Is The PS3 Really Selling That Well? *Update*
by Patrick Steen on November 28, 2007 at 1:42 pm
We have seen reports from Japan and Europe showing that Playstation 3 sales are up, even thrashing the Wii in Japan three weeks running. Yesterday saw Sony boast a 300% sales increase in America since the beginning of November. But are things really that rosy for the Japanese giant?
Most signs point to a Playstation 3 recovery after a price cut and a solid advertisement campaign. Moreover, the all important quality titles are starting to hit, from Ratchet and Clank to Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. Even Assassin’s Creed ads only sport the Playstation 3 logo, showing Sony has got something right at last.
Yet there are other signs to suggest that perhaps this increase in sales is not as large as we and Sony think it is. We know Sony is very good at getting enough stock to retailers, but Playstation 3’s are in abundance after Black Friday. That needn’t be of too much significance though, since the hard to find Wii is severely understocked, and Sony can take advantage of the hungry buyers who can’t get hold of Nintendo’s offering.
Nevertheless, a 300% increase in the US may not be that much if both the Wii and the Xbox360 saw similar gains during the holidays. Here in the original article I looked at Amazon charts for the location of each of the consoles on the bestsellers list.
However, after listening to all your comments, which I truly appreciate, the relevance of looking at Amazon charts is put into question. The original article puts the charts into context and suggests the significant drop that has seen the PS3 at that position for well over a week, is perhaps a sign that the sales for the console are not as high when compared to its competitors.
Update: 11/28/07
Instead, lets now look at some more numbers to perhaps support my original scepticism. There’s no doubt that the PS3 is selling better than it used to, if not much better. Therefore, if we take a cross section of recent PS3 sales we can have a better understanding of things. We can use recent Famitsu numbers and predictions from VGChartz (the accuracy of VGChartz is known to be up to 15% out of more official numbers from NPD, so they too must be taken with a pinch of salt).
Looking at the worldwide numbers from the week ending November 18th, in Japan the PS3 sold a whopping 53,000 units, compared to the Wii at 36,000 and the Xbox360 at a dismal 6,000. In Europe, the Wii leads with 132,000 units, followed by the PS3 at 84,000 and the Xbox360 at 58,000 units sold. In the United States, the PS3 is last at 95,000 units, followed by the Xbox360 at 163,000 and the Wii at 254,000.
Totting up these numbers we get an approximate world total of 422,000 for the Wii, 232,000 for the PS3, and 227,000 for the Xbox360. So here it can be seen that although the Playstation 3 leads in two major sections of world sales, it comes in almost equal with the Xbox360. This of course is impressive, considering the past numbers the PS3 was doing, but in comparison to increases from competing consoles, the PS3 is selling well but not that well.
Where does Sony’s reported 300% sales increase come from? Without official numbers it is difficult to hazard a guess, but once again looking at the estimates from VGChartz we can perhaps see. Sony said there was a 300% increase since the 2nd of November. Well on the week ending the 3rd November, VGChartz lists the PS3 as selling 55,000 in the US. Comparing to their forecast of this weeks sales (week ending 25th November), a staggering 174,000 PS3’s were sold. You can now see an approximate three fold increase. Sony could have made their increase sound even more impressive by using sales numbers from the week ending 20th October, where the PS3 sold only 28,000 meaning they could have reported an insane 600% increase in sales!
However, although this increase is impressive for the previously lagging console, looking at US numbers for the other consoles in the week ending 25th November, the Xbox360 has an increase to 254,000 and the Wii an increase to over 350,000 as reported by Nintendo themselves. In conclusion, the Playstation3 is certainly making a come back, but when compared to the increases made by other consoles in this Holiday period, it’s not selling as magnificently as we may have thought after Sony’s press release.
NB: The above picture can either be interpreted as the Playstation3 defenders in the guise of Darth Vader, as I in the green cower in front of you. Or Darth Vader could be seen as the Playstation 3 itself showing its dominance in recent sales, with the man in green being the Xbox360, and the storm troopers behind representing the huge numbers of the Wii.
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7 Comments » |
on November 28, 2007 2:33 pm
Now this update sounds more like it, next time try and explain what u mean so people wont missunderstand u.. but after all u see sales of the Wii is constently goin down, same for the Xbox, but its goin up for The PS3 wish again reminds us when the PS2 started selling well, it looked exactly the same, check Vgchartz stats if u wish =)
on November 28, 2007 2:42 pm
I’m always curious why we gamers give a darn about the sales of a system? Or a game? Is it a lesser person’s need to belong to a winning team? Or to justify your purchase? I own all 3 home consoles, love them for what they all offer me as a gamer… and that’s about it. If Colgate is my favorite brand of toothpaste, I don’t check the AP releases like a zealot to discover if Colgate Whitening Formula is the biggest and best seller on the market. I brush my teeth, smile with a glow, and that’s about it. Job done.
However, if you live or die according to the numbers, all console sales are a sad chase after the DS brass ring. Gee, I wonder if it being affordable or fun has any connection to it’s success?
on November 28, 2007 3:58 pm
Hey Patrick,
You’re a journalist for video games rite ? Not some market predicting Ivy-League GRAD ? why can’t you write articles that pertains to “video-games”.
The sales and all that stuff should/will be worried by the CEO’s et all @ SONY.
Meanwhile why don’t you write an article stating that “ALL 360’s sold are defective” with failure rate @ almost 100%, you fanboy.
Some verbal skills and access to internet and look what people spew. Jeez !!
on November 28, 2007 4:10 pm
Aron.
Fanboy of what exactly? I own a PS3 and I am a huge fan of that console and its games.
Consoles are what we talk about here, and the games that they “play” – when Holiday numbers are released, I shouldn’t have to be questioned when I am sceptical of them.
If you prefer articles looking at videogames, I suggest you look at my other posts, and the posts of the other journalists at Ripten.com
Thank you for reading.
on November 28, 2007 5:00 pm
Aron,
Thank you for your comment, and for showing us what can be done by someone who lacks verbal skills yet still has access to the internet.
I wrote a piece a while back about the failure rate of the 360. I then wrote another about how the Wii was being considered as the best console. After that I wrote a very favorable review on Ratchet and Clank.
My point here is twofold, first we do not employ “fanboys”, and second we offer a good mix of news, reviews, rumors, etc regardless of the console or handheld you own.
Chad-
on November 28, 2007 5:34 pm
Aron,
I have had 3 360’s (a launch 360 that I traded in for HDMI and two that I currently own). I have more problems out of my PS3 than any of my 360s. So I guess you mean that 99.99999% of 360s are defective, since we can’t include mine…. rite? (sic)
Anyway, great article. I hope PS3 does well in the end. I just can’t stand all of the BS that any of the 3 console makers put out there as fact.
on December 1, 2007 9:04 pm
They will sell enough to make developers happy