Following the somewhat disappointing May NPD results, both Microsoft and Sony have issued some comments on their respective businesses. Microsoft noted that Xbox 360 "continues to outsell the PlayStation 3 at retail for the fifth consecutive year and every single month of 2010."
The company also seems very encouraged by reaction to its newly redesigned Xbox 360 console. "...we are hearing great feedback from retailers that the new Xbox 360 250GB is experiencing unprecedented demand." Microsoft went on to claim that sales were up since the new 360 console launched. "Strong demand for the new Xbox 360 250GB combined with a $50 price reduction in the U.S. on the Xbox 360 Arcade and Elite consoles, now US$149.99 and US$249.99 respectively, has resulted in a significant sales spike for Xbox 360 since the new console hit shelves on or around June 14," the company said based on internal data.
As for Sony, the PS3 continues to roll right along. NPD's Anita Frazier noted, "The PS3 platform has enjoyed the greatest percentage growth, with platform sales across hardware, software, and accessories up 32% for the month, and 28% year-to-date." She added, "May was the 10th consecutive month of year-over-year software sales increases for the PS3 platform. Combined with the hardware and accessories sales increases for the platform, the PS3 has really hit its stride."
Sony itself said that demand remains quite high for PS3. SCEA's Patrick Seybold released the following statement:
"In May, we experienced our tenth consecutive month of year over year growth, and it is clear that the demand for PlayStation 3 and its incredible content is not subsiding as evidenced by an increase of 18% in PS3 hardware sales and revenue increase of 58% in PS3 software sales since last May. While tight inventory had an impact on sales numbers in recent months, we are now beginning to experience greater availability of product and are looking forward to this fall's most anticipated launch, PlayStation Move. When PlayStation Move launches consumers will have access to a compelling line-up of motion-control titles that will appeal to casual and core gamers and, in the months that follow, a new line-up of AAA hardware sellers previewed at E3 will arrive on PS3 including Gran Turismo 5, Killzone 3, Twisted Metal and inFAMOUS 2. As icing on the cake, PS3 is the only console that is currently providing consumers with the technology needed to enjoy their favorite games and movies in 3D. We look forward to continuing the momentum behind the PS3 while sharing unparalleled content and cutting-edge innovative experiences with our consumers over the next year and beyond.”
5 Comments
July 1, 2010
I think someone forgot to tell them that there are more countries on this planet than the U.S.A., and when you factor in worldwide sales the PS3 has been outselling the Xbox 360 for over a year now. PS3 has been chipping away at the currently under 5 million unit difference between it and 360's sales steadily every week since the PS3 slim launched last year, outselling the Xbox 360 by 30-50k per week on average. It's also the only console gaining momentum, with both the Wii and 360 reporting declines in year-on-year sales and PS3 having a surge of sales growth last year.
July 2, 2010
Right on, Dustin. Plus, people seem to forget the fact that X360 launched a full year ahead of the PS3, generating roughly 6M units in sales that year. Had they launched neck to neck, things would have been different.
Also, people have to realize that X360's are selling right now heavily due to two reasons. The first is that current X360 owners are purchasing the new slim in order to replace their old units, which have a high probability of getting the RROD error.
Second reason why it's selling well is because of the resellers. Resellers, also known as "scalpers," purchases as many systems as they possibly can at launch in order to create the supply shortage. These individuals will continue to wake-up/line-up at 4 in the morning to purchase as many systems as they can as long as it's profitable. The X360 Slim only launched a few weeks ago and already there are 7 pages worth of auctions for the X360 slim.
July 5, 2010
I think things would be different also if they had launched side by side. But with different conclusions. People forget that when xbox360 was out people where told by Sony that Killzone would look like the original fake CG.
And all the xbox360 had was some quick ports that where meant for xbox(1). So they where not showing any of the systems graphics power.
Plus Sony had people thinking that it was easy to program for compared to the mistake of ps2. They had people thinking it could display two simultaneous 1080P feeds.
Sony had people thinking there Bus was pushing way more for more than a couple Miliseconds.
Sony claimed all games would be 1080P!
