Microsoft says 360 leads PS3 by 1M in Europe
by Justin McElroy 
{ Feb 16th 2009 at 4:40PM } 
But it's not too late, European Sony fans. With the very idea of representative currency crumbling around you, there's never been a better time to go buy an extra PS3 (or a million) and turn this tide. Besides, think of your friends' envy when you can escape from the cacophony of post-financial-apocalypse neo-orphans crying for scurvy-fighting citrus fruits in your house ... made of PlayStations!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
rohan @ Feb 16th 2009 4:44PM
KZ2 will change everything
Matt @ Feb 16th 2009 4:49PM
Haha, whatever. Just like Lair, and MGS4, and Little Big Planet will change everything. There's always some game that "will change everything" but never seems to.
TinyTim121 @ Feb 16th 2009 4:50PM
What like MGS4/Home/LittleBigPlanet/Resistance 2/Dual Shock 3/GT5:P was meant to change everything?
I'm just as big a PlayStation fan as the next person, but i can't see Killzone 2 making 1 million console hardware sales.
ki @ Feb 16th 2009 4:51PM
Matt you're comment was no better than rohan's. Shit works both ways in the fanboy world.
Troy Powers @ Feb 16th 2009 4:51PM
Probably not, but it's gonna be an AWESOME game!
TheDemiurge @ Feb 16th 2009 4:55PM
No game will change everything, but a significant price drop might.
KobeBryunt @ Feb 16th 2009 5:22PM
"KZ2 will change everything"
Loser
lee @ Feb 16th 2009 5:47PM
yeah because MGS4 didnt give the ps3 a massive sales boost
/sarcasm
Longhorn4Life @ Feb 16th 2009 5:56PM
Of course KZ2 will change everything, this is just M$ spitting out their bile while they still have it.....I will give two months
Duke @ Feb 16th 2009 6:04PM
Longhorn4Life, 2 months - you said it. So lets check back in 2 months to all talk about how you talked out of your ass yet again. I love my PS3, but your fanboy bs is a joke!
Longhorn4Life @ Feb 16th 2009 6:09PM
Just to be clear, Its two months after KZ2 is release
Baby J Penn (PSN johnnynumber5) @ Feb 16th 2009 6:10PM
Duke,
Let's not only single him out for being a fanboy. There are a good 15 additional commenters that also need to be called out. Most importantly are Kobe & Snowblind.
rohan @ Feb 16th 2009 6:27PM
lol i just posted this to see how many ppl will start a flame war, sum ppl are reasonable while others are out there
The Espiritu (Sony said: PlayStaiton 3) @ Feb 16th 2009 6:49PM
What, what happened here?
Dartmerc @ Feb 16th 2009 6:58PM
rohan is cool
rohan @ Feb 16th 2009 7:34PM
fanboys happened lol and thx =D
zuburi @ Feb 17th 2009 2:47AM
"lol i just posted this to see how many ppl will start a flame war"
I'm pretty sure that's the textbook definition of trolling [ ! ]
MarkG @ Feb 17th 2009 3:22AM
??? Are you people stupid? The 360 had a 18month headstart in Europe and the UK.
For the PS3 to be level with the 360 in mainland Europe sales, and only 1m behind in UK sales, is REALLY bad news for Microsoft, depsite how the spin it.
Do they have schools in America?
Luan @ Feb 16th 2009 4:46PM
Wow...most fanboy piece of news I've ever seen...
ki @ Feb 16th 2009 4:49PM
Yeah, the last paragraph kind of killed it for me.
Cody @ Feb 16th 2009 5:28PM
Man, Microsoft is really stretching for a piece of good news these days.
We may be third place! But dammit if we aint leadin' by a million in the Europes!!
nutman @ Feb 16th 2009 5:45PM
What are you talking about Cody? Microsoft is in second place with the last reported 360 sales number being 28 million. The PS3 is at 17 or 18 million I believe.
Levi @ Feb 16th 2009 6:25PM
Last I heard it was more like 21 mil
Troy Powers @ Feb 16th 2009 6:30PM
Doesn't matter. A large percentage of Microsoft's 28 mil are replacements for units that red ringed. They're selling people crap and then bragging when they go out and replace it...with more of the same crap. :D
Hilarity!
nutman @ Feb 16th 2009 7:05PM
Wait a second. You HONESTLY believe that over half of Xbox 360s sold were replacements? What? That is so retarded. I've never seen such blatant fanboy stupidity here. One would possibly say that the majority were replacements if A. You have a three year warranty(and they extend your standard warranty by a year after each repair) and B. Every multi-platform game sells more on the 360. Period. If the majority are replacements then why do 360 games sell more than Ps3 games? Are the 14 million 360 owners buying multiple copies of each game?
