I'm talking about at the same time in all regions (PS3 launched Nov. 11, 2006 in Japan, Nov. 17, 2006 in NA, and March 23, 2007 in EU). I've made a few calculations and came up with some interesting results.

From those dates, if the 360 launched at the same time with the PS3, the numbers are roughly as follows:

HARDWARE:

Japan:

PS3 - 3,801,755
360 - 1,007,505

America:

PS3 - 10,089,844
360 - 15,554,594

Others:

PS3 - 12139917
360 - 9,769,539

Total:

PS3 - 26,031,556
360 - 26,331,638


SOFTWARE:

Note: These numbers were made from matching titles in the official Xbox website, and then cross-referencing with this site the titles that were released before the PS3 launch dates. In other words, I subtracted all the sales from games released on the 360 before the PS3 launched. The only exception I made was Gears of War, which released two weeks before the PS3 released, because it was the only multi-million seller. Games that were released before the PS3 launch dates but received a later port were not subtracted.

Games:

condemned: criminal origins
cabela's alaskan adventures
cars
chromehounds
coolege hoops 2k6
contra
dead or alive 4
dead rising
dynasty warriors 5 empires
far cry instincts predator
fifa soccer 07
final fantasy 11
full auto
GUN
hitman: blood money
import tuner challenge
just cause
kameo: elements of power
lego star wars 2: the original trilogy
madden nfl 06
major league baseball 2k6
motoGP 06
nba 2k6
nba 2k7
nba live 06
nba live 07
need for speed most wanted
nhl 2k6
nhl 07
ninety-nine nights
over G fighters
phantasy star universe
prey
quake 4
ridge racer 6
rockstar games presents table tennis
rumble roses xx
saints row
samurai warriors 2
test drive unlimited
the godfather
the lord of the rings the battle for middle-earth 2
the outfit
tiger woods PGA tour 06
tiger woods PGA tour 07
tom clancy's ghost recon advanced warfighter
tomb raider: legend
tony hawk's american wasteland
top spin 2
world series of poker: tournament champions
xbox live arcade unplugged
x-men: the official game
2006 fifa world cup

Total:

PS3 - 165,604,033
360 - 240,531,709

Attach Rate:

PS3 - 6.36
360 - 9.13

Notes:

1.) The hardware sales are pretty much equal on the same time frames.
2.) On the 360 side, there was about 28 million pieces of software (total sales on games released before PS3 launch until now) and 6.5 million units of hardware that was sold prior to the PS3 launch.
3.) The 360 attach rate ever since the PS3 launch is actually higher than from it's actual launch (8.19).

It seems that 360 owners became even bigger software buyers after the PS3 launch. I find this a bit strange because the PS3 represents competition with largely the same games.. but I guess that's because before the PS3 launched, the 360 was competing with the PS2 with a lot of those games mentioned above.

Piracy seems to not be a factor at all (or it could be helping the 360, in some strange way) in the war between these two consoles, as even though the PS3 has no pirated games, it is way way behind on attach ratio despite the same amount of hardware.

Thoughts?

P.S. All numbers were taken only from this site, and should not be taken as 100% true. These are just rough estimations just for the purpose of seeing a different perspective on things. Also, I could be wrong on some of these numbers.

IMO: the initial high price of the ps3 prevented people from buying too much games on the system. while the more affordable x360 gave its buyers more spending money to buy games.

you have to remember the ps3 was much much higher than the xbox360 and it still sold roughly the same amount....

now if they both came out at the same time AND at the same price then it would have been game over for 360

Things would be different.

but one thing to look at:

end of 2008, third year of 360 : 26,453,465 sold

we still have November and December to go and PS3 is already at 26 million.

Problem with same price is that the features would be even more of the same.  The PS3 wouldn't have BluRay or would be bleeding to death even worse financially.

First off......great work and numbers burgrimmar.

OT: There are so many things that would have/could have changed if both consoles had released together.

(IMO) I still feel that the PS3 (at it's $599 launch price) would have still suffered even if launches were aligned. I don't think the numbers would be that much different aside from software library totals.

well vgchartz has done the numbers and if they both had come out at the same time(nov2006)with todays numbers, ps3 would be ahead by 5million but they have to think about the fact that the 360 was alone for over a year so that really gaves more of an advanteges

i think that with the right commen sense the ps3 would be ahead by at least 7million and at most 11million.

Like others pointed out; the price would've been very different and one also has to remember that the 360 probably, in part, got a fair deal of that number of sales from being the only next gen console on the market for an entire year. It had no competition in it's segment at all and that probably didn't hurt.
Then again, if both launched at the same time, the PS3's price would have seemed all the more atrocious so its hard to say for sure how it would have played out.
The way the PS3 came out a full year later (or actually more like 16 months later if you count ww launch and availability) people somehow assumed it was a lot more advanced that the 360 when it wasn't, this notion could have been killed in it's infancy if they launched simultaneously (you assume that a newer product is more advanced).
The 360 hardware failure rate would have been the same and that could have made the 360 look like a really, really unstable and shabby piece of hardware compared to the sturdier competitor.

So many factors here, we also have to take into account that Sony probably would've either cut features to make a cheaper console or even just launched at a lower price so as to be more competitive from the get-go. The price wars would also have started earlier but 3rd party support could have swayed more in one or the other console's favor (whichever one gained the best foothold in the market).

In my opinion this is one what if scenario that is impossible to imagine and I honestly have no idea how I think it would have turned out!

if both at the same time? the world would xplode

SONY would of run away to a massive victory had the PS3 launched in holiday 05 at $399

Ofcourse it would of used a DVD drive, no memory card slots, only a 20gb HDD, 2 USB ports, no HDMI, weaker CPU(think the CELL with 1 or 2 less SPE's), fewer media codecs, etc.

Its one advantage though would of been the brand name. Gamers whom bought a 360 in 2006 because they felt $600 was too much for a PS3, would of bought a PS3. Casuals/Parents buying a console would of bought a PS3 since they would be shopping for the new "playstation". As such SONY probably would of also crushed the Wii as a substantial number of Wii sales have come from word-of-mouth and pop culture -- things which would of hurt Wii sales and helped PS3 sales had SONY been smart (think a $50 pricecut before the Wii launches to keep up momentum)