The MSN article offers no concrete sales numbers for the past week's North American next-gen console battle, only stating that "retailers and analysts across North America confirm that the hottest selling gaming console this past weekend was the Xbox 360."
Despite high demand both Sony and Nintendo failed to supply enough consoles to satisfy hungry gamers, leaving MS to bask in the glory of being the only system in the shops - oh, and that game Gears of War probably had something to do with the bumped-up 360 sales as well.
The console is looking to do even better numbers in Europe, where Sony's delay of the PS3 to March 2007 makes the 360 the only high-end next-gen console in shops this Christmas.
"Retailers had a great four-day run and pretty much everything is gone. Sony dropped the ball and Nintendo didn't do that much better," MSN quotes one Canadian retailer as saying. "They over-promised and under delivered in terms of the quantity of Wii systems that were available. Sony on the other hand warned everyone that supplies would be severely limited. Microsoft was the big winner. They had lots of systems and they had them priced right with game bundles that gamers were interested in."
Sony and Nintendo are yet to release official sales numbers for their launch weeks, although both consoles are widely reported to be sold out across North America.
So the Xbox 360 looks to be the big winner this Christmas, but while the Microsoft-owned MSN might be ready to claim the next-gen console war over, we think we'll wait for PlayStation 3 and Wii to be readily available in stores before we hoist the green MS flag.
I'm not really surprised, It had Gears of War last week and the Hardware has some great bundle offers and is widely available.
My friends and I have already got our 360's and right now it's easily the best console to go for. I may pick up a Wii to go with it though (just for Zelda).
According to this month's Edge magazine, the Xbox 360 has an installed userbase of just 4.6 million worldwide (although it doesn't give a date but I'd assume it's up to the end of September 2006).
It also claims that the Xbox 360 is selling poorer than the original Xbox did a year into its life so I have to question that 7.6 million figure on the NextGen Wars website. Does it include the 1-2 million faulty Xbox 360s that have been returned and replaced for example?
According to this month's Edge magazine, the Xbox 360 has an installed userbase of just 4.6 million worldwide (although it doesn't give a date but I'd assume it's up to the end of September 2006).
It also claims that the Xbox 360 is selling poorer than the original Xbox did a year into its life so I have to question that 7.6 million figure on the NextGen Wars website. Does it include the 1-2 million faulty Xbox 360s that have been returned and replaced for example?
I think if you go back and read that article a bit more carefully you'll see the 4.6 million userbase is for 360 owners that subscribe to xbox live.
So this is due to demand then is it? It's not due to the fact both the Wii and PS3 ran out of systems to sell and the shelves were stacked high with 360's.
If there had been 2 Million PS3's or Wii's on shelves they would have all sold out.
Hows about you make a big deal of the total December worldwide sales figures Microsoft, I dare you.
Its hardly supprising the 360 is out selling PS3/Wii. If theres more available they will sell more.
I think even if they did post Decembers total sales, I believe you will find the 360 still outselling, even if Japan, if the pre-orders of the Blue Dragon LE pack are anything to go by. Dont quote me, but Im certain there were between 80 and 100 thousand units manufacutered, complete with the game and Anime style toy which the Japs cannot get enough of. From what I heard the pre-orders sold out in a couple of hours.
Good marketing ploy if you ask me, and something they needed to do. Japs love limited edition kit. That with Lost Planet pack should pick up the dreadful sales in the east.
I would think even Nintendo, with a far easier to manufacture system will have trouble supplying the demand.
Either way, its going to be an interesting few years for each of the 3 main players.
I for one will grab a Wii early next year, then sit tight and see whether the PS3 really does live up to the hype around a year after launch before spending out (its not done anything for me as of yet). If it dosnt, then will wait until at least theres a choice of 10-12 decent titles and price drop to make the purchase worth while.
Microsoft have every right to promote their products. However, if they are using their news site to share news that doesnt follow journalistic standards, then it just means that the MSN site will be viewed as a promotional site rather than a trustworthy news site.
I fail to see how facts=spin? xbox 360 outsold ps3 and wii! fair and square its true that the systems werent on the shelves but whos fault is it? xbox 360 happily takes the victory (and the market share) and by the end of december im fairly certain the numbers will still show that Xbox360 will come out on top.
def think the figures are slighly bumped a bit but maybe not that much id say they rounded them off i myself know ten people in my town alone that bought a 360 last week it s got the games , the bundles ,the price and plenty of them in stores so i reckon ms have x mas sown up and by the way i live in a small irish town thats a lot of consoles being sold in one week
I fail to see how facts=spin? xbox 360 outsold ps3 and wii! fair and square its true that the systems werent on the shelves but whos fault is it? xbox 360 happily takes the victory (and the market share) and by the end of december im fairly certain the numbers will still show that Xbox360 will come out on top.
