Pachter: Xbox 360 outsold PS3 two-to-one in December; Nintendo reveals numbers

@doreo

I do...

While I enjoy playing the games, I also enjoy knowing about the business side of things. When it comes to games, phones, laptops, TV's, cars, and even fridges; I'd like to know about the business side of things as much as possible, and if you aren't interested, it's one article once in a while, you could easily ignore them.

(alright, I don't actually care about fridges that much, although now that i think about it, it would be kind of interesting to know who dominates the market, what the gross, and operating profit margins are for different companies. Contrary to current popular belief, knowledge isn't a bad thing)

@Nimer55 The business side of things is part of my hobby as well.

@Nimer55

I had to buy a new fridge last year, spent a couple of weeks researching and digging through appliance blogs and reports and whatnot. It's a weird world, and a lot more complicated than I expected. Buying gaming hardware is simple by comparison.

@doreo

A lot of people do.

Myself, I don't see how ANYONE can enjoy their consoles without knowing how they're selling. Serious business, indeed.

@Courtney

Do appliance blogs have Maytag and Frigidaire fanboys?

@Ezio Auditore da Firenze

Oddly enough, kind of. You certainly have brand loyalists and brand detractors, though they didn't seem as....rabid as gaming/culture fan boys are.

@Courtney

"Myself, I don't see how ANYONE can enjoy their consoles without knowing how they're selling. Serious business, indeed."

i applaude you. The last people to actually know the business side of anything are commenters on websites.

@Courtney

oh and the console war is over, or at least in the way it was before. the only kind of fanboysim left is the extreme kind. the big "war" right now is the Mobile OS one.

@Courtney

I'm a fanboy of Samsung products, although leaning more towards entertainment and communications. Not sure I would buy a Samsung fridge, but given the quality of the other products I've bought, I can't say I wouldn't try it once.

Oh, and Doreo, I don't think it's terrible of you not to care...I only keep up with it because I've been burned by dying franchises before (LOVE my Dreamcast; HATE how short its lifespan was), and I need to know that my console's lifespan isn't going to be another Sega fiasco.

@Courtney "Buying gaming hardware is simple by comparison"... Actually is not that easy, buying a new mobo, CPU, GPU or a new Power Supply demands some research too, seeking in forums for reviews and benchmarks and trying to get the best performance-price product can be a pain in the ass sometimes, i'm myself renewing my gaming rig and i'm taking my time looking for what i should buy according to my needs. Already picked up a new Power Supply and a CPU, i'll be receiving my new mobo in a few weeks and i still need to find a Graphic Card.

@Nimer55

There is a difference between caring about sales stats and the business side of things... vs. caring about 'predictions' Pachter makes. He rambles on every month.

@Jack Kevorkian

Zing!

@Courtney

Well the people who buy appliances tend to be older so I would say in general, more mature and in control of their emotions. Thus the lack of rabidness.

There is a market for everything really... The one that blew me away was the whole decoy duck market. They even have their own magazine devoted to the different styles and some collector ones go for for 10K. WTF?

@R Planteer

With dancing consoles instead of Brooms

@R Planteer
Patcher: Alright, I put on my robe and wizard's hat

@R Planteer

Are those his real hands? They look girly...just saying.

@Premature ejaculation man

I predict that in the 3rd quarter, you turn into a real beautiful sales chart.

@rambo8

Well, my friend's PS3 YLoD'd, and my 360 E74'd, and yet, I love both systems. Not equally, of course, as I am first-and-foremost a 360 gamer, but still, the point stands: Fanboys aren't cool. Stop it.

@rambo8

$130 for the new 4GB arcade version here in Canada on boxing day (day after Christmas, but sales similar to black Friday in the states). PS2 sells for 99.99...

