The Xbox 360 has been rolling as of late, posting six consecutive 'wins' in NPD's monthly reports, and the Kinect seems to be easily outselling PlayStation Move. That said, over the last few years, PS3 has made great strides in closing the gap with Xbox 360 in global installed base, and a number of analysts believe PS3 will soon overtake Xbox 360 in the console wars for good.
In our recent interview with EA boss John Riccitiello, we asked the executive what he thought this meant with regards to Sony and Microsoft. Did Microsoft blow its lead, or has Sony just been coming on too strong? It's not really either of those, says Riccitiello.
"I don’t think it’s either of those things. Honestly, I think that Microsoft has done great work the last couple of years, and they’ve made a lot of smart moves: hitting pricing when they needed to, the right combination of hitting price points and disk drive sizes that allow them to hit price points that matter, and they’ve done a great job with Xbox Live. At the same time, the Xbox brand, the Microsoft brand, doesn’t carry anywhere near as much sway as the Sony and PlayStation brand do outside the United States, and so I think the reality is the international marketplace is just so important and it’s a natural advantage that no matter how good Microsoft is at growing their business, Sony has an almost-impossible-to-supersede head start," he told us.
Riccitiello continued, "In the last couple of years, Sony’s sharpened their marketing message, you know, 'the platform with everything.' They’ve actually gotten past simply Home as an online connected system for them. While I’m not sure that one would compare them in depth and breadth and features and support to what you have at Xbox Live, it’s good now."
Ultimately, EA has been happy with the performance of both platforms, and of course as a third-party publisher, the company wants all the platforms to succeed to give them a larger base to sell games to.
"We have a similar share on both platforms. It’s not that I wouldn’t want to criticize one of the other; I’m not shy. I just think they’ve actually both done a pretty good job," Riccitiello added. "The big disadvantage Sony carries is they have an expensive platform because of Blu-ray, so they have a harder time hitting price points. Microsoft has taken advantage of that and their online service, which really is the gold standard. Sony has [leveraged] their limited amount of unique content really well. They’ve done a nice job promoting the Blu-ray, their advertising and marketing campaigns have been stronger, and they’ve done a nice job of supporting some EA content to their own advantage. I don’t know that you’d point to either of them and say they can’t shoot straight or that they’ve given it up."
We'll be bringing you more from our interview soon.
11 Comments
December 20, 2010
I agree. I wouldn't down play the Xbox brand though. Many people seem to think Microsoft is an old dog.
December 21, 2010
I think the jist of Riccitiello's message is that Microsoft have done an outstanding job in ensuring their Xbox 360 is the No 1 HD console in the USA. They also have a 'gold standard' online service.
However the PlayStation brand is still very powerful worldwide which engenders a certain amount of trust. The online doesn't have certain features, but it is regarded as 'good enough,' and its free. The console is more expensive but, SCEE have tried to get a message across of the PS3's value by including exclusive features.
But what happens next?!
December 21, 2010
ps3 ftw
December 21, 2010
Until Sony develops a controller on par with Microsoft, there won't be much of a console war in the US. Microsoft will continue to dominate as most big games in the US, outside of Madden, are FPS games. As for Sony dominating overseas, that doesn't surprise me. However, many of the Japanese games that sell well in the Asian market never release in the US.
December 21, 2010
I keep saying this to my friends and customers at work: Microsoft has a better online community and features, plus they have the shooter genre on lock right now. Playstation have the better variety of games and exclusives, plus an internet browser, blu-ray player. I have all three console and my loyalty goes to Sony just because its the brand that I gets my moneys worth, and yes I'm a PS Plus member. I have more friends on PSN and everyone on Live thinks they are Pro Gamer, lol. That's said I can't wait for Gears 3, but I'm definitely can't wait for Uncharted 3, Killzone 3, Infamous 2, and Resistance 3. Trust me video games is my drug and its bad habit, wouldn't be surprised if my family had me on intervention, lol.
