You are correct - the PS3 does need to catch up, and the Wii is doing so - but what's the easiest differentiator? The Wii is half the price, and that's after the PS3 price drop.
My point is that it is maintaining parity despite the price disadvantage, which suggests that sales for PS3 are no worse than for X360. Sony isn't in the greatest position, sure, but keeping parity with number 2 in terms of sales growth isn't altogether too bad. In the face of complaints such as lack of compelling content (i.e. games), keeping up looks alright.
Dropping the price in a slow sales month doesn't hurt sales figures at all; indeed, it will pick up sales when the expectation would be for sales to plateau.
It'll be interesting to revisit this in a couple of weeks.
Ok, let's take your suggestion then - don't align the launches, which should play out what is happening currently. The result looks like this.
Now what does that say? The PS3, despite its price disadvantage, is maintaining approximate parity with the X360 - the gap isn't widening or narrowing particularly. The Wii is kicking some serious butt. And the PS3 definitely has upward momentum at the moment, given the price drop.
If you do the same thing for the previous generation, you get this. What's interesting to note there is that neither GameCube nor Xbox closed the gap at any point to the PS2, which had the first-mover advantage (actually DreamCast, RIP, did but let's not talk about that sad end). Which suggests that this round will play out very differently.
Can I also add - damn, I like playing with this charting tool - that if the GC is considered an "also-ran" of the previous generation, then so would the Xbox.
History suggests it might not be doing too badly, actually. (yes it is all relative, but it's interesting given the PS1 is widely considered a successful console too)
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Though yes, I will concede that you can just use POP and be done with it, and the ads are clearly marked.
You are correct - the PS3 does need to catch up, and the Wii is doing so - but what's the easiest differentiator? The Wii is half the price, and that's after the PS3 price drop.
My point is that it is maintaining parity despite the price disadvantage, which suggests that sales for PS3 are no worse than for X360. Sony isn't in the greatest position, sure, but keeping parity with number 2 in terms of sales growth isn't altogether too bad. In the face of complaints such as lack of compelling content (i.e. games), keeping up looks alright.
Dropping the price in a slow sales month doesn't hurt sales figures at all; indeed, it will pick up sales when the expectation would be for sales to plateau.
It'll be interesting to revisit this in a couple of weeks.
I'd also suggest turning off the radio whenever a Sony BMG song comes on.
Ok, let's take your suggestion then - don't align the launches, which should play out what is happening currently. The result looks like this.
Now what does that say? The PS3, despite its price disadvantage, is maintaining approximate parity with the X360 - the gap isn't widening or narrowing particularly. The Wii is kicking some serious butt. And the PS3 definitely has upward momentum at the moment, given the price drop.
If you do the same thing for the previous generation, you get this. What's interesting to note there is that neither GameCube nor Xbox closed the gap at any point to the PS2, which had the first-mover advantage (actually DreamCast, RIP, did but let's not talk about that sad end). Which suggests that this round will play out very differently.
Can I also add - damn, I like playing with this charting tool - that if the GC is considered an "also-ran" of the previous generation, then so would the Xbox.
History suggests it might not be doing too badly, actually. (yes it is all relative, but it's interesting given the PS1 is widely considered a successful console too)