Slashdot Mirror
PlayStation 2 Outselling Xbox 360 in U.S.
Aviran Mordo writes to mention an Ars Technica article about the sales struggle between the PS2 and Xbox 360. Since the launch, the PS2 has managed to maintain the lead. April was the first month Microsoft's new console eeked out Sony's old one, possibly as a result of the ramp-up in production. From the article: "I should note that we caution against putting too much weight on these sales estimates, especially in a comparative sense. The PS2 and the Xbox 360 are at opposite ends of their 'console lifecycles,' and the two are priced quite far apart as well (e.g., $129 vs. $299, PS2, Xbox 360 Core respectively). We are impressed, however, by the PS2's continually strong sales, even as many gamers turn their eyes towards the next-generation. These sales will help keep Sony strong and stable, even in the face of a disappointing PlayStation 3 launch, should fate take that turn." These sales may be bolstered as the year moves on by the releases of God of War 2, Final Fantasy XII, and Okami, all of which are for the PS2.
Hardly a far comparison when you look at price point. I would rather spend 129 then 600 any day for a system that is still a decent gaming system.
I can't believe its not butter!
I'm curious about how Sony will be able to translate the PS2 popularity into PS3 sales. The 100% backward compatibility promise is a great start, but I think that to sell the PS3 to all the people who don't have a HDTV, you need something better than 'this $500 machine does everything your $100 does'. No more memory cards, wireless controllers, possibly faster load times are all nice, but not enough. And I don't see consumers flocking to HD movies either. I own a HD projector, and HD movies _do_ look better on it than plain DVDs, but it is by no stretch the same landslide change that VHS->DVD was.
A boatload of highly desirable PS3 excluisives to popular PS2 franchises would possibly seal the deal. But most of the upcoming sequels, like Gran Turismo HD, seem more like HD versions of the same game. That won't sell any consoles to the non-HD consumers, which are still the majority, even in the early adopter bracket.
Try out fish, the friendly interactive shell.
I've been an XBox guy for the past three years, but with the appearance of the 360, the new games market for the original XBox dried up pretty quickly. I needed a new console - so why spend all that money on a 360 when there are plenty of good PS2 games that I haven't played that are available at cheap prices? I'll get a 360 eventually - but for now, the PS2 is just fine.
This same conversation has been going on at Ars (and to a slightly lesser degree, here at /.) for months now. The threads are usually fairly amusing but for every useful and informative post there's 10 that are just blind fanboyism. Not that those can't be fun as well...
I think the reason for the fanatic dedication to a particular console brand is the need for consumers to justify to themselves the huge investment they made in their purchase. All of the consoles are expensive, and with a halfway decent selection fo games and accessories you're looking at several thousand dollars invested. Nobody wants to feel as though they made a "mistake", and that the other guy's product might have been the better choice.
When it comes down to it, however, other than a few total bombs in the past, all of the current generations of consoles have a lot going for them, not the least of which includes a ton of quality, enjoyable games. I just wish we could remember that when we engage in these occasional console-wars threads.
I mean, it's probably not good at all for MS. But I would think that people choosing to purchase a PS2 in this late stage of the game, probably won't buy a PS3 at/near launch. Before the 360 came out, sales of the X-Box 1 dropped.
Actually, on the other hand, this probably just people replacing broken PS2s. Which such a huge userbase, you'll see substantial turn-around for replacement systems. I know, myself that I need to purchase a new PS2 because my original one died (and I don't want to give up my game library).
Oh. And I have no plans on purchasing a PS3. Too expensive, and I'm having serious doubts that it's going to be the leader of the next generation. (And if it's not the leader, it won't get the 3rd party games. And the 3rd party games are the only reason to have a PlayStation)
As consoles age, the quality of their games get better and better. That's because the programmers learn all the ways to wring out performance. When I look at my oldest games (GTA 3 and the Sims, both state of the art at the time) and compare them to some of the newer games (Shadow of the Colossus, the Warriors, and Dragon Quest VIII), it's clear the quality of the animation has improved.
On the other hand, game play seems to be more static. I haven't seen proof that Xbox 360 games are any better 'games', just better looking.
So, since the game play is a wash, and PS2 games are the best-looking they've ever been, it boils down to extra money for the promise of future performance.
My father is a blogger.
Judging from the number of times my friends have had to replace their PS2 (usually from a failed DVD drive), I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of the PS2 sales are to replace consoles. The PS2 is by far the most prone to breaking in its current generation, and it is probably only now that people may hold off on replacing their broken PS2 in anticipation for picking up a PS3 in November. Heck, at the $130 price point, I imagine that a number of PS2 owners will still bite the bullet and by a new PS2, even with the PS3 on the horizon.
I don't think Microsoft manufactured a shortage, or if they did, they horribly screwed it up, as you want a slight shortage right at release, and then blanket the world during December. (Did you notice how many more units are sold in December?)
