IndustryGamers - Informing the Games Industry

PS3 Eating Away at Xbox 360's Global Share, says Analyst

Posted May 26, 2010 by James Brightman

Sony's PS3 has had a lot of momentum since last fall when the company introduced the slim model and slashed the price to $299. Software like Uncharted 2, God of War III, and MLB 10: The Show has certainly helped too. Reports have shown that Sony's console has been "steadily increasing" its market share, helping to close the gap on Microsoft's Xbox 360.

Now, a new report from Strategy Analytics shows that PS3 increased its global market share to 31% for the first quarter of 2010. The research firm's latest report forecasts that global sales of the PS3 this year will reach 14 million, compared to 17.5 million for Nintendo’s Wii and 10.5 million for Xbox 360. "Our analysis shows that while Wii sales fell relative to Q109, its share in fact remained constant relative to Q409. The main movement in Q1 2010 was the growing share for Sony’s PS3, at the expense of Microsoft’s Xbox 360," noted David Mercer, Principal Analyst at Strategy Analytics.

He added, "The PS3 continues to benefit from the price cut last September. This should help the PS3 maintain growth momentum throughout 2010. The introduction of the Natal technology should also help re-energize Microsoft’s Xbox 360 platform in the second half of the year."

Overall, the global games market is facing "major uncertainties" for the rest of 2010, Strategy Analytics said, including the "extent and pace of the Wii’s decline," and the impact of the upcoming motion devices for PS3 and 360. The research firm believes that total global home games console sales will fall by 9% in 2010.

James Brightman has been covering the games industry since 2003 and has been an avid gamer ever since the days of Atari and Intellivision. He was previously the EIC of GameDaily Biz.