PS3, Xbox Having Disappointing Christmas Season

Both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 appear to be having a bit of a rough Christmas. For the PS3, it's all about launch jitters. The worst of these jitters is probably the dubious nomination from TIME magazine, who has cited the console as a 'bust'. The 360, likewise, is having problems meeting expectations, especially those of Michael Pachter. He's the gent that expected big sales this Christmas for the console, and he's now trying to figure out why the 360 fell short. What is, perhaps, a larger problem - lack of penetration for the Xbox Live service - is being discussed by Reuters. While the still laudable number of 4 million subscribers sounds impressive, the article points out that the runaway success of the Wii and the overall ratio of possible to actual subscribers should give Microsoft pause. In short, Sony and Microsoft are having good, but not great holiday seasons. Next year, when there's enough stock to go around and big games on the way, we'll see who really 'has the stuff'.

Comments

Re:More Gnashing of Teeth

[wilgibson]

Not true at all. My friend is the ASM at an EB Games. I talk to him all the time about what they have in and wheat's selling. They get more Wiis the PS3s most of the time and the Wiis sell out within seconds. The last shipment they got people where waiting outside at 6pm the day before to get them, the PS3 just doesn't seem to move like that. The closest Best Buy to me has had the same PS3 for atleast a week.

The Wii has a supply problem because it has such a large demand. Nintendo is definitely shipping more Wiis than Sony is PS3, it's just that the demand for PS3 is already beginning to stagnate while the demand for the Wii is growing.

Re:Wii

[bynary]

I had a Xbox 360...and then I borrowed my brother's Wii console. Not only did my wife actually stayed in the room while I was playing she actually played a couple rounds of Wii Bowling with me. The next day I listed my Xbox on eBay and plan to buy a Wii at the earliest opportunity.

It wasn't a tough sell at all.

If you haven't played one...do so.