Star Ocean 4 released on the Xbox 360 in Japan has hit the list of one of the best selling games for the system in Japan.  Sitting high with Blue Dragon and Tales of Vespia.  It seems as though Japanese RPG’s are the way to 360 sales in Japan.

The Square Enix game went on sale on February 19th and has been selling nonstop ever since.  The numbers listed so far put it at around 166,000 copies sold since that date.  Blue Dragon selling 203,000 and Tales at around 170,000.

Those are some really decent sales numbers, and even though some skeptics say the 360 will never do well in Asia, it seems they really just need to make sure to release games that are popular for that area.  Someone should tell Microsoft that not everyone likes Halo.

Source:  Famitsu

While the U.S. remains on top in the videogame market, a surprising turn of events over the past several years has resulted in the UK videogame market emerging as number two, beating Japan for the first time in history.

Dorian Bloch, Business Group Director, GfK Chart-Track Limited, recently made the following statement:

“UK console videogame software units are more than double what was achieved in 2003, which just shows how fast the UK market has been growing. Because of this amazing growth and coupled with the downtown currently being experienced in Japan, the UK market has for the first time overtaken Japan as the No2 world market. Although still behind on revenue, the gap has narrowed considerably and it will be interesting to see how things develop during 2009.”

Additionally, the UK market saw the largest year-over-year increase with sales up 26 percent, besting U.S. figures of 15 percent and Japan’s disappointing drop in sales by 13 percent. Much of Japan’s decline is attributed to a drop in PS2 software sales by 46 percent.

According to Anita Frazier, industry analyst for the NPD Group, “Only two months in 2008 saw a decline in unit sales in the U.S., with one due in large part to the release of 360 Halo 3 in Sept’07 and the other due to an additional week in the Jan’07 retail calendar.”

Combined sales of these top three markets show an overall increase in the gaming industry of 11 percent, with sales of 409.9 million units versus the 367.7 million units sold across these markets in 2007. Hooray growth!

After researching the million-selling games available for PlayStation 3, I thought it only fair to follow that up with the Xbox 360’s million-sellers. Listed here are all of the Xbox 360 games that have to date sold over one million copies worldwide, based on the latest and greatest information I had available. Likewise with the PS3 list, there are some games (like Madden 09) that I could not find current numbers on, but we all know Madden 09 sold more than a million copies (EA says they sold 4.5 million) and would likely be higher on this list.

Listed in order of sales (in millions):

1. Halo 3, Microsoft — 8.4
2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Activision — 6.6
3. Grand Theft Auto IV, Take-Two Interactive — 6.2
4. Gears Of War, Microsoft — 5.3
5. Forza Motorsport 2, Microsoft — 4.1
6. Assassin’s Creed, Ubisoft — 4.0
7. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, RedOctane — 3.5
8. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, 2K Games — 2.6
9. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Activision — 2.5
10. Madden NFL 08, Electronic Arts — 2.4
11. Guitar Hero II, RedOctane — 2.3
12. Call of Duty 2, Activision — 2.2
13. Tom Clancy Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, Ubisoft — 2.2
14. Tom Clancy Rainbow Six: Vegas, Ubisoft — 2.2
15. Call of Duty 3, Activision — 2.1
16. Gears of War 2, Microsoft — 2.1
17. Mass Effect, Microsoft — 2.1
18. BioShock, 2K Games — 2.0
19. Saints Row, THQ — 1.9
20. Rock Band, MTV Games — 1.9
21. Madden NFL 07, Electronic Arts — 1.8
22. Fight Night Round 3, Electronic Arts — 1.8
23. Dead Rising, Capcom — 1.8
24. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas 2, Ubisoft — 1.7
25. Lost Planet, Capcom — 1.7
26. Viva Pinata, Microsoft — 1.6
27. Need for Speed ProStreet, Electronic Arts — 1.5
28. Crackdown, Microsoft — 1.5
29. Fable II, Microsoft — 1.5
30. Project Gotham Racing 3, Microsoft — 1.5
31. Need for Speed Most Wanted, Electronic Arts — 1.5
32. FIFA 08, Electronic Arts — 1.4
33. Perfect Dark Zero, Microsoft — 1.4
34. Tom Clancy Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2, Ubisoft — 1.4
35. Need for Speed Carbon, Electronic Arts — 1.4
36. Army of Two, Electronic Arts — 1.4
37. WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2008, THQ — 1.3
38. Madden NFL 09, Electronic Arts — 1.3
39. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, LucasArts — 1.2
40. Tom Clancy Splinter Cell: Double Agent, Ubisoft — 1.2
41. Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, Eidos Interactive — 1.1
42. Devil May Cry 4, Capcom — 1.1
43. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008, Konami — 1.1
44. Project Gotham Racing 4, Microsoft — 1.1
45. Pro Evolution Soccer 6, Konami — 1.1
46. Dead or Alive 4, Tecmo — 1.0
47. The Simpsons Game, Electronic Arts — 1.0

