Sony: European PS3 sales surpass 360's

by Dustin Burg { May 6th 2008 at 3:30PM }

The Sony PR machine just got its oil changed, is fully lubed and ready to fight. We know this because at their recent Playstation Day press event (which, we must admit, did bring some amount of good) we learn that Playstation 3 sales in Europe have surpassed Xbox 360 sales in the region ... or so says Sony. Seeing that Sony is a tad bit bias with their calculations (and we don't even get a pretty bar chart or anything), we can't be sure how much validity there is to their European PS3 number touting. But one thing we can be sure of is that Europe is a cut-throat console market where Microsoft and Sony are currently fighting to the death. Now let's wait and see if MS's PR machine is equally primed for battle ...

Tags: europe, microsoft, ps3, sony, xbox-360

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Merehorseplay @ May 6th 2008 4:21PM

I bet it's that having to pay for Xbox Live service thats the cause for more PS3 sales in Europe, Microsoft needs to give the that one up. I know you've heard this before but Xbox Live should be free.

marauder800 @ May 6th 2008 4:28PM

I'm sure it has a lot more to do with 360 failure rates than Xbox Live. I was in the market now for one console, I'd probably go PS3. That being said, I own both consoles, and I much prefer 360, but I wouldn't know that if I was just now looking to buy a current gen console.

mike @ May 6th 2008 4:58PM

your both wrong. Ps3 sales in europe are due to blu-ray. The format has always been much stronger there then hd-dvd when it was alive and its more adopted. People buy ps3s for the blu-ray player since its the cheapest player, most supported, and does just about everything the stand alones do.

In europe they sell 1 million ps3s, 600 000 of which are bought solely for blu-ray players. You can see this just by looking at xbox game sales vs ps3 game sales. Sony has more consoles out there but sells alot less games then microsoft.

In the end developers dont care whos console is more purchased, but which one sells the most games. If they cared about hardware sales, PC would be the only platform developed for with an install base of over a billion.

AoE @ May 6th 2008 5:54PM

@Merehorseplay,

Have you played around with the online functionality of the Wii and/or the PS3? You get what you pay for, $50 a year is not unreasonable when you think about all of the effort/hardware/time/money that gets thrown into the service.

kevin @ May 6th 2008 9:56PM

umm i own a ps3 and our service is amazing idk wtf ur talking aboue aoe or w.e

DupontNumber24 @ May 7th 2008 12:31PM

Kevin, it sounds like your PS3 owns you. Thanks for stopping by.

bigd7387 @ May 6th 2008 4:30PM

First. I am happy to pay for a quality LIVE service vs' Sony's crappy free Gamespy service. I just sold my PS3 so FREE is not FREE. Second I live in America and could give a Rat's Monkey Ass what sales Fony has in Europe or Japan considering I am playing all the games I want and no longer have the Sony Delaystation/Cancelstation.

devinger @ May 6th 2008 4:46PM

I think you're just a 360 fanboy with no life.

JJ @ May 6th 2008 4:44PM

Wow big D... bitter much? =)

Nah but i have all 3 current gen systems and well... they both get a lot of playtime actually its pretty even between my PS3 and my 360, but as of late i've been more PC gaming than console gaming (just hooked my new gaming rig up to my flat screen, so i have 4 ways to game baby! heh heh).

But Sony catching and passing 360 in europe looks like it could happen soon, as they've oddly, been consistenly selling more software in europe despite 360 being ahead overall in sales by a million units.

SO europe will be a pretty close fight, but either way, Ps3 and 360 duking it out means better games for us.

JJ @ May 6th 2008 5:00PM

actually mike in europe 360 still leads overall in terms of hardware but Ps3 consistently beats it in terms of software....

So those blu ray adopters must be buyign games then huh?

Digitalspirit @ May 7th 2008 4:26AM

Are you sure? I understood the 360 sold more games than any console, mainly because it actually HAS games!

cranium @ May 6th 2008 5:02PM

has anyone else caught wind of a fair amount of bias coming through X3F lately? this blog has always been admirabley neutral despite being a 'fanboy' site, but the past few days have shown a handful of snide remarks and whatnot.

is it just me?

AoE @ May 6th 2008 5:55PM

Pay attention to the bloggers writing the articles. Dustin's the snarky one in this outfit.

Dustin Burg @ May 7th 2008 11:25AM

color me snarky

robbie @ May 6th 2008 5:03PM

i also have all three consoles and i love all three just as equally. I play nba 2k8 w/ my 360 and a little forza. While i play GTA4 and GT5 on my PS3, SSBB on my wii. Love them all.

JJ @ May 6th 2008 5:12PM

well cranium its that whole my faceless corporate entities stick is bigger than your faceless corporate entities stick, thing =)

What i cant wait for is Developer fanboys en masse, now THAT will be fun....imagine Epic and Bungie fanboys going at it...Square Enix and Namco fans going at it...that'll be great

Trekster_Gamer @ May 6th 2008 5:12PM

I seriously doubt they have sold more PS3's, but I do think Xbox Live needs to be at least 1/2 the price it is now or free. When PS3 online gets better it will hard for MS to justify the charge when you can play the same games online for free. I much prefer my 360 but 7.99 a month for what should be free is something Sony is doing better.

