July NPD Numbers : Xbox 360 outsells PS3 again
I’m shocked.
Last month, we posted a rather controversial article ‘Xbox 360 outsells PS3 by over 100%‘ which concentrated on the NPD number for June. Everybody knew at the time that PS3 was not selling as well as Sony would have hoped but the 2:1 sales ratio was a surprise even for a 360 website like ours.
Of all the comments linked with last months article, the most prevalent subject was the recently announced PS3 price cut and the fact that July’s NPD numbers would reverse the trend. Some PS3 ‘fans’ even suggested that PS3 would outsell the 360 by 200% during July. I’ll admit that I did think the PS3’s price cut would help their sales pass that of the 360 - not by a huge amount of course but at least by about 50/100k.
Although the sales figures this month don’t show the huge discrepancy they did last month - the 360 continues to outsell PS3 despite the much talked about price cuts. And with the 360 receiving price cuts of it’s own this month, not to mention the release of Bioshock, Halo 3 etc we could see 360 stretch it’s US lead even more before 2007 finishes up.
The Nintendo Wii still outsells both the 360 and the PS3 which is an incredibly impressive achievement considering Ninty’s recent platform failures. There is still a chance that Wii sales will bottom out fairly quickly in the same way they did for the N64 and Gamecube - but with Wii sales surpassing both of those consoles already, at least their finishing numbers will be more impressive this generation.
NPD Numbers for July
Nintendo Wii - 425,000
Microsoft Xbox 360 - 170,000
Sony PS3 - 159,000
Posted by Bleem - August 24th, 2007 -
August 24th, 2007 at 11:34 am
To be honest i am still pleasently surprised by how well the Wii is selling, all credit to Ninty on that one.
The Ps3 and 360 figures are interesting, looks like the PS3 is starting to get a much healthier install base, which is all good. The closer run the two are the healthier the competition and the more they both have to strive to out-do the other.
The recent news about the TV add on for the PS3 is interesting stuff and goes to show the slightly different approaches from the two consoles (IMO). It seems to me that MS are pushing the gamer market whilst Sony are pushing harder for the Multimedia machine market. The two aren’t mutually exclusive of course as both machiens straddle both areas, but i think it’s a subtle yet significant difference in approach.
And i think with that comment I should have succesfully managed to keep the ‘fanboy’ label off for a while.
August 24th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
@Mr-J
Congratulations on being the the first opening comment on a games forum that didn’t contain any trace of fanboyism, if it were up to me you would recieve a prize or gift certificate for it.
As an older gamer who previously owned every make of console, I don’t have the same amount of disposable income that I had as a teenager with with fewer bills to pay, it is for this reason only that I chose to buy only 1 console this time round, I chose the 360 because it has the games I want to play right now but if money was no object I would probably have bought all 3.
I agree that it is in everybodies best interest that Sony improves it’s user base to keep up the level of competition that sees both systems striving to produce the best games and at a fair price.
Fanboy comments are counter productive and I have no respect for the sites that deliberately provoke console flame wars just to increase their readership, many people compare fanboys to football fans but who’d want to watch a sport where all the other teams had only half as many players and no chance of competing?
Only good competition will keep both companies at the top of their game so why wish for less?
August 24th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
First off, in the last generation, I owned XBox 1 and I owned a GameCube. I currently own a 360 and a Wii and appreciate each for their abilities. So what I’m about to say shouldn’t be construed as fanboyism.
I see a comment like this
“The Nintendo Wii still outsells both the 360 and the PS3 which is an incredibly impressive achievement considering Ninty’s recent platform failures.”
The XBox sold 24 million units, the GameCube sold 22 million units. The way some tell the story, you’ll think Nintendo sold about 10 GCs and Microsoft put XBox’s in the home of everyone with a TV set. It’s really not all that different on a Global basis. Both got slaughtered by Sony last time. Microsoft certainly won the PR war, but from a business perspective, I’m no so sure.
It is true that Microsoft came out of nowhere to capture second spot, edging out Nintendo. It’s also true that they lost over $4 billion to do it. Likewise, Nintendo was third, but highly, highly profitable.
From a business perspective, does it make more sense to have a slight second place lead and be bleeding a ton of money or;
right behind but with billions more coming in than what you’re spending?
Had it paid off for Microsoft this generation, I would have said the former. Right now, with the Wii’s momentum, I think MS made a mistake writing them off as competition.
Of course, this war is just getting started. A couple good games in any camp could really make things interesting.
August 24th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
@Mark
Some interesting points, I thnk when you say about MS writing off the Wii as competition it raises some interesting questions.
I would love to know, of the people that own a wii, how many own one of the other two consoles as well. And of the ones that don’t whether they ever would have and chose the wii over it.
I can’t back this up..so it’s purely my own speculation. But from what i have seen on various forums it seems to me, the wii isn’t stealing sales away from the others, in fact it appeals to another market.
There really seems to be some truth in ninty’s original PR claim of “this isn’t next gen, it’s new gen”
August 24th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
Well done to all for keeping the comments non fanboy - impressive for an article with this title.
I just quickly wanted to respond to a couple of interesting points up above.
Firstly, Mr-J : Totally agree with your comments on the differences between Sony and Microsoft’s marketing. MS are obviously going for the ‘avid’ gamer - I was tempted to say hardcore, but I think that term applies more to the last gen Xbox than the it does to the 360. Sony’s announcement of PlayTV has done a lot of headline grabbing and that will do well to boost desirability up and through the festive period. But, I already have Sky+ which is super. I don’t need another PVR function so it doesn’t sway me at all, just as an identical offering from Microsoft wouldn’t boost my opinion of the 360 itself.
On the Wii front - Thats my ‘other’ console. I bought it for social gaming, when there are a bunch of friends around really. It’s different enough to get people interested, and easy enough to keep them hooked without becoming frustrating. It’s the interface that makes all the difference - I have people in my circle of friends who still think that when I say “move forward” they should press right on the d-pad. 360 games are not for them. The only single player game for the Wii I’ve spent any time on is Zelda - and it looks like thats the way it’s going to stay until Mario Galaxy arrives. The Wii isn’t mine, it belongs to ‘the house’ - thats the difference.
@Mark : I take on board your comment about people thinking the Gamecube sold 10 machines. I think my wording could have been a bit better there. What I was trying to explain was that for both the N64 and the Gamecube - they both sold amazingly well at launch but very quickly the sales died a death. Xbox didn’t sell terribly well at launch, but maintained momentum for longer than the Cube did. Writing posts at work is never a very good idea
Sorry, think I went on a bit of a rant then.
August 25th, 2007 at 4:11 am
This may well be the most civilized blog on the net, I wonder if it will start a trend?
August 25th, 2007 at 8:56 am
Thanks Steve - I think we’ll take that as a compliment!