After publishing my LittleBigPlanet story about sales numbers, in which I mentioned the million-sellers for PS3 and Xbox 360, I have since seen some ripples in the gaming community wondering what these million-selling games are. So I used the various tools and information from NPD and sites like Chart-Track to compile this list of PS3 games with worldwide sales over one million units, as accurate as I could make it with the latest information I had.

Games listed in order of sales (in millions):

1. Grand Theft Auto IV, Take-Two Interactive — 4.8
2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Activision — 3.7
3. Motorstorm, Sony Computer Entertainment — 3.6
4. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Konami — 3.4
5. Resistance: Fall of Man, Sony Computer Entertainment — 3.2
6. Assassin’s Creed, Ubisoft — 2.9
7. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, Sony Computer Entertainment — 2.2
8. Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Sony Computer Entertainment– 1.9
9. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008, Konami — 1.6
10. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, RedOctane — 1.6
11. FIFA 08, Electronic Arts — 1.6
12. Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, Sony Computer Entertainment — 1.4
13. Need for Speed: ProStreet, Electronic Arts — 1.4
14. Devil May Cry 4, Capcom — 1.3
15. Heavenly Sword, Sony Computer Entertainment — 1.2
16. FIFA 09, Electronic Arts — 1.1
17. WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2008, THQ — 1.0

Hope that helps.

Notice: There are other titles, such as Madden 09, that I could not find solid numbers on, but Wikipedia lists total sales across all platforms at 4.5 million, so one could assume it sold at least a million on PS3.

I know some fanboys will read the headline and expect this article to totally slam the PS3 and Little Big Planet, and they will likely start posting hateful comments before even reading what this is about. Great. You are only making your fanboyism more apparent and showing the community what a massive dickface you are, so I welcome that.

What this article is actually about is in defense of Little Big Planet (or is it LittleBigPlanet, one word?). You see, a lot of websites (that I won’t mention because they don’t deserve the promotion) have been commenting on Little Big Planet’s sales and making the fantastically brilliant analysis that the game’s delay may have affected its numbers. More specifically, its October sales numbers in particular are not as high as they could have been because the release date was pushed back. Um, no fucking shit, you morons.

While a lot of fanboys and seemingly intelligent people have tried to reason with these websites as to why the sales were as “low” as they were (the patch caused people to be wary of buying it, lots of big releases in October, Sony didn’t advertise it enough, etc.), they all seemed to be missing one obviously logical explanation: it didn’t sell as well as it could have because it was only out for 4 fucking days!

Let me ask you this: do you think Little Big Planet sold less copies in October in 4 days than it would have if it was instead available for 11 days? Um, of course it did. It’s pretty simple logic, isn’t it? In fact, Little Big Planet’s sales of 215,000 units in 4 days was only right behind SOCOM’s sales of 231,000, and that game was available for a full two weeks longer.

Some people assumed Little Big Planet would be an instant million-seller, and some even predicted 5 million units sold. These October numbers now have people making all kinds of excuses. Let’s be real, people. The PS3 has only 17 games that have to date sold over a million copies (Xbox 360 has 47), and GTA4 tops that list with less than 5 million. Obviously, Little Big Planet is not going straight to the top with over 5 million copies sold. That’s just silly.