Troy Powers @ Feb 16th 2009 7:37PM
Yes. That's exactly what I said. I said that over half of the 360s sold were replacements. No, I didn't say "a larger percentage." I said over half. You get an A in reading and comprehension.
Alphathon @ Feb 16th 2009 7:44PM
Over half? Not by a long shot (if it were over half then it would have to be from people who replaced thiers twice, which is just stupid), but did he actually say over half? No, just a large percentage. Is it likelly that the 360s entire lead is down to red ring replacements? No. Is it possible that their current lead in Europe is down to red ring replacements? Yes. I am not saying that is how it is, but it is certainly possible.
Why do games generally sell better on the 360? Well that depends a great deal on the game. A lot of it is down to its OVERALL lead (mainly down to North America, as in Europe it has been in third for most of the "war" so far. I'm not sure about Japan, but I think it is similar to Europe) so there are more people available to buy it. Another reason though is LIVE. A large amount of people who have both will choose the 360 version above the PS3 due to LIVE being undoubtedly better than the PSN (other than the fee). There is another factor though. Often multi-platform games are written for the 360 and then ported to the PS3, often not particularly well. For example any game based on the Unreal engine will look better on the 360 because the PS3 version of the engine is crippled (thanks Epic...at least the next unreal engine might actually be on playstation - it wont be on PC...but thats another topic entirelly). This seems to be a reversing trend whowever.
Regardless, this article seems rather too fanboyish to me...especially from someone who also posts PS3 news as well. Also, wheres the link to the source of this info? Oh well Google will have to do.
Killjebus @ Feb 16th 2009 4:48PM
Even if it is true, should you brag about a 1m lead when you had a 16 month head start at a much cheaper price with more games?
Fanboy #23 @ Feb 16th 2009 4:59PM
Someone here told me that you get horny every time you see a Killzone 2 video.
Is it true?
Archon @ Feb 16th 2009 5:09PM
If so, why don't you take a seat over there?
David @ Feb 16th 2009 5:29PM
Is it something to be bragging about when last gen your competitor had outsold 5:1 in Europe, and was expected to repeat? Considering the 360 has been written off in Europe by analysts and fans alike every year since the PS3 came out, maintaining a 1million unit lead is an accomplishment.
Every time Microsoft releases a brag stat like this everyone's down their throats, but once Sony releases something, good or bad, everyone's falling over themselves to rationalize how god this actually is for them.
Sir Buzz Killington( The Artist formerly known as Jakka) @ Feb 16th 2009 5:29PM
Well, PS3 had a massive userbase; superior hardware and a bunch of killer apps. Resistance 2,MGS4,LBP and Home each moved about bazzilion units each.
I'm pretty sure that balances out the 16-month headstart.
nutman @ Feb 16th 2009 5:45PM
Yeah actually. Sony reported in early 2008(Jan or Feb) that they were leading the 360 in Europe by over 1 million units.
flanker22 @ Feb 16th 2009 5:54PM
anyone that uses the word "bazillion" loses all credibility
Sir Buzz Killington( The Artist formerly known as Jakka) @ Feb 16th 2009 5:57PM
OH NOES! NOT MAH PRECIOUS CREDS!
CALL THE FBI! THIS IS SRS BUSNESS!
mynk @ Feb 16th 2009 6:10PM
actually, seeing as though they are both 7th gen, yeah. it does have bragging rights. its like saying... "oh, does sony really have bragging rights for better hardware eventhough it had 1 year more to work on it"
Troy Powers @ Feb 16th 2009 6:20PM
No, the news here is, Microsoft sold millions of Europeans faulty hardware, then when it broke, it got those same millions of people to go back and buy the SAME piece of faulty hardware again!
Really, the RRoD was the best thing that ever happened to M$ and their sales figures.
