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Microsoft: US market is already decided

NowGamer: When asked if the battle between the PS3 and the 360 was now decided in the US, Lewis said Microsoft has "done the job we need to in North America", and that the company would focus more effort on increasing the 360's lead over the PS3 in Europe.

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Bnet3436257d ago

I agree, in North America I think Xbox 360 will lead this generation. Can't say the same about Europe and Japan though ... well maybe Europe, I do not know the numbers in Europe.

MURKERR6257d ago (Edited 6257d ago )

and you believe anybody has won any region yet with 28mil worth of consoles sold......do you see how ridiculous you sound?

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JhawkFootball066257d ago

The bad thing is Xbox 360 is STILL outselling the PS3 worldwide when its really in a gaming drought. I mean if the 360 would have PS3's 09 lineup...well then the numbers of consoles sold would contribute much more to the 360. Its sad to see PS3's strong lineup is not selling consoles as the 360's 09 lineup is mere with the console still selling strong

ChampIDC6257d ago

Consoles sold means nothing anyway. We'd have to look at profits to decide a real "winner". Numbers means nothing if you're not making any money.

MURKERR6257d ago (Edited 6257d ago )

to back up your bold statement thanks

Anon19746257d ago (Edited 6257d ago )

When you look at the NPD data for 2006, 2007 and 2008 (4.4 million, 4.6 million and 4.7 million) it tells a tale of almost zero growth for the console year over year in the US, even after the price cut. It's been selling steadily but sales haven't increased and that tells of a market approaching saturation. Surely if anything were to boost sales it would have been the price cut in the US, and that just didn't happen.

Worldwide was a different storey as the price cut absolutely increased 360 sales abroad. Microsoft would do well to continue pushing into other markets.

The PS3, in the meantime, was showing impressive growth before the current economic situation reared it's ugly head. 45% growth in the US year over year, 30% growth in the rest of the world. Even having the most expensive console during times of economic crisis the worldwide sales have only dropped off marginally and there's no doubt that once people start to realize it's not the end of days that consumers will come back. A PS3 price cut certainly wouldn't hurt either.

Edit: @ JhawkFootball06. You seem to be a bit confused. The 360 is outselling the PS3 NOW after the price cut but sales for the two were tied according to offical numbers from the companies for calendar year 2007 and 2008. You make it sound like the 360 has been outselling for some time now and we know that's not the case from MS's and Sony's own ship numbers reported on their financial statements.

Why o why6257d ago (Edited 6257d ago )

id expect more from you Kigmal;) There is a long long way to go before execs can start sucking each others d!cks like the job is done. Dare i say arrogant on MS's behalf.

@MURKERR

did you really ask him for REAL data. He'll probably bring up vg charts spelt with a 'z'

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u got owned6256d ago (Edited 6256d ago )

"...It's been selling steadily but sales haven't increased and that tells of a market approaching saturation."

That doesn't make any sense, in any case if the sales were going down, then you could say the market is approaching saturation.

BTW, where in the article MS said "Us market is already decided"?

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Bnet3436256d ago

Expect more from me? What the hell did I say wrong? All I said was what I think. I believe Xbox 360 will lead sales in North America. It's a prediction, there is nothing wrong with that. The PS3 fanboys don't like my comment awww boo hoo, go suck on a lemon.

pain777pas6256d ago

At the end of the day with a year ahead and a price drop the 360 trails the WII. Sorry M$ nothing has been decided NA is WIInation the world is WIInation. Look the only thing you accomplished so far is satisfy your fan base and add in a few Sony defunters. Now I will state that I think at the end of the day Sony and M$ will be neck and neck in NA or 360 with a 4:3 lead. In Europe I think that they will lose in the end and Japan its already over.

Anon19746256d ago (Edited 6256d ago )

You're 100% correct, but growth will flatline usually before it starts falling off. 2006 and 2007 360 sales growth was flat and 2008 started off with sales in decline but the price cut evened things out a bit giving them slight growth by year end.

Still, given that the price cut appears to have cost Microsoft 60% of their profit over the holiday quarter, you have to wonder what prompted the move? With the consoles themselves costing almost $200 to make (not including shipping, packaging, accessories, etc) Microsoft may have priced the 360 at a loss again and this certainly seems to be the case with the $225 million drop in profit over the holiday quarter (YOY) despite increased sales and increased revenue for MS entertainment. You have to wonder, is Microsoft sacrificing profit again in the face of zero sales growth in the US trying to heat things up or are they simply having a fire sale on 360's to unload old stock before the new motherboard revision comes out this summer (just speculation. The main 360 maker stated it's ready to go this summer. Who knows when it'll actually arrive)?

Anyway, these are questions I don't have the answers to.