On the other hand, Little Big Planet’s sales of 215,000 copies in only 4 days puts it on track to sell a million copies fairly easily, a feat which is pretty impressive for a PS3-exclusive new IP (joining Motorstorm, Resistance, Uncharted, and Heavenly Sword). In fact, I would predict that Little Big Planet breaks the million mark by the end of the month, and if Sony decides to pack it in a holiday bundle, you can expect it to pass 2 million by year’s end.

So all these idiots pretending to be analysts need to just stop writing. If you want to talk about sales data, at least be logical about it… or don’t. At least if you keep doing what you’re doing I’ll have plenty of material for my own writing. So, uh, thanks for that… idiots.

You may remember when we reported that analysts were expecting the gaming industry to have huge sales this holiday, specifically Guitar Hero, despite this economic crisis plaguing the U.S. Turns out they were right (duh). Not only has the gaming industry not fallen into a slump, but it has in fact increased a whopping 18% in fourth-quarter sales compared to last year.

Here is a breakdown of stats according to NPD analyst Anita Frazier:

• Sales of console game systems, software, and accessories rose 26% compared to October 2007
• Portable game sales dropped for October, but total sales for the year are up 7%
• The Wii had its biggest sales month (803,000 units) since December 2007
• Xbox 360 (371,000) and PlayStation 3 (190,000) had higher sales compared to the same time period last year
• The PS3 had its greatest year-over-year monthly sales increase ever at 57%
• Fable II was the best-selling game of October (and rightfully so) with over 790,000 units sold
• The gaming industry is poised to top $22 billion in annual sales, making 2008 a new sales record

Source: USA Today

Microsoft weren’t going to break the old adage that ‘price cuts cause increased sales,’ proving their tactics correct with a near doubling of US console sales over August, according to the NPD group.

Apart from Nintendo’s Wii continuing to sell through the roof, Sony’s PlayStation 3 also saw a rise on its previous month, closing the Xbox 360’s lead to just over 100k. This month-over-month growth is despite an overall industry decline of 7% over last year; the first decline since March 2006.  Still, September 2007 was the month Halo 3 broke records, accounting for an incredible 35% of 2007’s overall software sales.

Moving from hardware to software, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed shows the power of Lucas’ brand by topping the chart, also supporting our report that Unleashed is the fastest selling Star Wars game of all time.  Wii Fit continues to vault off shelves, and Rock Band 2 shows healthy Xbox 360 numbers, promising much for its multiplatform release later this year.

Software Sales

1. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts, Xbox 360) – 610,000
2. Wii Fit (Nintendo, Wii) – 518,000
3. Rock Band 2 (Harmonix, Xbox 360) – 363,000
4. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo, Wii) – 353,000
5. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts, PlayStation 3) – 325,000
6. Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (Pandemic, Xbox 360) – 297,000
7. Wii Play (Nintendo, Wii) – 243,000
8. Madden NFL 09 (EA Tiburon, Xbox 360) – 224,000
9. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Krome, Wii) – 223,000
10. Madden NFL 09 (EA Tiburon, PlayStation 2) – 158,000

Hardware Sales (5 week month)

1. Wii – 687,000 units
2. Nintendo DS – 536,800 units
3. Xbox 360 – 347,200 units
4. PSP – 238,100 units
5. PlayStation 3 – 232,400 units
6. PlayStation 2 – 173,500 units

Microsoft should expect continual growth as we enter the holiday season, and at the magical $199 price point it might even be an attractive option during the current economic crisis.

Source: NPD, via NeoGAF

The month is over and stats are in: The Xbox 360 has sold more units in Japan than the PlayStation 3 during the month of September.

Attributed mostly to the price cut, Microsoft’s jolly green (but sometimes red and not all that jolly) giant sold almost twice as many consoles as Sony’s black box. Shifting 53,547 units from store shelves to Japanese homes, the Xbox 360 was the preferred “next-gen” console as the PS3 moved a mere 33,071.

