http://www.gameinformer.com/NR/exeres/ADE6686D-CFBB-4673-99AB-1ADEB1650869.htm
Looks like the next gen battle could be a heated one.
Microsoft sends out a press release quoting their strong growth (taken from NPD numbers, which is at least something - the other guys don’t quote a source very often).
That doesn’t make it not true, of course. It’s just nothing new. I’ve got a backlog of such factoids from MS PR folks in an email folder where I dump press releases.
It’s totally annecdotal, but I think the numbers MS is touting is probably true. Most everyone I know who is remotely interested in a PS2 bought it a while ago - it came out a year ahead in the US and 18 months ahead worldwide, and had brand recognition where it didn’t need to convince anyone it was worth buying. Xbox didn’t have that luxury, so I think more casual players (read: not us guys and gals here) sat on the fence about Xbox.
Long story short - Xbox sales now, in Year Three or whatever we’re on, with the price dropped as much as it has, probably really are outstripping PS2 and Gamecube. When I talk to friends and “friends of friends” I never hear about someone buying a new PS2, but I do hear about people buying a new Xbox.
MS is way too far behind to catch up to Sony in this generation, even with the sales outpacing them from here on out. But like you said, the next-gen battle is going to get interesting. Xbox has earned a lot of cachet over the past year and has a great lineup to earn more over the next. The “gotta have it” brand battle isn’t going to be totally in Sony’s favor anymore.
Eh, that month-to-month percentage jazz is marketing weasel-speak. If Xbox has been outselling the PS2 this year, I think they’d say so.
November and December are the critical months and I can’t see why Sony wouldn’t dominate them the way they have every year.
I do think that the Xbox name has acquired some cachet in the marketplace. I hear people say “Playstation and Xbox” fairly frequently, but rarely the GameCube. So I guess I could see Xbox2 doing a bit better.
Didn’t PS2 still beat out XBox by something measely like 10k units?
No, its the other way around- Xbox beat PS2 last month by about 10k units. Of course Sony has been talking about supply shortages (and so has MS) so the real test will be this fall.
The NPD numbers Evil Avatar just posted on the 14th for August -
GBA 312,568
Xbox 216,911
PS2 211,690
GCN 108,953
Anyone thing that GBA numbers are so high because kids lose them all the time and have to be rebought?
Probably just as likely as PS2 numbers being so high because PS2’s break down like Ford’s and have to be replaced so often.
How else are the casual gamers gonna get next year’s Madden?
Does anyone know what the convenational wisdom is for the user base for each of the three systems? Even just ballpark numbers. I’d especially be curious to know what the numbers are for North America as well as worldwide.
I was idly googling around looking for this the other day and gave up after hitting all sorts of flotsam.
-TomUS:
PS2 - 24 million
GBA - 22 million
Xbox - 9 million
GC - 7.7 million
I’m sure someone will be along soon to get more exact since its GA meltdown week and the only reason I remember the exact decimal of GC is because its been selling at about 100,000 a month lately.
Japan:
PS2 - 17 million
GBA - 14.5
GC - 3.7 million
Xbox - 400,000
Worldwide, its estimated that Nintendo and Microsoft are in a dead heat at 15 million each, due to comments from both manufacturers at fiscal meetings that cover up to March and June of this year respectfully. Sony says they’ve got 70 million (helllooooo Europe!) and last time we clocked in with the GBA it was supposed to be at 46 million.
Europe is hard because of all the different countries, I have a bunch of different figures from all sorts of sources, but putting it into any reliable clump…
-Kitsune
Dunno exactly. I could check gaming age, but that would mean I have to go to gaming age. PS2 is still ridiculously far ahead of its ‘competitors’. I think XBox has a 1.5-2 mil lead on GC in NA having sold about 9 mil or so.
EDIT: Redundant post, obviously.