Xbox 360 Sales Hit 10 Million and Beats Wii, PS3 - But Not Fairly
Microsoft is riding its high horse with an announcement that the Xbox 360 has reached 10 million units sold in the United States, beating out the Nintendo Wii and the Sony PlayStation 3.
I'm all about giving Microsoft its time to shine, especially in the cutthroat world of gaming consoles, but there's one pretty big matter that needs to be addressed: the Xbox 360 was released one year prior to the Wii and PlayStation 3! That means Microsoft reaped the benefits of having a holiday season to itself as well as a year's worth of advertising and promotional dominance as being the lone next-generation console available.
Figures from the NPD research firm, as reported by Reuters, show the PlayStation 3 at 4.1 million units moved and the Wii at 8.8 million. If anything, this announcement by Microsoft is more negative than positive. The Wii is 1.2 million units away from matching the Xbox 360 and if Nintendo would have been able to address the stock shortage in a timely manner, the tables may have been flipped and Microsoft would be chasing the Wii's shadow.
I'm sorry, Microsoft, but this announcement seems a bit more like self-congratulatory blather aimed more at spreading propaganda than fact.
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Yes Microsoft Xbox 360 had the same type of early head start that established the Playstation as the console leader for the last two generations. I think Microsoft has every right to toot its own horn on this subject. It is clear no matter what the Xbox 360 is a force in the console market. The 360 has a strong game lineup, and the millions of 360's guarantee 360 owners will have plenty of great games to play though the life of the console. Please don't tell me what is fair. Sony had an early start and locked up a lot of exclusives the last two generations which is what really established Playstation as the standard. The PS3 was late then lost all of the exclusives and they are in 3rd place now.
Not just a year ahead of the others, but how many of those consoles are still breathing? I know my friend is on his third Xbox360 between compelete hardware failures and an upgrade to "Elite". Sure, MS may have sold 10M units, but I bet only 8M at MOST are still capable of running.
The Wii is the only really profitable seller, and I bet the PS3 will eventually overtake them all in install-base (thanks to BR), especially if there's a price drop.
This article is incredibly biased... All that matters is install base b/c developers need a market to sell their games. The year advantage was a shrewd move by a genius company. Many consoles that have released early in the past have failed (ie. dreamcast) but MS had the balls and the brains to know this generation would be different. "But not fairly?" As the old saying goes "All's fair in love and war" and last time I checked this was a console WAR.
All the article does is present the facts.
MS is saying this is the nail in the coffin for all other consoles, despite the fact the wii, and even the DS and PSP are destroying it in monthly sales (they are also beating the ps3 of course). And the wii is dominating it in terms of yearly sales.
In reality they have had a years headstart and yet the wii is only a few million behind in the US selling 600,000+ per month, whilst the 360 sells less than 200k.
As for games sales rates, the attach rates for the PS3 are the same as the 360's were in its first year, give it another year and the PS3 will have the same rates as the 360 does now, in fact the ps3 generates more revenue for EA games than the 360, take that as you will.
So, yes 10 million is a nice milestone, BUT it is NOT the end of the generation like MS is trying to spin it to. I think this entire 10 million press release is to counter the massive headlines generated by the PS3 taking over the 360 in the Eu.
Microsoft's spin on this is nothing more than laughable at best. How can they possibly state what they did with a straight face, knowing the whole while that they're about to lose the lead to the Wii in the US (by as early as June NPDs, no less), and they've already lost the worldwide lead by MILLIONS to the year-late-to-the-race Wii?
Actually, when I see some of the responses to this article, it becomes evident why Microsoft did what they did; some people actually believe what they're saying, and they need something comfortable to stuff under their pillow so they can sleep at night. Don't worry fellas. You can pull your head out of the sand when Microsoft pulls the plug on the 360 early (you know, like they did with the original Xbox), and you'll no doubt be getting that all-important jump on next generation gaming with the Xbox 1080.
See you next gen, suckers.