I feel that if I spend 60 on a game which is at least 10 dollars too much and then I pay for my internet then I should not have to fork out any more funds for that game except for maybe d/l content.

AoE @ May 6th 2008 6:06PM

Dude, first of all you should be paying yearly not monthly... you have only yourself to blame for the extra $45.88 you're spending each year... and that's your half price right there! Also... as you yourself pointed out, you're paying for an Xbox Live subscription... how are you able to make the leap in logic to that subscription fee, for a service from Microsoft, translates into you "forking out more funds" for a game? Your subscription fees for XBL, I assure you, go only into Microsoft's hands, not into the hands of whichever publisher/developer happened to create the game you just bought.

Now then, regarding this mythical XBLA crushing service that you see to think Sony's got in the works? I'll believe it when I see it. Sony's primarily a hardware company, their software expertise isn't anywhere near MS, and their networked software expertise is laughable at best compared to MS... The chance of them creating a service that can compete with a service MS has been ironing out bugs on for 6 years now in the space of a year or two is slim at best.

Procris @ May 6th 2008 5:36PM

Blu-ray, PS2 owners upgrading, word of mouth about RRoD can all contribute to growing PS3 sales. I don't think you could really nail one of those and say "thats the reason its doing better in Europe." Though PS2 had a huge loyal fanbase and it was only a matter of time until they jumped on the PS3 ride in my opinion.

Either way, i don't personally see this as bad news. Hopefully, Microsoft will step their game up and if they don't, its their own fault. European Xbox Live Market place, quite frankly sucks compared to the US market place. I likewise think Microsoft could have more first/second party titles geared towards Europe in general. Forza 2 was a great start and saw some good sales. It was even no.1 in the chart for something like 3 weeks in a row. Thats pretty good considering this was the second game in the franchise, unlike GT5:P which is GT's 5th game in the franchise, so obviously had a much larger following. The price cut also helped. But beyond that, Microsoft seem to be relying on titles such as Fable 2, Banjo 3, Gears 2, NG2. All titles that i'm sure will do well in Europe but where is Microsoft's version of Singstar (Singstar is actually very succesful in Europe)? There isn't one. Microsoft could really use a few more IP's of their own to drive console sales.

SadisticHam @ May 6th 2008 5:54PM

I wonder how many of these people going on about why it's failing in Europe actually live in Europe? :P

I suppose everyone can have an opinion on it, end of the day no one really knows. But i have my own theory, being British i can say Microsoft does an Ok job here it's the rest of Europe there neglecting and I'd take a guess it's there that Sony is racking it up.

As for Blu-Ray? Here in the UK i can honestly say i don't know of a single person who wants it, hell HDTV's aren't even all that big right now.

Microsoft really needs to make a big push and effort here, step up advertising, hold more competitions and promotions, actually update the freaking market place, it's the name that's selling the PS3 not blu-ray or free online or any other crap IMO.

Trekster_Gamer @ May 6th 2008 6:22PM

Regardings AoE's reply...

Well dude 45.88 versus FREE, FREE IS STILL A HELLUVALOT BETTER ya think???!?!?!?

If the same game is free on the PS3 for Multiplayer yet you have to buy the same multiplayer service on XBL then there is no LEAP in logic, maybe it's your lack of logic that can't see this simple fact.

I said nothing about let's see how you so ignorantly put it
"Now then, regarding this mythical XBLA crushing service that you see to think Sony's got in the works?"

I was saying with time it will get better. Yes XBL has been around for 6 years and there is still issues, I have had many times in the past 5 months had issues signing on, so get your nose out of Bill's arse and try to be a little more open minded.

Right now I am strictly a 360 gamer, I think 360 is the best system out and has the best games, but there is room for improvement and making Multiplayer FREE would a great step in the right direction....

yost @ May 6th 2008 6:47PM

no matter what happens in this console war, when it is all over no-one from our (360) side paid the 600 launch price...frankly I don't care what ps3 does as long as we get halo wars and fable 2 this year...

Vcize @ May 6th 2008 7:04PM

I don't understand why people in the US would want the console to do so much better in Europe than it does here.

I'm constantly seeing Europeans on here complain about getting the short end of the stick on game trailers, DLC, etc and I always think "man that sucks". Now I just logged onto my PS3 to grab the much anticipated Haze demo only to find out it's only out in Europe so far, just like GT5:P was.

Why the hell do people want to be given the short end of the stick for the sake of some intangible console "war" that really has no effect on them at all?

I'd rather a console sell a few million less units in another part of the world if it means I get my stuff earlier than if my country is the one where sales are lagging behind (as with the PS3).