PS3 Surpasses 360 in Europe

esmufc07

Sony's PlayStation 3 games console has outsold Microsoft's Xbox 360 in Europe, according to figures released by Sony.

More than five million PS3s have been sold across the continent, Sony's David Reeves confirmed.

Speaking at a European PlayStation event in London, he said: "The numbers are a testament to the strength of the PlayStation brand."

He said PlayStation 3 had been outselling the Xbox 360 since October last year.

"We have sold more PlayStation 3s throughout Europe than Xbox 360 even though they launched 16 months before us."

Mr Reeves, head of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, also said 12 million PSP handheld consoles and 48 million PlayStation 2s had been sold in Europe.

Despite Sony's overhauling of Microsoft in Europe, both firms' sales are a long way behind the Nintendo Wii.

Price tag

Sony has managed to overtake Xbox 360 sales despite a much higher price tag.

The cheapest PS3 is available for £299, versus £159 for the Xbox 360.

"We have been consistently outselling our closest competitor [Xbox 360] since October 2007, even with the latest price point," said Mr Reeves.

Microsoft cut the price of Xbox 360 in March.

The figures will cheer Sony after a painful launch period for the machine, which saw delays, stock problems and criticism from gamers that early titles for the machine were below par.

Kaz Hirai, Sony's global head of PlayStation, said the first year of PS3 had been difficult.

Speaking at the London event, he said: "There were teething problems... and customers were a little underwhelmed by early games."

'No surprise'

He said Sony was going to promote the PS3 as a "multi-faceted interactive entertainment system" in the year ahead.

Games consultant Nick Parker said it was "no surprise" that PlayStation had overtaken Xbox in Europe.

"The PlayStation has held out remarkably well over the last 18 months despite the press slating it because of the price. People got behind the brand.

"The PS3 is far more mass market than 360, which has gone for traditional adult males - and that does not go down well in continental Europe."

He said consumers in Europe had "never gotten over the design ethos of the original Xbox."

Microsoft had set out to broaden the appeal of its titles "but never did come up with the goods", he went on.

The Xbox 360 was performing well in the UK but has a "problem on the continent".

He said PlayStation 3 had "every chance" of overtaking the Xbox 360 in its heartland of North America in the next two to three years.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7386879.stm

So with Europe, Japan and Australia now dominated by Wii and PS3, where does the future of the 360 lie?

Dev

The PS day was a great success with info on many games coming to the PS3 in the coming months.

Cornell

Weaste will be throwing a little party tonight in honour of this news.

Christofaux

guess who doesnt freeze in GTA IV?

guess who is getting extra content in GTA IV?

Cornell

I'll take the Blu-Ray player.

Christofaux

I would rather get a laptop with a blue ray player, but only because i have an Xbox.

esmufc07

That's a rather childish couple of statements.

Elessar

but true

esmufc07

Yes it is, but it has nothing to do with the original post about the PS3 surpassing the 360.

Once MGS4 is released, I don't think I will touch GTA again, why do I need DLC content?

James Parkin

not really that great an achievement really

PS3 has a non installed user base whereas the 360 has been available for getting close to 3 years

to only beat the 360 now is actually a massive sign of the strength of the 360

esmufc07

I'm sorry, but I don't think you actually know what you're talking about.

SmashedHombre

Who gives a fuck? Last year the ipod out sold the zen. O noes

Trippin_Stoned

Does that make any sense?

SmashedHombre

The 360 has been out for 3 years so a lot of people who wanted one, has one. How does it not make sense?

rimaldo

the ps3 is a better console than the 360 at hardware level, i don't think anyone can argue otherwise. the main problem with the ps3 is/was a lack of decent games during its first 6-12 months on the market, i have had mine for ages and before gta 4 came out i had only really played assassin's creed and a bit of pro evo on it, it had been used as a dvd/blu-ray player way more than a games console, whilst i was using the 360 the whole time to play games on. now the titles are starting to be released on the ps3 such as gran tourismo and metal gear solid i think it is pretty obvious that the ps3 will start to rival and very possibly overtake the 360. both are excellent consoles though and it is almost impossible to seperate them at the minute, they both have plus and minus points over each other. i do think though that in a year's time, when the ps3 has lots of decent games available on it i think it will just shade the 360.

esmufc07

Sony's declaration that sales of its PlayStation 3 console have now overtaken the Xbox 360 in Europe will make for uncomfortable reading at Microsoft.

I've been chatting with games consultant Nick Parker, who told me that it was "no surprise" that the PS3 is now ahead of the 360.

But let's not forget the near-disastrous launch of PS3 16 months after the 360's debut, lack-luster early titles, production problems, delays, and seeming in-fighting between Sony Europe and America.

This was a textbook example of how not to launch a machine from a position of seeming dominance.

Yet the PlayStation brand has stayed strong enough in Europe to see off the Microsoft machine.

Nick Parker believes Microsoft's inability to widen the appeal of the Xbox 360 beyond the hardcore male gamer has been its undoing.

The worry for Microsoft must be that this is the start of the doomsday scenario they had always feared would come to pass.

Microsoft's gameplan for this generation of consoles has always been simple: get in first, build a lead and then retain it.