FACTS WHAT FACTS,ALL THEY SAID WAS " MY DAD COULD CHIN YOUR DAD,prove it, I DON'T HAVE TO ,JUST BELIEVE ME "
It's exactly the same ,you ( 360,ps2 ,ds) can come out and produce ( put their own spin on)figures which trounce other systems & look good for you in a certain category/ time of day/ region also but if they include other factors which they don't ,( ala Labour spin )then these figures are really not anything noteworthy.
What wrong with MS giving themselves a pack on the back, their got great hardware and finally great games are coming through thick and fast for the machine, its cheaper than its main rival in the states, and that machine (PS3) only shipped less than 200,000 units to retail for launch and Wii shipped just over 400,000 for its launch.
Sony came out and said that same thing last year about PS2 sales, when 360 came out, we outsold them ha ha (forgetting to mention the 360 was limited supply, cost 3 times what PS2 was, and didnt have any truly must have games).
Now it does and the sales figures from feb onwards in the states has seen the machine only a few thousand behind each week in figures from the 100 dollar PS2.
As for the overheating issue with 360, its true they did have a problem with the first few batches that went on sale, but ive had mine for 6 months, and it hasnt overheated or failured yet, and i havnt heard of anyone elses packing it either since the end of january.
Its true the 360 hasnt sold aswell as xbox did in the first year, its not far off, but then again, 360 didnt have a must have game, xbox did, it was called halo and shifted some 10 million machines for MS, just wait till halo 3 comes out, that will shift a million 360's a week for a few months (just not in japan), tagged along with a price drop i may add.
Yes Microsoft have done many things right, but then, they have to.
This is far from a one horse race and statistics are often attributed from the higher percentage, so any numerical gain they have or post is a rather unfair comparison.
I do expect Microsoft do very well this time round however. They have a good system (flaws aside), with a cracking amount of titles available now and over the next 12 months.
To compare figures with newly released systems though is a bit on the unfair side, still I guess thats there progative.
2007/8 will be the telling time. Question is, does anyone really care who is the market leader? Unless you have shares in the company it really meens sod all.
What matters is a good solid line up of titles filtered in a constant stream. Whether that expand upon current themes and goes beyond them or produces new IPs that excel in every direction. That matters not figures spun by a top executive.
Question is, does anyone really care who is the market leader? Unless you have shares in the company it really meens sod all.
Not quite true. The more units in the market (and the bigger the lead) the more bargaining power you have when it comes to gaining exclusives. This means people who only get 1 machine will actually care.
Just shows what M$ knows: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6162373.html?tag=latestnews;title;0
Seriously they fail in every way. Maybe worldwide they sold more but still i wouldn't believe it. Just because the Wii and PS3 aren't available here doesn't make them the overall winner. I wonder what the sales figure was of the PS2's sold that week....
Surely no-one is stupid enough to believe Microsoft sold 600k units in the first 8 days that the Wii was released? What exactly are Microsoft playing at? It has to be an attempt to grab headlines (failed attempt as Nintendo trumped them by released the Wii figures and called their bluff) admist the nintendo frenzy. They can talk about these magical sales all they like, but it doesn't change the facts, they've sold less 360's than their conservative targets and a year into its release last gen console king is still tearing it apart.
Well grats to MS. But can that really be real? Lets put it this way Gears of war is a great game but overall aimed at males mainly and 18 rated? So if my assumption is right mainly guys bought the 360 leaving the ladies to choose something else? So if the Wii sold out and was bought by men, women, and children alike. How is the 360 flying of the shelves possible? I have a dozen mates and only one of them is going to get the 360 and he's a PC afficiando. About 25% of them are getting a Wii cos its a party console and their girlfriends would like it. 75% want the PS3 cos it's 'safe' and blu-ray, plus we know their range of titles will be consumer friendly. As for 360 its got a great price but sorry,a couple of decent games on 360 just won't do for the net two years... Gears of war and Halo3? I reckon it's early days yet and that article MS promoted seems like spin. But the 360 bundles do look like value for money but as an 'older' gamer the days of buying all 3 systems are way gone. So playing safe I'm afraid.
*cough* 360 price drop soon *cough* gears of war 2 and 3 *cough* halo 3 and halo wars *cough* many other exclusives *cough* ps3 only decent is exclusive is mgs,, and gow and halo are both better *cough* and no they don't only have "a couple of decent games you moron", they're going to have basically every major title ps3 will have with an exception to mgs... good job being a retard... *cough* "dvd" consumer friendly name *cough* hardware that easily compares to ps3's year later $600 hardware *cough* better live service than ps3 and wii can pony up *cough* who really gives a f**k about a wiimote or tilt control? it's the gayest thing i can truly think of to swing a remote at your tv in hopes of hittin a virtual tennis ball... *cough* i think we have a winner, stop hoping for your ps3 or wii to survive bill gate's onslaught and just give in already and go pick up a 360 :/
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, UK BA1 2BW England and Wales company registration number 2008885