I know, I know cost of games, live and other stuff in the long run may or may not offset the initial discount, but when the mainstream consumer looks at devices, that's almost all they see 90% of the time. Same thing with phones, the palm pre for instance launched in the states for 199.99 (after rebates) on sprint, and people said it was the same price as the iphone; Well, the iphone may have also cost 199.99, but sprints $69.99 could not be matched by AT&T. Or when the pre plus went to verizon, and shortly after it had it's price drop, people said "wow, sprint is riping people off, they are selling the pre for more, than verizon sells the pre plus for", without looking at the significant savings on the monthly plans. (no I'm not a "sprint fanboy", I've never used sprint, or any other american carrier.)

@rambo8

Sucks you gave up. I couldn't handle only having one of the three consoles. I've been through 6 360s but never paid a cent for repairs. Went through 1 PS3 and own 2 now. They wanted 180 for repairs only 6 months after launch less shipping/handling.

Luckily my Wii has been kicking since launch. Say what you will about Nintendo, they make hardware to last. My launch NES still works like a champ.

@rambo8 Oh, side note: Sony wouldn't repair my friend's YLoD'd PS3 for free, so he replaced it with a Slim , by trading it in at GameStop. He would've spent the same price either way: $100.

When my 360 E74'd, Microsoft took it in and replaced it, transferred all my data, and gave me a 3-month Xbox Live Gold card.

Not saying either console or company is better, but my experiences with the Xbox have been far better than with the PS3.

@rambo8

Dude, the time circuits in the delorean you just climbed out of were wrong. What year do you think this is? jajajajjajajjaa

@rambo8


Call me a fanboy if you want, but I don't understand how the 360 is selling well either. I mean, who wants a 360 that doesn't already have one? And if you're new to the console market (I think the better question in this instance would be, "Where the hell have you been?") the PS3's future lineup is far more interesting than the 360's. I dunno, man.


I say all this, and I've never owned a 360. It's not that I've ever actually DISLIKED the system, but I've never quite understood its appeal either. Maybe that's just it all together: I just don't get it.

@Haizeus You haven't played over live so you wouldn't get it. It is a better experience top to bottom. The competition is fiercer, the connection is better and the functionality superior.

Sony has always provided a great single player experience. That is the past.

Side note: the Oregon ducks cheerleaders are gorgeous!

@Mach2 There's nothing Fanboyish about his post, on paper the PS3 clearly offers a much better value than the 360. Logical reasoning would deduce that it would sell more, but alas the moronic american consumer fails to use logic.

I have both systems only because I got my 360 when the PS3 was way overpriced and nothing was known about the rrod problem. If I were to buy one today the PS3 still is better even if MS fixed the rrod problem.

@The angry pro consumer gaming ga They did fix the rrod problem with the slim anf before that with Jasper. I should know I've gone through em all sadly.

@Jack Kevorkian

err ...? i question both your connection AND your functionality claims. aside from Black Ops, i've never had any major connection issues playing online on the PS3.

@Jack Kevorkian That's what I meat, that even with them fixing the problem the PS3 is still a better value overall.

@The angry pro consumer gaming ga You may be right. A Ford Taurus is a better value than a Ferrai but it not a better car. I'm willing to pay for a better experience.

@Jack Kevorkian What better experience are you talking about? I can do EVERYTHING on my PS3 as I can on my 360 except ESPN360, Halo, Gears, and Fable franchises for FREE. Live is not worth the "OBLIGATORY" fee, and the loss of a blu ray player for the same price of a PS3.

@The angry pro consumer gaming ga:

People don't have to be "moronic" to prefer the 360 of the PS3. It has plenty of cool exclusives. Great! The vast majority don't appeal to me, combined with Halo and Mass Effect (I know that the series is on PS3 now, but I own both games for the 360 already) being my favorite game franchises of all time, the PS3 offers almost nothing to me (except maybe BC so I can finally beat Okami and FFXII, but that's on the old phat model).

It's just a difference of cost, circumstance and opinion dude. Hardly "moronic." You really can't go wrong with either.