Of course, both systems were greatly outsold by Nintendo, selling 109,548 Wii’s and 234,477 DS’s. Not really a surprise when you consider the fact that there are more casual douches in the world than there are hardcore gamers, and we all know that Nintendo is catering to the casuals.

To be completely honest, I still find the number of Wii’s being sold every month to be confusing. Apparently nobody does research on the thing before buying one, otherwise they’d know that most Wii owners are bored out of their minds.

Yeah, I said it.

Source: Yahoo!

Sony’s CEO Jack Tretton recently gave news that PSP and Playstation 3 sales are up 30% from their projected targets. While this news comes as a welcome surprise, it’s also bittersweet. Mr. Tretton went on to say that because of the high sales numbers of the PSP and PS3, he anticipates manufacturing shortages on both consoles later this year.

Mr. Tretton, in an interview with Reuters, was quoted as saying:

“We are tracking at 100 percent up over last year… About 30 percent ahead of where we should be. So sales could slow down and we will still hit our number.

“I’d say we are able to meet somewhere between 80-90 percent demand, based on how things are trending,” he said, adding that any product shortages wouldn’t be “drastic”.

Source:CVG

This is the month we’d see how much of an impact Metal Gear Solid 4 had on actual PS3 hardware sales. The results are promising.

Of course Nintendo continued to flex their muscles by trumping both the console and handheld markets, with 666.7k and 783k units respectively.  Wii’s numbers actually put the console ahead of the Xbox 360’s lifetime US hardware sales at 10.9 million units sold.

On the software side MGS4 displays the series’ strength, selling 774.6k unbundled copies. NPD Industry Analyst Anita Frazier had this to say on the subject;

As expected, Metal Gear Solid 4 realized significant retail sales and drove PS3 hardware acquisition.  While the attached media report does not include units bundled with hardware, if included MGS4 sold-through nearly 1 million units.

The extent to which MGS4 drove PS3 sales is quite staggering, in that the console had its best month in the US, not including the Christmas holiday periods – selling 405.5k units.  This in comparison to the Xbox 360’s 219.8 units for the month puts the PS3 at around 300k units ahead of the 360 in 2008 year-to-date US sales.

Hardware

Nintendo DS: 783k
Wii: 666.7k
PlayStation 3: 405.5k
PSP: 337.4k
Xbox 360: 219.8k
Playstation 2: 188.8k

Software

1. PS3 Metal Gear Solid 4, Konami, 6/08—774.6K (not including MGS4 PS3 bundles)
2. NDS Guitar Hero On Tour, Activision, 6/08—422.3K
3. 360 Ninja Gaiden II, Microsoft, 6/08—372.7K
4. Wii Fit with Balance Board, NOA, 5/08—372.7K
5. Wii Play with Remote, NOA, 2/07—359.1K
6. 360 Battlefield: Bad Company, EA, 6/08—346.8K
7. Wii Mario Kart with Wheel, NOA, 4/08—322.4K
8. Wii LEGO Indiana Jones, LucasArts, 6/08—294.5K
9. NDS LEGO Indiana Jones, LucasArts, 6/08—267.8K
10. PS2 LEGO Indiana Jones, LucasArts, 6/08—260.3K

Source: Edge Online

According to industry tracker VG Chartz, early sales data indicates that Grand Theft Auto IV has sold a whopping 2.5 million units in the Americas on its first day of release. This is hot on the heels of reports that the game has sold over 600,000 copies in the UK on its first day, and an estimated 1.7 million units across Europe.

Currently, the game with the most successful launch in history is Microsoft’s Halo 3, which earned about $170 million in the US during the first 24 hours of its release. However, it appears that Rockstar’s long-awaited title is poised to take the crown from Microsoft’s bestseller.

On a related note, GTA IV sales gave Microsoft the edge in the console wars, as more consumers bought the Xbox 360 version of the game than the PlayStation 3 version. A similar pattern was found in the UK, with the Xbox 360 comprising 55% of the total Day 1 sales.

