PS3 vs Xbox 360 - Sales

After simply glancing at the PS3 vs Xbox 360 sales figures we can see that the Microsoft Xbox 360 has sold more units than the Sony PlayStation 3. But a major reason for this is that the Xbox 360 was released a good year before the PS3. This inadvertently meant that many people bought the Xbox 360 because they could not wait another year. In my opinion, the PS3 is a far better console and is the best gaming console around, but the head start that the Xbox 360 got has led to its superiority.

This head start also means that there are more game titles available for the Xbox 360 because developers had a full year more to sell these games. These video game consoles are not cheap by any means, and once a person had bought an Xbox 360 and its games, it was unfeasible to spend a similar amount to change over to the PS3 just more than a year after that.

Total sales of Xbox 360 currently stand at around 50 million units, and this includes all the different types of Xbox 360 consoles. On the other hand, worldwide sales of PS3 are around 43 million units. These are approximate figures, and they are from the month of September 2010, and these may have changed considerably by now. Let us see information about PS3 vs Xbox 360 - sales.

Sales of PS3 vs Xbox 360

A PS3 vs Xbox 360 comparison is something that many new buyers carry out, and in this area the PS3 edges out the Xbox 360 easily. The added advantage of the console being a Blu-Ray disc player also helps. Moreover, Xbox Live requires members to pay a certain fee to carry out online gaming, whereas the PlayStation Network can be used free of cost. Though Xbox Live is better, the fact that the rival offers a similar service for free works against it to a certain extent.

When you analyze PS3 vs Xbox 360 - sales it is also necessary to take the major markets into consideration. There are 4 primary markets where these video game consoles are sold, and these are the United States, United Kingdom, Europe and Japan. This PS3 vs Xbox 360 sales chart will show you the figures for sales in these specific markets.

Market/Console	Sony PlayStation 3	Microsoft Xbox 360
United States	14 million units	19 million units
United Kingdom	5 million units	7 million units
Europe	18 million units (including UK sales)	21 million units (including UK sales)
Japan	6 million units	2 million units

As you can see, the UK and Europe and the US prefer the Xbox 360. This is simply because it was released before. Japan, on the other hand, recognizes the value of the PS3 and that is why it comfortably outsells the Xbox 360 there.

Competition and the Future

While Sony and Microsoft were fighting each other, the Nintendo Wii came along and stole a major chunk of the market. Worldwide sales of the Wii are close to 80 million units, and this is because the Wii offered something new with its unique motion sensing controller. They opened up a whole new market of gamers, and exploited this segment very well. Today, Sony has released the Move controller and Microsoft has released the Kinect (where 'You are the Controller'), and they are looking to tap this market as well.

According to reports, the Sony Move has sold 4.1 million units since its release while the Microsoft Kinect has sold close to 3 million units. This is an inaccurate assessment of the consoles though, since many people are just buying the Move or Kinect packages and are upgrading their consoles, and not buying brand new ones. But these releases have certainly pushed the Nintendo Wii firmly into the background.

Video games are developing at an alarming rate today, and this market has a lot more potential that is still untapped. The PS3 vs Xbox 360 sales to date figures show that the Xbox 360 is doing better, but this is only because it was released a year earlier. There are many bugs with the Xbox 360 that are still not fixed, and the PS3 also acts as Blu-Ray player. So if you are looking to buy a new console, we suggest you opt for the PS3.