Lieutenant @ Feb 16th 2009 7:12PM
So no one in Europe has ever used their 3 year warranty? Failed logic failed
Troy Powers @ Feb 16th 2009 7:41PM
And no one in Europe had their 360 break for one of the many reasons that weren't covered in the extended warranty. No one got fed up with Microsoft sending them refurbs that just broke again, so just said "screw it" and went out and bought a new arcade system. Nobody had their system break outside of the warranty and said, "Man, this sucks but I've already got this huge library, and all my xbox live friends. Might as well buy another one." No, THAT'S what never happened.
Gonzo @ Feb 17th 2009 11:16AM
Everyone knows that there are suckers out there who bought another 360 when they had to send their original in for repairs (so they had something to play while waiting) but I hope that number is very low; certainly not more than half of all sold. Still, it sets a very bad precedent.
Either way, I would've thought with the head start they had, MS would be farther ahead in sales.
What's more significant is the recent marketing push by MS. It's all very textbook: they know they're getting close to saturating their own market (why we saw them trying to get some of Nintendo's casual market at last E3) so they want to give another big sales push while they can still call themselves king. That's why you see them all over lately. However, I still don't think the PS3 will surpass sales without a price drop to get it out of luxury goods market (which is a smaller market that sony is probably close to saturating as well): with their cheaper and efficient chips they plan to start using this year, that might happen.
It's pretty clear ps2 won the last gen sales crown and wii has this gen but I think it will be a while before we can know who's this gen's runner up.
I really hope you're all shareholders otherwise, you care way too much. Do you really want the top console? Look at the ps2 & wii: both inundated with shovelware. It's like the Twilight Zone episode with Jack Klugman where he becomes the best Pool Player to ever live, it got pretty tedious for him because he had to play some boring games.
Troy Powers @ Feb 16th 2009 4:50PM
Yeah, but...who cares?
Jcarpio @ Feb 16th 2009 4:50PM
Just want to make sure I get this correct. The PS3's hope is tied to a shooter? I can see God of War as the hope.
Pumapayam @ Feb 16th 2009 5:23PM
God of War, I agree, that is the big draw for 2009/2010
Everything else, not so much.
Sir Buzz Killington( The Artist formerly known as Jakka) @ Feb 16th 2009 5:35PM
I'll just leave this there.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/2/4/
samik @ Feb 16th 2009 4:54PM
You wonder - MS had about a 2-year period before the PS3 games started arriving, $200 cheaper and there was so much negative news about the PS3. If they can barely keep ahead of the PS3 despite this, how will they fare when the PS3 turns up with a much better lineup, as seems to be the case in 2009 at least, and if / when the PS3 cuts to an affordable 299$
Snowblind @ Feb 16th 2009 5:15PM
"Much better lineup" is highly subjective.
Both the 360 AND the Wii easily have an equally strong line up this year.
Just because the PS3 finally had a decent lineup, doesn't instantly make it better than everything else.
KobeBryunt @ Feb 16th 2009 5:34PM
The only good game ps3 has coming this year is god of war 3. See what I did there dumb ass :)
Baby J Penn (PSN johnnynumber5) @ Feb 16th 2009 5:35PM
Snowblind -
It is very subjective but on paper the PS3 has the vastly superior lineup of exclusives when compared to the Wii & 360. I would even say that on paper the Wii has the second best lineup of exclusives in 2009. Since you yourself said "Both the 360 AND the Wii easily have an equally strong line up this year" how about you give me some examples in relation to the 360 specifically. Also, saying "Just because the PS3 finally had a decent lineup, doesn't instantly make it better than everything else" is a perfect example of over the top fanboy hyperbole and rhetoric. Implying that the PS3 didn't have a decent lineup until 2009 is just plain false even if it is subjective in nature.
The truth is that you got your feelings hurt and went all defensive because of what Samik said. I'm staying away from this thread for the most part because I can only imagine the festival of stupid that will ensue between PS3 & 360 owners. I'll just say that both systems have good games and end it at that.
Fanboy #23 @ Feb 16th 2009 5:50PM
"It is very subjective but on paper the PS3 has the vastly superior lineup of exclusives when compared to the Wii & 360"
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
I guess that the Wii & 360 don't have any exclusive games this year huh?
What the fuck are they gonna show at E3 if they don't have any exclusives?
Oh my god! Its over! The PS3 won the console war!
Longhorn4Life @ Feb 16th 2009 5:50PM
Snowblind
please give us a list of this so called "360 & Wii lineup"