PlayStation 3 Outsells Xbox 360 by 16% -- Nearly Passes Wii
To be honest, I didn't see this one coming. Certainly not in the opening month of the year and after the holiday rush. But here it is anyway, courtesy of the NPD, whose numbers are some of the most reliable in the industry. So I'll just cut to the chase and give you those January 2008 numbers:
274k - Wii
269k - PlayStation 3
251k - Nintendo DS
230k - PlayStation Portable
230k - Xbox 360
Can you believe it? I wonder if Sony CEO Jack Tretton can, or if there's not at least a little eye-rubbing and arm-pinching going on. Whatever the case, here's his ebullient reaction to the news:
Coming off a great holiday sales season we see strong momentum behind PS3 in 2008, and feel confident about the year ahead. We have an exceptionally diverse lineup of exclusive games, from Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Resistance 2 to more mainstream games such as LittleBigPlanet and SingStar. Beyond that, we have Blu-ray emerging as the de facto high def standard, the developer community is hitting their stride, consumers are recognizing the tremendous value and innovative services such as PlayStation Home are all in the works, so this is definitely shaping up to be a breakthrough year for us.
Yeah, I know, it sounds exactly like what he said a year ago when everything was in the toilet. These things have a way of playing like top 40 songs after awhile, so file it skeptically under "wait and see," and then we certainly will as everyone deploys their next rounds of salvos.
More on the rest of the numbers later, but given the fact that only one piece of PS3 software even charted (Call of Duty 4, which was #8) I'm guessing a substantial portion of the PS3's sales uptick was Blu-ray related.
Replay
Agree? Disagree? Have your say below in comments, visit Wake the Happy Words for expanded dialogue, or pelt me with emails here.
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I believe it was GameStop/EB that was running a promo in December, basically selling off their January shipments as well as December's. I wonder if those sales got tracked on December's sales or January's sales? Might account for the Wii being so close in sales numbers to the other platforms.
Makes sense... but only because the Playstation 3 is the only other system that HASNT been bought out by everyone already. theyve got alot of space to fill between now and the end of the year.
PlayStation 3 with 34.8% of the market and Xbox with 29.8%, they each have about a third of the market. No body is going anywhere, Market share only matters if someone is going away. And I don't see that happening. No game developer is going to drop either platform because of sales. I think Playstation 3 got a boost with Blu-ray blessed as the winner of the new Movie format battle, and Halo bumped Xbox for the holidays. Each platform is locking into their niche. Now if the Wii adds a first person shooter better then Halo, and adds a Blu-ray drive for just a few dollars more, well then it will get interesting. But my bet is you will see motion sensitive controlers coming to both the Xbox and the PS3 soon. To me the real question is when will Microsoft give up on the HD format, or at least start selling a Blu-ray add on drive.
my friend got a ps3 from his girlfriend on valentine's day. maybe it was that 'love' boost. hehe.
Not for nothing, But has anybody TRIED to buy an XBox360 Elite?
I can't find one anywhere, and they are selling for $799.00 on Amazon as of 2/15/2008.
Hard to sell what you don't have...That being a 360 or a Wii.
The stores have PS3's, and thats all.
I don't see how Wii is selling anything. I tried for several weeks to buy one and they are sold out everywhere. I gave up and bought a PS3. No wonder PS3 is gaining.
who in their right minds would by a completely different system because the one they want isn't on stock?! console consumers aren't the types that decide they'll settle for "whatever is on the shelf," especially for such a high priced investment.
i'm sorry you console fanboys have pretty sorry excuses. i'm not saying the PS3 is the greatest system of all time, i own a wii, xbox original, and ds; but there are far more logical reasons for the system selling out well. it's the price drop and as the article pointed out; blu-ray beating out hd-dvd that are selling the console.
you guys have sorry lives if you need to justify your purchases to people who have no impact on your life.
Are you kidding me? I smell propaganda!! I think someone needs to check there source for numbers a little better next time. have a look at the link below then tell me PS3 is out selling Xbox and Wii.... other wise post your source. NPD didn't have anything public that stated the above from what I see.
http://nexgenwars.com/
akagalford, his numbers come from the JANUARY 2008 sales... not the overall estimates, as your source admits.
I think someone needs to check the source for numbers a little better next time. And perhaps read through the article.