PS3 "Strong Contender" To Overtake Xbox 360 276
donniebaseball23 writes "Xbox 360 has been having an incredible year so far in 2011, but on a global scale Sony's PS3 is still gaining ground. In fact, this year PS3 has outpaced Xbox 360 by 10% worldwide, analysts have pointed out. While the Wii has clearly won the race for this console generation, the battle for second place is neck and neck, and PS3 has a good shot of overtaking Xbox 360. 'As for second place, as far as the hardcore market is concerned, I'd say PS3 is a strong contender for that position,' commented M2 Research analyst Billy Pidgeon."
The Wii hasn't won anything... (Score:5, Interesting)
In terms of hours played of games, or money made on games, or games sold separate from the console the Wii isn't winning. At all.
A game console is the base of a broader platform. For sony that included other media, but selling consoles is done so you can sell *software*, and, if you're into that sort of thing, software people actually want to play. The Wii has had a handful of good titles. The PS3 and 360 have had a handful of good titles every year they've been out.
In terms of which console is the better to have. At this point the PS3 seems to be getting better exclusives (god of war, uncharted infamous etc.) but I'm sure Halo 4 will have something to say about that soon enough.
Sony trying to spin things. (Score:3, Interesting)
Only Halfway Through This Gen (Score:3, Interesting)
The PS3 is going to an eleven year life at least. The PS2 is at eleven years right now and still selling well and somewhere in the 155+ million range in worldwide sales.
When the PS2 dropped to $199 from $299 its sales reached into the 20-25 million a year range. The PS3 is just about to hit the same sweet spot where the PS2 exploded in sales.
Sony has a massive 21 first party studio lineup that is cranking out a flood of PS3 exclusives that dwarf the combined exclusive output of Nintendo and Microsoft combined. There are still major first party franchises that have yet to be released on the PS3.
The PS3 is easily going to end up in the 120, 130 million worldwide installed base range by the end of the PS3's life.
Re:The Wii hasn't won anything... (Score:5, Interesting)
These days the real net profit for a game console to a company is based on the sales of hardware, software, and online services.
The Wii may have made the most (or only) profit on the hardware, but at about $6 per unit all of their profits from the Wii console so far don't equal a year of Microsoft's profits from XBox Live.
And as TFA says:
"While most PS3s sold in are active, Wii's active installed base is far lower than cumulative sales. Nintendo's first party software largely targets Wii's hardcore sector, while third party software performance on Wii remains soft and the mainstream sector has largely abandoned Wii."
So Nintendo is basically not making any more significant profit on the Wii, while Sony and Microsoft are starting to cash in big time.
The Wii was like a sprinter in a marathon. Led for the first mile, but isn't even going to finish the race...
Re:Sony trying to spin things. (Score:2, Interesting)
They are gaining ground because Sony's customers don't care about the stuff you mentioned. As long as they can buy their game, put the disc in and start playing they're happy. They don't care about DRM or Linux or anything else.
Also, the PSN is free, you don't need to give them money to use it, unlike Xbox Live.