starcraft said: Because it is in all our interests for the Xbox 360 to match the PS3 in Europe sale for sale.  That ensures that we all get every game publishers want to maximize profit on and will force Sony and Microsoft to create more, brilliant exclusives.

 So you want 50/50 market share. I can see that, but the 360 is a million ahead in Europe, and 7 million ahead in the US. Wouldn't you want the PS3 to sell a lot more, at least until they were equal? (with the 360 selling more in Japan).

TheRealMafoo said: starcraft said: Because it is in all our interests for the Xbox 360 to match the PS3 in Europe sale for sale. That ensures that we all get every game publishers want to maximize profit on and will force Sony and Microsoft to create more, brilliant exclusives. So you want 50/50 market share. I can see that, but the 360 is a million ahead in Europe, and 7 million ahead in the US. Wouldn't you want the PS3 to sell a lot more, at least until they were equal? (with the 360 selling more in Japan).

Up until this week, the PS3 WAS selling more in NA according to VGC.  And I think it is certain that the PS3 will eventually trump the Xbox 360 in Europe considerably.

Though not the same, I consider the US and EU markets to be similar from a game developer's perspective.  As such, I would be happy enough if the PS3 eventually had a 4-6 million lead in the EU, and the Xbox 360 had a 6-8 million lead in the USA.  That way (with the PS3 getting some additional sales in Japan), they will be essentially even.

However, in the short term it is better for gamers (especially in the PAL region) for Sony to get hammered to force another price drop.  The console is still SO expensive here. 

 

starcraft said: However, in the short term it is better for gamers (especially in the PAL region) for Sony to get hammered to force another price drop.  The console is still SO expensive here.

Cheeper is always better, but Sony has yet to drop it's prices due to competitions pricing. Sony will drop it's price when it can afford to sell at a cheaper price. Nothing that GTA does will change that.

Remember, Sony dropped it's price first, and then MS responded. It was not the other way around.

TheRealMafoo said: starcraft said: However, in the short term it is better for gamers (especially in the PAL region) for Sony to get hammered to force another price drop. The console is still SO expensive here. Cheeper is always better, but Sony has yet to drop it's prices due to competitions pricing. Sony will drop it's price when it can afford to sell at a cheaper price. Nothing that GTA does will change that. Remember, Sony dropped it's price first, and then MS responded. It was not the other way around.

But it did that in face of slow sales remember.  Sony knows that game publishers look at trends.  They do NOT want Microsoft to be able to say to game publishers "we are winning in America, and tying in the EU, here is $5 million to make your game Xbox 360 exclusive."  Sony needs to sell enough consoles to make sure Microsoft has to pay a TRUCKLOAD for third party exclusives.  The last thing Sony needs is the trend of the 360 getting great third party exclusives like Bioshock and Mass Effect continuing.

 

They paid so much for it you'd think they'd be pushing that info more. But great to see it making its stake in the pr battle.

Point of reference: In one week, the CoD Map Pack has sold over 1 million units on Xbox Live. With about 5.5 M copies sold for the 360, that's roughly a 22% attach rate after one week, and the number will likely go significantly higher from there. I'd assume something far exceeding than that for anything GTA related. Not a bad sign of things to come if MS is banking on DLC making a difference.