From day one, Sony has emphasized that the PS3 was built with a long-term life cycle in mind. Even though its early sluggish sales were fodder for riches-to-rags jokes all over the gaming media, the PS3 may be on its way to passing the Xbox 360 in global lifetime sales.
According to the latest numbers as compiled by industry tracker VGChartz.com(note that these numbers are not official or guaranteed to beaccurate -they are compiled via VGChartz's sales information) sales of the Xbox 360 stand at 44.6 million as of September 30. The PS3, meanwhile, is nestled right underneath at 41.6 million, a gap of less than 7%.
Moreover, between the two consoles, it's the PS3 that has momentum right now. Sony apparentlysold 3.5 million new PS3 units during its most recent quarter, compared to Microsoft's 2.8 million Xbox 360s.
The PS3 has seemingly had a higher amount of "spectator interest" since its 2006 launch, and Sony is able to still capitalize on that. The Xbox 360 doesn't quite have the same level of outsider intrigue - it doesn't have a Blu-ray player, it doesn't tout 3D capabilities, and its digital download capabilities are more limited.
Though they're widely regarded as not much different than the Wii's four-year-old motion-sensing technology, the Move and Kinect will probably determine who comes out ahead in the next year.
Both will still have trouble catching up to Nintendo, though. Total Wii sales are already over 75 million units.
Oct 29, 2010
