time they have left.


Or i could say the 360 is only leading mostly because of NA. Even though Sony is winning in Japan and Europe. Unfortunately NA is much bigger than Japan and has more consumers. And unfortunately again, NA prefers the 360 (for some reason i'll never understand)

Westernized software and console.



NightDragon83 on 30 March 2012
Chark said:
cloud1161 said:

Releasing a console first in a generation seems, at least to me, a key factor in being the most successful console sales wise.  I know this is still way too premature, but just judging from the 20k drop in sales of the Vita while the 3DS remains relatively unchanged is saying something.  Likewise, I believe that the DS was out before PSP (not entirely sure) and it did not necessarily crush the PSP but it was a clear victor sales wise.  I think the Wii was the first of the current home console generation as well and it had a demanding lead for a while, but now it is severely dying down.  The PS2 was the first of that generation I know because both Microsoft and Nintendo stated that the PS2 was far inferior compared to their consoles and they felt no threat of the PS2 being released first, but the PS2 was the most successfull home console to date.  I can't remember the time's of any other releases.  I know there's the whole aligned launches argument and I usually agree that that is the only fair way to judge sales success, but it seems those released first have the best aligned first two or three years as well.  I am by no means saying that the console that sales the most is the best, it's just a speculation about numbers and release dates.  Please correct me if any of my relative release dates are off.

Not sure if you can really take anything out of that. It just launched and is coming down from launch sales. 3DS came out last year so its sales should be relative to the market demand and therefore is not decreases as the Vita is.

Also, the Dreamcast was the first one to come out on the market not PS2.

Xbox 360 came first this generation and lost almost all their lead to the PS3, and the Wii is just another story.

When you consider that the 360 is virtually non existent in one of the 3 major markets for the gaming industry, Japan / Asia, it just makes the fact that the 360 has maintained its WW lead over the PS3 (the successor to the highest selling home console in history btw) all the more impressive.

@OP, being first to market each gen definitely factors into the success of a home console to some degree, but that degree varies with each gen.  NES was the 1st (and only) console in town for a time, so it basically won its generation by default.  TG16 was the first of the 16-bit gen and had great success in Japan but couldn't gain a foothold in the West.  Sega blew its load early twice with the Saturn and Dreamcast, and both of those ended up being failures overall (thought some would argue that Dreamcast was just a half step and that PS2 was the first of the 7th gen consoles).  360 being first was critical to its success in overtaking Sony, and the Wii is basically in a league of its own.

But going into next gen, there's no doubt that Wii U seems poised to be the most successful, and being first to market by at least a year over its competitors is sure to help it.



On 2/24/13, MB1025 said:
You know I was always wondering why no one ever used the dollar sign for $ony, but then I realized they have no money so it would be pointless.

Dark_Lord_2008 on 30 March 2012

X360 releasing a year in front of the PS3 has helped the X360 remain competitive with the PS3 and helped the X360 gain vital third party developers and secure console exclusives and timed exclusives.

When designing a multi-platform game the lowest specification system X360 is preferred by third party developers. X360 is more similar to PC game development than the PS3.

X360 has maintained a lead over the PS3 for 5 and a half years. X360 lead reached a maximum of 8 million+ units back in 2008. Now the X360 lead over the PS3 has been reduced down to 2.5 to 2.7 million lead and falling.





KeptoKnight on 30 March 2012

These software sales are neck to neck which is interesting:

Xbox 360 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 -- 13.72
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 ----------------13.25
Call of Duty: Black Ops---------------------------  12.72

PS3 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3----------- 11.51
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 ----------------11.26
Call of Duty: Black Ops---------------------------- 9.85

EDIT: I wonder what are the total software sales to date between both of them.



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Wh1pL4shL1ve_007 on 30 March 2012
KeptoKnight said:
These software sales are neck to neck which is interesting:

Xbox 360 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 13.72
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 13.25
Call of Duty: Black Ops 12.72

PS3 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 11.51
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 11.26
Call of Duty: Black Ops 9.85

Then PS3 have Uncharted, God of War etc.... so it is no surprise they are taking over with time.


Yeah, its interesting how Ps3 outsells the Xbox 360 harware but not the software every year. 

(I think)



Yay!!!

Dark_Lord_2008 on 30 March 2012

PS3 has clawed back a million in sales per year on the X360 for the last two or three years. It may take a a year or two before the PS3 overtakes the X360 in total ltd sales. X360 tends to sell much better during the end of year holiday period than the PS3.



Chark on 30 March 2012
Dark_Lord_2008 said:
PS3 has clawed back a million in sales per year on the X360 for the last two or three years. It may take a a year or two before the PS3 overtakes the X360 in total ltd sales. X360 tends to sell much better during the end of year holiday period than the PS3.


That is probably a result of strong US market support for the system, and perhaps more appeal towards a younger market who might be receiving large ticket items with parental money.



Before the PS3 everyone was nice to me :(

Chark on 30 March 2012
KeptoKnight said:

These software sales are neck to neck which is interesting:

Xbox 360 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 -- 13.72
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 ----------------13.25
Call of Duty: Black Ops---------------------------  12.72

PS3 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3----------- 11.51
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 ----------------11.26
Call of Duty: Black Ops---------------------------- 9.85

EDIT: I wonder what are the total software sales to date between both of them.

You can view that on this site. Use the GameDB tab then click on the platform of inquiry, scroll down to the bottom and they will have a software total. I've seen a better way but I don't know it off hand.



Before the PS3 everyone was nice to me :(

Turkish on 30 March 2012
zero129 said:
UnitSmiley said:
zero129 said:
Wii launched last and wiped out the PS3 and 360 in sales.
@Chark i don't think the xbox 360 having a 3 million lead over the PS3 is having almost all their lead lost, if it was 1 million lead i could see where you are coming from, but the 360 has pretty much kept that 3 million lead all this gen.
Back to the OP, the Saturn launched before the PS1 look what happened there, same with the Dreamcast etc.
Launching first doesn't mean you are going to win. It takes a number of factors, such as price, games and mass appeal.


I'm pretty sure the 360 had a much bigger lead than PS3, and for this entire gen that lead has been shrinking.

Mostly cos of japan cos they seem to hate the 360 over there (Don't know why, as MS has tried to do alot more then sony to win them over). But still a 3 million lead is 3 million and im pretty sure the lead was only something like 5 or 6 millon (I could be wrong??). so no matter what way it goes by the time next gen comes around MS will of beat sony this gen when it comes to sales. As the is no way Sony is going to be able to catch up with that 3 million lead with the time they have left.

Who says this gen is closed when the next generation releases lol? The PS2 gen is still going shipping still millions of consoels/yearly. And yes, people will care when PS3 passes 360 this year, next year or the year after. And it will probably happen before either the nextbox or PS4 releases in holiday 2013/2014. The month before PS3 Slim released in 2009, the 360 had almost a 9 million lead LOL. Its down to like 2.5 million or so.