@Anticrawl

". They wanted 180 for repairs only 6 months after launch less shipping/handling."

Um, no. That's not accurate.

@Mach2 if MS didn't go through that whole RROD debacle like they did, you would have had to buy for your repairs out of pocket. the PS3 is backed by the same type of warranty that most electronics had. if the 360 failure rate wasn't as high as it was, there would have been no need for them to extend the warranty the way they did. it's not MS being nice per say, it is more of them covering their asses because if they hadn't they were facing civil suites and the potential of a full product recall.

@The angry pro consumer gaming ga

Just get yourself a computer and say "F*** consoles." Best decision I ever made.

@Dustin F

How can you say it's not accurate?

Just because you might not have experienced it doesn't mean they didn't.

@Jack Kevorkian

'The competition is fiercer, the connection is better and the functionality superior.'

I agree that the functionality is superior, but the rest is just nonsense. With fiercer competition you probably mean 360 games have more people online, but that doesn't matter if your lobby is full. And how can 'the connection' be better. Both consoles use matchmaking systems which are coded by the developer, connection issues have very little to do Sony and Microsoft.

Also, how is singpleplayer the past? I would argue that for most dedicated gamers single player is still the most important thing. Even if Mass Effect gets multiplayer, it's a brilliant series because of their singleplayer.

@rambo8


OKAY PEOPLE, CALM DOWN! I realise there are a lot of anger issues here, so let me clear a few things up. This has nothing to do with insulting Americans, so why that got brought up is beyond me.

Live as it is offers a more competitive edge compared to PSN, that's not to say PSN doesnt, once you find the right people on PSN, it can be fierce, sometimes even more fierce than that of 360, but it all depends on the gaming habit. Considering I lay my 360 for most of my FPS titles, basically because I prefer the controller for that, and FPS titles tend to be mostly played online, of course competition is fierce, but at the same time fun.

Both consoles have issues, 360 maybe more so, but thats besides the point, if you love gaming and you love your console, that won't matter to you. I went through 4 PS2s and 3 PSPs and not once did I think about changing to the competition, I loved PS2 far too much and the games it had to switch to GC or the original Xbox. I've been through 2 360s so I've been lucky and traded my old PS3 in for a slim. My Wii is still trodding on, little soldier. Not once have I thought to let go of either of my consoles, they offer differences that I just don't get from the other consoles.

Some might slam Home, but at the best of times, when in the right discussion, game or group of people, Home is actualy quite fun. I just feel it needs to have more integration with games directly rather than being a standalone.

So come on people, let this system war die already, 360 is probably going through a boost right now thanks to kinect, who knows, either way it is selling well, thats all that matters. People have rights to like and buy what they want, who are you to tell people what to do and not do. The simple fact of questioning why a console is selling well is pretty stupid. If thats the case, one should ask why PS3 is selling better than 360 is Japan.

@Jack Kevorkian


Mmm, I have played over live. Probably 60-70 hours worth. Competition being more fierce is entirely conjectural and in my experience I'd say that PSN has less lag on the whole. That's also conjectural though, as always it has to do more with your personal connection and what game you're playing. Feature wise, Live is absolutely better though. not enough to ever entice me personally mind, but I see the appeal. That said, do I think it's enough to ever make up for the other glaring detractors of the 360, especially considering that Live still isn't and will never be as good as Steam (side argument, but still relevant)? No.

@LieutenantEddy

Holy snap, what? At that price, I'd totally go to Canada and buy a 360 for every one of my friends. And seven for me.

@AltairArcanum: Investors take his advice pretty seriously, and because he's right a fair amount of times, I don't see the problem.

There was a pretty good interview with him (and some other guy) in GUI, you should check it out.

@AltairArcanum

While he may be a douche most of the time, he is also on the money when it counts a lot as well.

@AltairArcanum

Was gonna say...I stopped reading the article entirely at the "Patcher:"

@davedrastic

Wii died...

...what?