They finally solved the supply issue, and sales peaked, and went back down.
But I don't think this is an Xbox 360 VS PS2 issue, but more indicative of a high priced next-gen console VS low cost current gen console; the PS3 will probably have similar issues as its price is even higher. The Wii stands to compete well in this range, however.
Fellowship 9/11
The poor sales of the 360 really shouldn't surprise anyone.
Console cycles are won and lost on two fundamental pillars:
1) Manufacturing technology
2) Exclusive IP
Neither of those two all important areas have improved one bit for Microsoft with the 360. Microsoft has no ability to manufacture their own hardware and no ability to process shrink their hardware to reduce costs over time. Due to the billions they burned through on the first Xbox project the Xbox 360 team is being kept on a tight leash. The Microsoft of the late 90s is no more and the willingness to throw billions at projects is long gone for anything outside of search or their core OS/app markets. So the Xbox team was forced to kill off the first Xbox early and rush very flakey 360 hardware out the door leading to the staggering number of defective 360s you are hearing about even seven months after the console hit the store shelves. There are numerous people who are already on their fifth 360!
As to the second area, Microsoft has failed to land any new exclusive IP that they didn't have for the first Xbox. People buy consoles to play exclusive titles. That has always been the case and that will always be the case as long as the console market exists. There is nothing for anyone who didn't buy the first Xbox to go out and spend 400+ bucks on the new Xbox. Which is exactly what you hear from people who talk about why they have no plans on buying a 360. Nothing the system has interests them.
The first Xbox sold around 22 million or so. The userbase was made up of:
1) Dreamcast refugees
2) PC gamers
3) Microsoft fans
Microsoft appears to have mostly lost the PC gamers segment due to the weak 360 hardware. With the first Xbox PC gamers could buy an Xbox instead of a new video card and have a gaming system that was more powerful than any PC for a year or so. That wasn't the case with the 360. The 360 was already graphically behind PCs before it even hit store shelves. PC gamers are going back to their PCs and buying new video cards and forgoing picking up 360s this time around.
Plus you have the hardware defect nightmare turning the rest of Microsoft's core target demographic off and sitting on the sidelines until there is some indication that the problems have been solved. So you are basically looking at some fairly large percentage of the existing 22 million or so Xbox owners abandoning the platform. Which pretty much tracks the poor rate the 360 has been selling. Right now the 360 is selling at somewhere between half to two-thirds the rate of the first Xbox.
These latest sales figures for Microsoft have to be gut check time for the 360 team. The current sales rate of the 360 is putting it in sub-Dreamcast installed base range for the console. Something dramatic has to happen soon. The most obvious is some huge price cut to get the existing Xbox fanbase to overcome their hesitations to buy the 360.
However, with both Sony and Nintendo coming out with free online services, Microsoft is looking at a situation where they are going to be forced to match and drop the 50 dollar a year charge for playing games online. If Microsoft has to do a massive price cut on the system and drop the online play charge they are almost certainly looking at another multi-billion dollar loss for the Xbox project.
With the continuing drop in Microsoft's stock over the past five years and the struggle they have been having to meet street projections each quarter over the past year, one has to wonder how much of a stomach Redmond has to soldier on with a console that is looking more and more like another gigantic source of red ink.
Why do you buy any object that delivers content? The quality of the content.
Why'd you buy a DVD player? The movies on DVD with their superior audio/video quality and that the movies YOU wanted to watch were available in this format. Otherwise we'd have stayed with VHS.
Why do you choose an operating system? The applications. If my customers send me msword docs all day long, i should be running windows as I'm in the best position to have 100% compatibility with their documents. Windows is more expensive to purchase than linux, but if I cannot run Outlook/excel/word/whatever then the cost of windows is a necessary and mandatory cost.
Why is PS2 sales still high? It's not the cost of the game machine, but that there are HUNDREDS of games available for it. With a large variety in the type of games available, any new consumer is more likely to find a game they want to play on the PS2 than on the xbox360 which still has only a few games.
If PS3 is backwards compatible with the PS2, it will be a slam dunk as people can still play their old games, if PS3 is not backwards compatible it will suffer from the same problems as the xbox360
The longevity of Sony's console sales does really point out the mountain MS was trying to climb, doesn't it?
You say the original XBox market for new games disappeared, and it's true -- there's almost nothing new coming. Meanwhile Sony can rely on plenty of third party legs for the PS2; even if the PS3 outright crashes, there's still some cushion there.
Anyone who's scoffed at the idea of "market share" or said it was overrated should think about how much critical mass MS would have needed here. Even a first generation buyer of MS's product is hard-pressed not to go ahead and buy Sony's old version. You "needed a new console" and Sony's old one was plenty good enough -- and it has tons of games you haven't played. You don't even say you were dissatisfied with the XBox, but the 360 doesn't make sense to you.
It's all about the price and the third-party support, seemingly.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
At that price, of course it's ahead of the $400 product.