Make that 109,999,999.  I'm a PS2 owner that got a 360 and Wii first.  I'll still get a PS3 but have finally given up on it until the price comes down and the library expands more.

OK,

I didn"t read everything

but about ur title : I AGREE

Too many people are saying "I will buy a PS3 later"

Deep analysis if your a Sony fan....Not if your an analyst.

The issue is that any game system, given the right conditions can re-emerge as a solid contender, or die off.

There is still far too much of this generation left, and much more can, and will be done to change the landscape of how the end plays out (regardless, I see the Wii being #1, PS3 being #2 and X360 being #3, but by how much, is a very big margin).

The issue is, as much as Sony fans want to claim, the PS3 was on life support, until Sony made a smart move and dropped the price to such a low level, that fans would buy the system.

On the other hand, Microsoft has not done that. Their price drops have been very little in it's biggest market, the US. We've already seen in Europe that an aggressive price drop.

Xbox 360 in Other Last Year: 22,433 Units/Wk (June 9th)
Xbox 360 in Other This Year: 72,548 Units/Wk (June 7th)

Do you see the difference in sales, or not? It's hard to say that a system has limited, failing potential when it's sales are roughly 200% higher year over year in a rather large region. Because of this legitimate, hard data, I don't see how you can say the 360 is falling by the wayside, when it's obviously been a decent condender.

Having said this, the 360's future is in it's own hands, not Sonys. If Microsoft decided that it wanted to beat Sony (easily, I might add), a Euro-style price drop to $199 USD for the Arcade, and $279 for the Pro would bolster sales for the rest of the year. If Sony failed to drop the price and hurt their bottom line deeply, the 360 would keep a strong lead until the next generation device came out.

Crazzy - Your exactly right. If Sony drops the PS3 to $299 Euro or $299 USD, you would see a huge increase in sales. But the 360 is the same way. Dropping it's price in the US will have the same, huge, emboldening effect.


So again, your crazy to think that the 360 has seen all of it's potential. When you have a product that has had very small price cuts over it's lifespan, yet still having decent sales, it still has life. The 360 could easily raise to 200,000 Units/Wk when the 360 drops its price in the US. But of course, we can merely speculate about the future of the 360 and PS3. Regardless though, it will take smart moves by either company. But at any rate, the PS3 is still behind the 360 by a large margin, and the 360 (I feel) has the potential to make a few, easy, moves to castrate the PS3 until it decides to take another hit on the price and lose more money, or do something else of the sorts.

Don't tell us, tell those silly Japanese devs, perhaps they finally get the drift.

@Dno, couldn't agree with you more, I'm tired of waiting for Sony to make moves.

True, the price cuts have made a big difference in the 360s sales, but I think that you are missing the broader picure here.  While both systems have made substantial cuts in their sales price, the PS3 has had a much broader improvement effort since it first began with Home, rumble controllers, PlayTV, all either here or coming soon, and has gotten rights to a fair number of previous 360 exclusives, which at least implies that the PS3's stock in the marketplace is improving. 

Lastly, I am wondering just what the 360 is going to do, if anything to counter Sony as we haven't heard a whole lot from the MS camp lately.  Companies love, no have an overwhelming need to talk about their accomplishments and future projects but the MS people have been oddly silent as to just how they can turn the tide of the trends that do not appear to be favoring them.  Most likely, the 360 will continue to plod along, but this won't keep them in 2nd place. 

@mrstickball, Till x360 won`t have failure rate less then 3%, price won`t help MUCH.
The only problem in USA for ps3/x360 - weak $.

Also, MANY x360 games coming to PC, and by 2009, MOST average PCs will without problem run Crysis on High and maybe even Very High settings.
Those who wanted to get x360 games earlier, then they come on PC, already bought x360, that`s why x360 sales are now declining.
There are NOT much REAL exclusives, NOT timed, But REAL, like Forza 2, dead Rising, Crackdown and etc.

While MOST PS3 exclusives STAY exclusives.
How many PS3 games were ported to x360? =)

When PS3 will have games like KZ2, MGS4, LBP, R2, M:PR, FFXIII, GT5 it will be TOO LATE for x360 pricecut.

Of`course x360 won`t dissapear anywhere, it will be selling with around 100k maybe 150k, and at best case 200k per week. But That`s all.
Come on, look at NG2 sales.