Source: VGChartz, MCV.UK

Nintendo’s Wii Fit was released this week, and the craze surrounding it is already becoming comparable to the actual Nintendo Wii launch.

UK-based retailer Woolworths claimed that Wii Fit is selling at the rate of 90 per minute. Woolworth’s games trading manager Gerry Berkley seemed optimistic about the product and the force it would have on the industry.

“This is a revolution in computer gaming. For a game not targeted at gamers to sell in numbers like this is unheard of and is genuinely changing the market.”

“One at a time, please.”

Hopefully Nintendo will be able to cope with the high levels of demand, compared to the supply problems which dogged the Wii launch for many months.

In times like these you can either exercise patience and wait for new stock to arrive, or get ready to sell your spare kidney for an Ebay auction.

Source: Webuser.co.uk

Following Microsoft’s recent price cut of all the Xbox 360 hardware packages in Europe, sales in the UK have risen by 40%. In an attempt to push back against popular incoming Sony software like Metal Gear Solid 4 and the Gran Turismo 5 Prologue PS3 bundle, the price cut looks to have had the intended effect so far.

Given such an immediate rise, it’s likely the sales increase will continue as word gets out and more people are able to take advantage of the new price.

The price cut saw the Xbox 360 Arcade package drop to 159 GBP, the Premium to 199 GBP and the Elite to 259 GBP. With Easter weekend looming, retailers are expecting the 360 to continue selling well.

Software sales didn’t see a similar increase, but Chart-Track’s director Dorian Bloch, speaking to Gamesindustry.biz, indicated that was likely due to some big releases the previous week that drove sales up for that period.

Those outside of North America tend to pay a premium for hardware compared to the US, so this drop was certainly overdue. Microsoft dropped the price recently in Canada by $50 as well, also overdue thanks to rise of the Canadian dollar. However, it’s been well over two years out from launch and the price is only $50 less than the initial price in the US and Canada. Isn’t it time Microsoft gave North American gamers a break too?

Due to the initial high cost of the PS3, a price drop seemed to be the ace that Microsoft was holding up their sleeve. With their hardware struggling more in Europe and the impending release of regionally popular titles on Sony’s platform, Microsoft took the plunge.

It seems they feel strong enough in North America for now: the Premium is $50 under the cheapest PS3 and the platform boasts exclusive extra content with the release of Grand Theft Auto IV just over the horizon. It seems high time Live was finally made free–for everyone.

Rumors persist of a new 360 model, perhaps including a larger drive. Microsoft may also plan to maintain the price, but include a bit more space at the same time. That is a noticeable trend this generation, and frankly a frustrating one.

To many consumers even a $350 console is quite a lot, and companies should see that they could bring more of those people into the mix with a lower price point, as opposed to more storage space. As with all things, time will tell.

Indicating that family-friendly Wii games sell better, the gory motion-controlled Manhunt 2 tanked like a thug drowned in a toilet by selling less than 50,000 units in November. Mario and Sonic together took the silver in Wii sales at the Olympic Games with a surprising 242,000 units, despite relatively subdued critical buzz.

Assassin’s Creed and Mass Effect also did quite well, with Assassin’s Creed selling over a quarter million just on PS3 and Mass Effect selling a third of a million copies on Xbox 360.

The simExchange predicts that November’s sales alone, for the first time ever, will bring in $1 billion dollars for the videogame market. Partly this is because Nintendo sold over one million hardware units of the Wii and 1.3 million units of the DS. The Xbox 360 came in second with a highly respectable 728,000 units of hardware sold in November, and the PS3 and PSP did very well with sales of around 400,000 units each.

