Even in your example the reason to create diet drink was to increase attach rate among women and at the same time increase absolute sales. They assume that attach rate among men will remain same so increasing attach rate among women would also automatically increase absolute sales. They wouldn't have even created a diet drink unless they wouldn't think it would also absolute sales. No company in the world would create a product if they would think it decreases absolute sales.

Companies try to create brand loyalty, region loyalty etc because they also lead to increased absolute sales.

You know, Peter Dille, it'd look a lot more favourable for you if you realised that America =/= World...

I cant believe some of you people think the ps3 sells more software...it's ridiculous, funny that until this re5 sf4 thing recently i never saw a thread like this. I noticed that RE5 and SF4 sold very close on the ps3 to the 360 numbers(re5 was released in japan first though, where the ps3 has a 3:1 advantage) and found it a bit odd but didnt think someone would have the audacity to claim the ps3 now moves more software.

@dclKeel

It does if you measure total time of ownership/total software sales (see theRepublic's link to his thread).
It does if you measure total weekly software sales/install base.
It does overtrack the 360's software sales if you measure in weeks from launch (source: theRepublic, I still haven't grabbed all the numbers :) ).
It also does in absolute terms in others and japan.

This is what I get from the numbers on this site, at least.

as long as we're cherry picking...GH: Metallica has sold at a 2:1 ratio so far in favor of the 360...

...did u people forget the COD 4s and COD: WaWs of the world....the ps3 sales are millions of copies below the 360's sales

@were kitten

Yea see my previous posts in response to the republic's post

Taking into account that in other regions the ps3 didnt release at the same time as it did in america...add like 2million to the 5.6 million i mentioned and u have 7.6 million. Those are the only units that count towards the ownership argument.

@dciKeel

You are throwing rough numbers around, and that's ok to have a rough idea.
But theRepublic did put all the numbers in a spreadsheet and charted the data exactly for the given formula, please look at the chart. I did the same for the first 360 year only, then I got tired of typing numbers, but I got the same results, so I trust his spreadsheet skills :)

Plus, I assume you concede my other 3 points?

Also, exclusives are fair game for the sole purpose of determining who sells more software, (dev teams can use this to determine what console to make a game for if they dont want to incur the costs of making a game for multiple consoles). Exclusives on the ps3 for the most part dont sell nearly as well as the exclusives on the 360.

And also very worth noting, the ps3 has a big advantage in japan so those units should b subtracted to the ps3's attach ratio when compared to the 360. Although the 360 has sold more consoles, the 360 doesnt lead in all regions...and a significant number of multiplats are released a lil ahead in japan, further skewing the attach ratio.

no, the 5.6 million is accurate, this was the number of consoles the 360 had sold when the ps3 entered the market so after those units why should the time argument bare any meaning if every console from there on was sold in the same timeframe, therefore having the same ownership lifetime. The 2million is rough i agree, but thats because i was to lazy to look at the release dates on all regions for the ps3 and see how large the gap was in those regions when the ps3 entered the market in those regions. In any case the number won't be large by any stretch of the imagination, these regions for the most part had less than 1 year in release in favor of the 360 over the ps3 and some of the regions are smaller markets.

Uhm, don't agree with this. At all.

The cost of making a game for multiple platforms (at least in the PC/360/PS3 range) is between 10% and 20% of the single platform cost, according to developers. Thus it will always make you more money at sales.

If you are a third party and go exclusive is because you either have a very limited staff or you have some special contract with MS or Sony. They could pay you upfront a part of the royalties, help with development, pay for exclusive, pay for marketing etc.

The only exception to this rule might be strongly local products: for example a jrpg might not be worth porting to the 360 if it stays in japan or if most of its sales are supposed to be in japan.

As to the ownership time: words are cheap, but numbers are heavy :) You are just doing the wrong math. Those 5.6M initial sales will keep clocking extra weeks of ownership even after the launch of the PS3. Think about it, maybe write it down.