December 21, 2010
I would like to know how many of the "installed" base actually use their PS3's for gaming and not just as a Blu-ray player, As a lot of our members do just use their PS3 for watching films or accessing the internet through their TV and use their x360 for gaming purposes
As for Maurice Bakers comments especially about everyone on live thinking they are a pro gamer, what a load of BS, That is just pure fanboy'ism.. It's not about the console it's about the game...
As for Exclusives, We're also doing an article that list's PS3 exclusives and Xbox 360 Exclusives for 2011 and so far there's approx 10 - 15 PS3 exclusives and approx 35 for the X360..
December 21, 2010
Please Please Cerberus please get me that list because I can tell u right now that if thats true about 10-15 ps3 exclusives and 35 xbox exclusives which its not btw but ill go with it for now, ummm 1. its BS 2. its about quality not quantity, cuz i saw tons of list for things coming out for 360 next year, i wanted to throw up and i am a p3 man but just lookin at wat xbox has is despicable. cuz guess wat if u show me that list of "35" games bein for the 360 exclusive, how many of em are for the kinect.....go head ill wait!! exactly xbox exclusives that are comin out were mostly for the kinect which btw i both played in the store and in my boys house, he took it bak HAHAHAHA u need 8 ft of space to enjoy the dam thing which btw most gamers dont live in rich duplex apartments, more like in their moms basement....which btw no offense to anyone who does play in their moms basement hell u might be some of my friends lol but anyway the kinect!!!!!? really is that ur BIG thing is that wats hot right now, ummmm so when ppl start realizing you need crazy space to use this thing and that you cant really use it outside of casual party games that its really only a fancy new way to scroll ur menus. but hey you know wats funny is that u downed maurice but u didnt read deeper at wat he said. he said he has all 3 systems, said nuttin bout the wii cuz well that way off the radar now, not touchin 360 or ps3 anymore, but then he said he cant wait for gears 3 and then after that he said 4 games for ps3 and even tho this may look like a normal listin of someone games NO it is actually someone saying wats to look forward to with 360 vs p3. but hey u guys have 35 exclusives comin out and even though only 1 of them actually makes me wanna pick up a 360 controller *couh**cough* gears* , i think im gonna stick with my p3...now and 4eva!
December 21, 2010
I honestly do think that the PS3 is a better console just off specs alone. However, the 360 is a MUCH better platform. Microsoft created this world that people really want to be apart of.
December 21, 2010
Nice title of the article, bud.....flame harder. Context was mildly important in that "sway" comment, yet you conveniently left the important part out.....
But, hey--until we all learn to read between the lines, it's gonna keep happening....I mean--the title worked enough to get me (and others) to click on it.
December 27, 2010
-who said better gaming graphics in the PS3 over XBOX?? LMAO, wrong....sure throw in a blue-ray movie and see the difference..but iv'e owned both consoles (PS3 died btw, sniff sniff) and the XBOX always had the better graphics hands down....ALWAYS, yeh i couldnt believe it!!!
-as for online experience..you cant even compare PSN with XBL..yet at least. Sure, its free. Whoop whoop, Free didnt mean a thing when you chucked out $500 on the dang console! XBL is chocked full of stuff i actually use including ESPN HD now!
-XBOX/PS3 exclusives: whoever said there was only one good XBOX exclusive title coming up...LMMFAO c'mon now!
Overall, when PS3 finally fills its own shoes it will be a better overall platform...but then again by that time our consoles might have neural-implants which will wake us up to the fact that we are all living a lie, enslaved by a race of machines!! :O
January 6, 2011
You have to be joking. Better Graphics? Slicker maybe - limited use of lighting sure. What I admire about the Ps3 exclusives is that they manage to take lower res textures and a muted color palet and make it work for the system. Anyone who has played both systems on the same screen over 50 inches can vouch that the 360 is graphically supperior - Dynamic Video Ram and a GPU based on Direct X 10 will do that for you.
The Blue ray Argument is a joke since Blue ray (at least the slow 2x one in the Ps3) is too slow to deliver graphics to the GPU - which is why every game requires a lenghty install to play.
The network interface on Ps3 is also hella slow - Played DCU online last week(loved it). But hated the 3 hour installation time.
The PS3 is an awesome system but Sony is lacking in the software department