Here’s the list of November’s NPD numbers, as predicted by simExchange:

Hardware:

Nintendo DS – 1,300,000 units
Wii – 1,060,000 units
Xbox 360 – 728,000 units
Playstation Portable – 468,000 units
Playstation 3 – 410,000 units

Software:

Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) – 1,270,000 units
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360) – 833,000 units
Mass Effect (Xbox 360) – 328,000 units
Assassin’s Creed (PS3) – 272,000 units
Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii) – 242,000 units
Rock Band (Xbox 360) – 152,000 units
Unreal Tournament 3 (PC) – 78,000 units
Crysis (PC) – 66,000 units
Manhunt 2 (Wii) – 46,000 units

Source: The simExchange

Beowulf: The Game has only just released on the Xbox360 and Playstation3, but low and behold, what do we spy on the retailer Gamestop’s website? The game has been reduced to $19.99 on both next-generation consoles. In fact, no sign of a reduced price is there at all, or a crossed out higher price – it’s simply listed as $19.99.

Has the game bombed already? It’s dropped to a budget price, a price that most Playstation2 games don’t hit this early on.

What’s going on? Have Gamestop got to the brandy and slipped at the keyboard? Or do the profits from the film mean the game doesn’t need to make that much profit, or that $20 means it will fly off the shelves this holiday?

Who knows – I’d say they spent very little on making the game in the first place so are only set to gain, which begs the question; is developing for next-generation consoles and especially the Playstation3, really that expensive?

All of you PS3 hold-outs better be ready to pony up the cash when Metal Gear Solid 4 finally hits shelves next year, because Kojima Productions needs your support to continue working exclusively on Sony’s next-gen platform.

Assistant Producer Ryan Payton told Reuters that they’d need to sell over a million copies on launch day to justify development costs, showing that the Playstation brand isn’t merely suffering from the cost of the new console, but the cost of doing business.

Though it might seem silly to expect as many sales right off the bat, keep in mind that many games sell the majority of their copies during the first few days after release. In other words, a million would trend well enough for the rest of MGS4’s lifetime to justify the amount of money that’s already been poured into its production.

G4TV commentator Adam Sessler was quoted in the article as saying:

“No, ‘Metal Gear Solid 4′ isn’t the killer app. People who already own a PS3 will likely get it. But it doesn’t have that kind of broad-based appeal.”

It begs the question of whether or not gamers really care about such franchises as much as they once did. Looking at sales of such huge platform releases as Ratchet and Clank Future (only 75,000 in October), we might find that a majority of people are trending away from the series that built up the Playstation brand in the first place.

Sure, plenty of core gamers have been waiting for Solid Snake’s latest to hit before jumping on the PS3 bandwagon, but general public perception could be that the franchise is as old and tired as its geriatric hero. The last outing, Metal Gear Solid 3, only moved around 3.7 million copies. Impressive, but only about half that of its predecessor (MGS2, 7 million).

Kojima Productions remains bullish on the Playstation 3’s capabilities, but if their flagship title’s sales don’t live up to expectations, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to see it appear on other platforms down the line and it almost certainly bodes poorly for any future exclusives.

Source: [Reuters]

In a recent press release, Nintendo announced that the DS has beaten the Game Boy Advance’s record of 600,000 units sold in a week by over 50,000.

These 653,000 DS joined the 350,000 Wiis purchased that week. Nintendo were keen to add that the Wii has its own record of being the fastest system in history to sell 5 million units in the US, which it managed in just 12 months.

The innovators cite their product’s appeal to the whole family as the main selling-point, which appeals to those “looking to maximise their limited holiday spending.”

Wii is undoubtedly the system to own this holiday season, and with demand far beyond what supply can hope to match it might be worth rushing for a Wii now, rather then later.

This week was the highest single week sales for the system since its launch last year, even with the shortages.

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.

Undeniably there are some quality mobile-based games out there, but it’s surprising to see EA make only $17 million from PS3’s and $21 million from PSP’s, compared to $37 million from their mobile games division. This victory is likely due to the much larger mobile audience.

Other consoles had no such trouble, however, with the 360 making EA $218 million, the PS2 coming in second with $73 million, the Wii placing third with $59 million, and the DS finishing fourth with $47 million.

Overall, EA pulled in $640 million in profit.

