A sign of things to come…
…or just a blip on the radar? A while ago I wrote a few posts about topsy turvy console sales in Japan where, in a very rare state of affairs, the Xbox 360, then the PS3 AND the PSP took it upon themselves to dominate Wii sales albeit for a very very short time. @SpawnSeekSlay said “Call me when this happens in the USA LOLWTFBBQs” 😉
He was right, this was a Japan only trend at the time and a short lived one at that but now it’s happened again, in the US and also in Austrailia. The PS3 outsold BOTH the Wii and the 360 in the US during the launch month of the PS3 “Slim”. And it did this at a time when both the competition also had price cuts. It has also been (to my surprise) the top seller in Australia recently?!
Seeing as all three consoles saw a price drop but the competition still didn’t move the same number of units as Sony could this now indicate more than a short term boost and lead onto Sony finally start closing the sales gap? Who knows and only time will tell.
I think it’s slightly more than just a blip on the radar but I don’t think they’ll ever overtake the Wii or even the Xbox anytime soon but one things for sure, Sony have had a few very good exclusives out this year with more to come in the New Year and that’s surely helping things along. This year we’ve seen several PS3 exclusives released to great critical acclaim. We’ve had InFamous, Killzone 2, Demon’s Souls, Uncharted 2 and the New Ratchet & Clank all released in 2009 and all score 90% or above at IGN. Then there’s Gran Turismo 5, MAG, Heavy Rain, White Knight Chronicles (massively updated from the initial Japanese release), God of War III and The Last Guardian yet to prove themselves next year. If ever there was a time for Sony to start picking up the pace it’s surely going to be on the back of a list of exclusives like that!
Friday Night Gamers' Blog 
October 31, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Its certainly more than a blip i reckon, I feel with the redesign, the increase in hard drive space, a good pricecut and some really good exclusives I feel the PS3 will certainly win the xmas and beyond sales battle.
I think the Wii has had its time in the spotlight and feel the PS3>360 run will catch it up in the next few years.
PS3 may catch the 360 in the next 12months I feel.
November 3, 2009 at 11:52 am
It’s taken a while, but the PS3 has got good momentum this year with the combination of price drop, re-design, and exclusives. It will be interesting to see how far it can carry that momentum forward into 2010 when the game will change again as we enter the motion controller wars.
Natal and the Sony Wand will have most of the attention and there is a possibility Nintendo will re-enter the fray with Wii HD.
2010 may not be remembered as a great year for core gamers as I think motion control will dominate and it’s mainly for the casuals. Having said that it will still be a good year….how could it not be with God of War 3 coming out!? 😉