This thread... (check all that apply)
[ ] Epic
[ ] Fail
[ ] Win
[x] Smells like Fanboy Spirit
[ ] Haas a flavur
[ ] Remains open why?
[ ] Needs more flying monkeys
[x] Meets or exceeds the minimum daily requirement for lulz

This is a idiotic decision SE made because when the 360 sales of SO4 and TLR in Japan are less than stellar due to 360 userbase, it will bite 'em in the ass. Sure, the PS3 userbase is not as impressive as the Wii, but at least PS3 sold more than 500,000 its lifetime, since the 360 is still on that number. The original Xbox only sold 500,000 in japan. This will not persuade Japanese gamers to 'jump in' just to play SO4. TLR, they can play on PS3 when it gets there.

1) Potential is a funny word, it implies that there exists a scenario whereby this growth could happen. Which is true of both the PS3 and 360. I would say the PS3 definitely has more potential but I don't think the 360 is completely dead in the water..just close to it (in Japan). And if I'm being honest the PS3 isn't that far away itself right now, another year at this pace and it will be in the same position.

Finally the PS3 is 4 million behind the wii not 3 million:
360 - 611,575
PS3 - 2,121,511
Wii - 6,170,240

2) I'm not entirely convinced by this argument given TheSource's recent explanation of declining console interest in Japan in favor of increased portable interest. It seems to me the revitalization of the PSP was at least in part made possible by the larger interest in portable systems in Japan at the moment. With declining interest in consoles it seems far less likely that they could recreate that turnaround on the PS3, particularly with so much developer support siphoned over to the portables. And what little console support that is left is going primarily to the Wii with only a handful of exceptions. Their best bet for a turnaround would be the launch of FFXIII imo.

3) MS performance in Japan is certainly abysmal, I don't think anyone contends otherwise. But they have made progress with the 360. They're already to almost 50% more consoles this generation than last generation and they are slowly trickling more in each week. Its far from good but it is progress. I think its a bit disingenuous though to look at the situation and say MS has done strictly worse than the PS3 thus far. They've managed to increase their foothold while Sony has fallen tremendously in the console market, in raw totals Sony still holds a decisive lead but to go from completely untouchable to struggling isn't exactly the win conditions Sony set out for themselves in Japan at the start of the generation.

4) Well as you pointed out a lot of those JRPGs, as I understand it at least, were in fact purchased exclusives. The real software problem for the PS3 isn't actually MS grabbing a half-dozen JRPG titles it is actually the major software shift to the portables and the Wii. In Japan the portables are easily getting the lion's share of developer time right now and the Wii is getting the Lion's share of what is left. Former Playstation titles like MH3 and Tenchu jumping platforms is a major obstacle for a turnaround for them, not to mention things like KH, ToS, DQ, etc.. all eating up a large number of spin-off projects and in some cases main series games. The saving grace that they have to look forward to is that FFXIII was in development long before the so-called experts realized how badly they were doing in Japan. If FFXIII development started today I can guarantee you it wouldn't be a console exclusive. It might not even be on a console.

5) Europe and Japan are very very different markets. Not only in consumer preference but in the size of the market, as well as a tons of other factors like localization which can be painstaking with all the languages there are to translate to. There aren't a lot of similarities to be honest.

If you're point is simply that they caught up in Europe so why not Japan? Then I would first point out they are approximately 750,000 units behind which while it may seem insignificant is actually about 30% of the deficit still.

What I mean is that the PS3 launched with approximately a 2.5 million unit deficit to the 360 after launch week (It would only have been 1.3m if Sony had been ready to launch in all regions at once).

6) Well you pointed out a bad economy and then suggest a price cut as a solution. You are correct a price cut would definitely bring more interested customers but with the weaker economy and the weaker dollar you also have less profit already for each unit sold. The obvious problem with a price cut in an economy with a weakening currency is that the weakening of the currency is already cutting into your profits so a price cut cuts even deeper. Its possible they will cut price but not likely right now.

7) I don't really think the 360 ever had much of a chance to be the next PS2. And I absolutely agree that the DLC purchase on their part looks somewhat paltry to what they were expecting at the moment.

I have to say though I think the US market will stay with the 360. Not to the exclusion of other consoles but I just don't see the US support fading for them right now.

This week is even more entertaining than last week. So I will be the first to announce the following:

Wii fanboys are whiners
Sony fanboys are whiners
and coming to Vgchartz next week: MS fans whiners.... stay tuned to find out.