Via CVG

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. Just a little look at Amazon.com’s best sellers list we can find the Xbox360 at Number 12, the Wii at Number 24 and the Playstation 3 all the way down at place 44.

The Playstation 3’s price cut and new 40GB model also saw big gains in the United Kingdom, with the console being in the top 10 of Amazon.co.uk’s best sellers list week after week. However, looking at this list now, sees the Wii at an impressive Number 5, the Xbox360 at a respectable 19, the Playstation 2 at a surprising Number 29 and the Playstation 3 at the shocking Number 71.

Looking at Amazon charts of course does not necessarily reflect on the reality of things, but it can hint at an underlying trend. Take it all with a pinch of salt, but the Playstation 3 has rarely been at those extreme lows on Amazon. It could of course be a sign that people are out shopping for Christmas, rather than shopping online, but then you’d expect that to be the same for competing consoles.

So what are we asking here? Of course more evidence is needed. But is the increase in Playstation 3 sales really that impressive if the competing consoles have also increased in sales. Furthermore, could the increase be a short lived side effect after the price cut? Online sales suggest this, but more official numbers for each of the three consoles will be needed to discover the real story.

To lighten the mood, there is a second-hand Playstation 3 on sale at Amazon.co.uk for only £200! The catch can be seen in this comment: “Has been kicked a few times!!! Don’t think it’s working anymore.” Haha, O.K.

How is the Playstation 3 really doing?

Update: 11/28/07
Lets look at some more numbers to perhaps support this 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.

The latest sales are in from Japan for the week starting 12/11 and ending 18/11, and surprisingly, the PS3 is holding on in there with its new 40GB model, fighting off Nintendo’s Wii for another week. The Xbox360 saw a rise, and Super Mario Galaxy and Heavenly Sword also had respectable sales. Find out the numbers after the jump.

Hardware:

DSLite: 81,000
PSP: 66,000
PS2: 8,800
PS3: 53,000
Wii: 36,000
Xbox360: 5,700

Software:
1. Mario Party (DS)　115,000 （Total: 357,000）
2. REUC　(Wii) 105,000
3. Dynasty Warriors 6 (PS3)　73,000 （Total: 250,000）
4. Game Center CX　(DS) 46,000
5. Famista (DS)　45,000
6. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)　43,000 （Total: 378,000）
7. Heavenly Sword (PS3)　16,000
8. Wii Sports (Wii)　15,000 （Total: 2,106,000）
9. Wii Play　(Wii) 15,000 （Total: 1,662,000）
10. FFTA2　(DS) 14,000 （Total: 249,000）
11. Nishimura Kyoutarou suspense (DS) 11,000 (Total: 123,000)
12. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon (DS) 11,000 (Total:1.05m )
13. Dynasty Warriors 6 (360) 10,000 (Total: 37,000)
14. Complete Literature Works (DS) 8,800 (Total: 100,000)
15. My Household Budget Diary (DS) 8,700 (Total: 286,000)
16. Ratchet & Clank: Future (PS3) 8,500 (Total: 19,000)
17. Ghost Scad (Wii) 7,500 (Total: 38,000)
18. Mario Party 8 (Wii) 5,500 (Total: 890,000)
19. Cooking Mama 2 (DS) 4,700

Source: Famitsu

Thanks to Ace Combat 6, the Xbox 360 is on top of the Japanese console market this week, slightly ahead of the PS3. The last time Microsoft saw a nice victory like this was two months ago, when Halo 3 topped the charts in Japan.

According to numbers released by Media Create, sales in Japan last week had the Xbox 360 selling 17,673 units, while the PS3 sold 17,434.

Yet, despite the tight console competition, the DS Lite is still outselling both by more than 3:1, with sales ringing in at 78,552. The DS is not alone however, as the PSP is also outselling the 360 and PS3 at a 3:1 ratio as well, with sales at 59,714 and counting.

With both handhelds now available in the popular “lite” format, more afforable than ever, and offering a solid line of growing titles, it is easy to see why the PSP and DS are turning heads in Japan.