The company bust a gut to launch the Xbox 360 before the PlayStation 3, believing its lateness to the market in the last round of machines had cost it dear.

The big question was could the lead the company would accrue be large enough to hold off the inevitable PlayStation charge?

In Europe the answer is no.

In North America, the heartland of Xbox 360, the fight continues.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technolog..._way_back.html

I think rimaldo summed it up well, as I have said in a couple of other threads, I'll be picking up a 360 when Gears of War 2 is released along with, hopefully, another price cut.

IF though Microsoft do fail with this console, do you think they will come back with another or just accept that Sony are too strong in the console market?

Redlambs

All of that is complete and utter bullshit. Pure bullshit from a man who has a fucking useless job and is clearly shit at that too. I would pick it off sentence by sentence, but that would be a waste of my time.


There's much more to the 360 than GeoW2. It's your opinion on the games available for both systems, and I respect that, but you do keep saying the PS3 has better games available which isn't the general case.


Don't believe crap like the above. How is the 360 ever going to be considered a failure? The Original Xbox was considered a great success yet each unit sold LOST money for MS.

Is the PS3 going to be considered a failure because it's been slaughtered in sales by the Wii? Is the Wii considered a failure because it's been slaughtered in sales by the DS? No.

The PS3 only now taking over the sales of the 360 doesn't mean much, since a great number of those people buying one probably also own a 360.

WeasteDevil

To be fair, 5 million shifted in Europe in the first year, and at the price point it still finds itself at is something for SCEE to crow about, not necessarily at Microsoft, but at SCEA and SCEJ. Europe is probably the only market that is hitting its pre-release targets.

James Parkin

makes complete sense

say there are 100 people 50 of which have had a 360 for months, then the PS3 is released and the other 50 buy one and also 20 of the 360 owners. Then 20 of the ps3 0wners buy a 360

ps3 has then outsold 360, in the last month, 50 to 20, yet there are still 70 of each of them in the world (if you can overlook the hardware failures )

for ps3 to have only just outsold the 360 therefore is not a great achievement

This makes sense in my mind anyway, although my brain has been trounced by years of alcohol abuse

Elessar

as many people has stated before PS3 is superior tot he xbox 360 in every single way on a hardware level, however it isnt the hardware that makes or breakes a console, it is the games. Look at the PS2 inferior hardware to the original xbox but kicked the crap out of it because it superior gaming library, hell the ps2 is probably the best gaming console since the snes.
Now the positions are reveresed, however the ps3 is now gaining ground. Key games for the ps3 will without a doubt be MGS4 and Force Unleashed(even though it is a multi platform game).....then there is FF13 but we wont see that this year.
That the ps3 outsells xbox in europe shows at least that might be a late starter but might turn out to be the better console. Now give me god of war3 and I will run and buy a ps3

esmufc07

Like I have said before, the reason I went for the PS3 over the 360 is because of the exlcusives. MGS4, FFXIII, Little Big Planet, Heavy Rain amongst many others will only be playable on the PS3. I'm not saying the 360 doesn't have any great games because it does, but looking at it's exclusives list the only one that will persuade me to buy one is GeoW2, and possibly Splinter Cell: Conviction. And in the long term I will probably be able to pick these up for the PC.

By failure I mean finishing in last place out of the Wii and PS3, which in a couple of years down the line it will be. It doesn't have Europe, it doesn't have Japan and it doesn't have Australia, the only market it has at the moment is America, and despite that in 2 of the last 3 months it has been outsold by the PS3.

PS3 and Wii aren't targeted at the same people though are they? And credit to the Wii, it has been a phenomenon, and coupled with the DS Nintendo must be absolutely rolling in it. Maintaining its success over a long period of time like Sony did with the PS1 and PS2 will be very difficult though.

You're probably right, but with all the bad publicity it has had, it's high price point, its lack of AAA games, outselling the 360 in a major territory in such a short amount of time when the 360 had a 16 month head start is not to be scoffed at.

rufus diabolus

Now I'm confused.

The original post was about overall sales in Europe not just per month.

Redlambs

Fair enough.



What are the total worldwide sales?



Who told you that?



Again, you are wrong. It's not to be scoffed at of course, but to say it was coming from behind due to any of those things you've said is wrong. The PS3 was already starting on top of a well-build fanbase and was always going to really pick up with the second wave of games.

To use it as a sign that it is going to 'win' outright over the 360, or that it is a better console overall is slightly blinkered.

Redlambs

Really? Can you explain that?


No, the Xbox was new to the market, the PS2 already had an extensive user base before it was even released. 2 is the clue.

Then by that reckoning, the Wii is the best console of all three.

James Parkin

yes but what I am syaing is that the 360 user base must have been close to saturation, yet the ps3 despite having a wider audience (who didnt already have one) had still struggled to outsell it

maybe we could look at it as the same as the music charts, that may be a better example

esmufc07

Around 20m for the 360, 13m for the PS3.

I'll rephrase, they targeted their console at a wider demographic than that of the PS3 and 360.

I'm just going on recent sales trends, the PS3 has been outselling the 360 pretty much worldwide.

I'm not slating the 360, I'm just saying I prefer the PS3 as an overall package, and I think ultimately it will beat the 360.

Redlambs