Sony claimed that their would be 8 CPU's (not SPE's) at 4ghz!
Sony claimed the memory in the ps3 was faster!
Sony had people thinking it would cure cancer on the side.
Just like PS2 it claimed the US military was afraid it would get in the hands of terrorist for nucs!
They had peolpe thinking at the least it was more powerful than super computers.
So Microsoft was competing against a Hype machine.
If PS3 had come out at the same time the graphics on their games would have been even worse.
The blu-ray movies where far and between and very expensive!
The games where SLOW in coming even after it finally launched!
All this hype kept Most people waiting on the PS3.
Heck I knew it was hype but even I was waiting on it to come out strong.
If it had launched side by side with inferior games, and $200 more entry it would have been dead!
Sony did it perfectly, I have to admit looking back they knew what they where doing! And could have not done any better (unless they changed the dev. kit, and took out the blu-ray drive for cost)
If they had taken those out it would be a different result because it would have been close on quality, and on price, and Sony had a way bigger audience to bring in!
July 6, 2010
Honestly, what kept most people waiting on the sidelines was price. The Xbox 360 had a definitive price advantage for longer, but there was clearly some pent up demand for the PS3, evidenced by the response the $299 PS3 slim has gotten. Sony will probably be content with the $299 price this year, and I'd guess they'll look to cut the price again in 2011.
July 6, 2010
- The PS3 is capable of displaying 2 simultaneous 1080p feeds. That's how it plays blu-ray movies in 3D.
- The bus between the CPU and the GPU is incredibly fast in the PS3 for much longer than a few seconds. The same is true of the bus connection between the system RAM and the GPU.
- The main difference between SPEs and cores is that SPEs rely on the PPU to send instructions to the individual SPEs to be run. For some purposes this is slower, for many other purposes it's much faster. SPEs have their own memory cache and using the same SPE for the same types of instructions from the CPU save a lot of time on the CPU's part. When running one application that's designed to take advantage of the cell, the cell processor is much much more efficient than multiple cores.
- The system memory in the PS3 is over 8 times faster than the unified RAM in the 360. It's also capable of texture storage and is one of the main reasons, along with Blu-Ray's capacity, that the PS3 excels at texture streaming. They weren't lying. The VRAM, on the other hand, is indeed the same speed as that in the 360. Since the cell processor is used for much of the vertex shading in ps3 exclusives, it's not used as much as a traditional PC or a 360. Still used extensively, but developers can be much more picky about what they throw to the GPU and what not be done more efficiently with the cell processor leaving the GPU to perform other post processing effects and rendering.
- It's not a claim, the PS2 was banned for sale in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and quite a few other nations. Honestly, any nation whose technology was not on a level with the PS2 was not able to buy it. The same goes for the original XBox and today's consoles. This isn't a new concept.
- They never stated for a second it was more powerful than super computers. Universities and the military were using networks of 8-256+ PS3s as a mini-super computer, however. It worked quite well. You can find articles about it all over the web. The cell processor is much more powerful than the Xenon. Get over it.
- Uncharted 2 and God of War 3 are 2 of the best looking games ever made, and definitely the best looking console games ever made. The 360 has Alan Wake, which doesn't even come close even though I will admit it is pretty. Obviously the PS3 is doing fine in the field of graphics. Nice try.
- Blu-Ray is actually being assimilated faster than DVD was at the same time during it's growth. All new media starts out expensive and then goes down in price over time. This is not a new concept. There are plenty of movies available on Blu-Ray today and the quality of Blu-Ray is much higher than anything else currently. 1080p streaming over the internet is extremely compressed and is definitely not lossless in quality, or even close.
The PS3 is a very well built machine. It's game selection is now easily on par with the 360, and many people (like yours truly) consider it far superior to the 360's library. To pretend the PS3 is where it is today based on hype alone is lunacy. It does what it's supposed to. The graphics are absolutely insane for a $300 console and the game lineup for the next year and a half is amazing. You're free to like the 360 more, but don't pretend that Sony lied about the PS3 and won over consumers based on hype alone. It's not even remotely accurate.