DragonWarrior_46256d ago

Now all they need is some exclusives to back that statement up. They haven't won anything till they can come up with a game that is better then GOW (God of War). Honestly they have yet to make a game better then any exclusive the ps3 has out now. Sure Halo was fun in 2004, and GeoW was alright, but Ive yet to see anything come from the 360 that is better then anything on the ps3. Dont even say Fable 2 because the second one was garbage compared to the first, and Mass Effect is not a true exclusive when I can play superior pc version.

BTW, I dont know whats taking Rare so long to make a new Conker. Now that is a game that is worth bragging about on the 360, but is seems that they obviously dont know what they have.

Why o why6256d ago (Edited 6256d ago )

chill out....check the wink;) Im just saying its way too early for MS to be making victory speeches. There is nothing wrong with your opinion. Your disagrees are probably from fanboys AND fans for differing reasons plus I like lemons so whas ya point *wink*

Mainman6256d ago

I think MS spoke pre-maturily about NA market.

They should've waited till PS3's price cut and analyze the market post PS3 price-cut. If the 360 still outsells PS3 after the PS3 price-cut, then it would be safe to assume 360 won the NA market.

Personally I think Sony should drop the price soon. If they wait too long, then MS might respond to the PS3 price with a 360 price-cut. This move has the potential to cancel out the PS3 price cut advantage.

Doctor_Doom6256d ago (Edited 6256d ago )

I can play games with these consoles !!! I'm enjoying it too lol.

Seriously, who cares about sales other than shareholders ???

SkyGamer6256d ago

Sucks for us North American Gamers, Great for European Gamers! Finally they get some love for always getting the shaft, and not from just MS but from Nintendo and sony as well.

Hoggy19836256d ago

I agree with you bud. Don't actually see what you said that was so inflammatory.

Murkerr, where is your data to the contrary? Are there any acceptable sources you can offer?

Genesis56256d ago (Edited 6256d ago )

So that's why they are not worried about making exclusive. They are so sure they have already won.

Did they ever read the tortoise and the hare? Slow starts can look different at the finish.

thebigcheese6256d ago

XBOX360 have out sold PS3 by 2 million units world wide since the

launch of the PS3.

They where ahead by 6 million units at PS3 launch, now they are ahead

by 8 million. So really it comes out to be a close race, just MS

decision to put out the xbox a year early, also out selling by a

minor 2 mil.

either way I see no way that the sales are going to saturate. xbox is

out selling ps3 even though they have a horrible line up this year.

which is pretty impressive.

GUNS N SWORDS6256d ago (Edited 6256d ago )

i don't really see anything wrong with what (Kigmal) said,

we're talking about the US market here, very few times sony's manage to over take MS in this region, if it was any two games in this world that would have jumped ps3's sales numbers over 360's in the US, it would have been killzone2 and R2. (and yet they did not)

over here in the US 360's quite popular, even with few exclusives 360 still sells a lot.

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s8anicslayer6256d ago

I think the 360 will reign supreme here in the us, the same way sony and ninty fare in japan.

Rainstorm816256d ago

for what stating the truth?? N4G is crazy.

y0haN6256d ago

I agree with Kigmal. Although we might not want to admit it, the Xbox 360 has too much of a lead on the PS3 to win in North America. The larger the installed base, the more influence (because of friends owning the system, exclusives tied to the system etc) the system has and the more unlikely it is for another system to win. A perfect example of this is the Wii. Everyone pretends it doesn't exist, I sure as hell don't care for it but the masses do, and neither Sony or MS is stupid enough to dream to catch it up now.

IdleLeeSiuLung6256d ago (Edited 6256d ago )

Here is an eye opener for some:

- Considering Xbox has twice the install base in the US as PS3 i.e. 12 million to 6 million (take or give due to numbers missing the all important holiday season of 2008). Source:

http://www.gamedaily.com/ar...

- Xbox outselling PS3 at least a 100k every month in the US and that is considered a feat.

- Wii has eaten into the market share. People that normally would have bought a PS3 or Xbox no longer wants one. The opposite is probably less likely so the net is a loss for the two HD console makers.

- Total approximate sales for last generation PS2 140+ Million (note for the last 2-years no competition), Xbox 20 Million, GC 20 Million worldwide. That is about 180 million consoles worldwide. Assuming half of that belong to the US, 90 million. Give another 10 million or so for the expanded market due to the Wii reaching more consumers. We are looking at 100 million shared among the three console makers.

Conclusion, we are at least a third of that sold already and Wii is continuing to destroy the competition and the Xbox will probably by the end of this year have a 8-9 million lead over the PS3. That is about 3 years of sale for Sony at the current rate if MS didn't sell a single console just for Sony to catch up. The math:

6 million PS3 consoles sold in almost exactly 2 years, about 3 million/year in the US.

Still think Sony can take the US?

Now Sony could make up some of the gain in worldwide sales due to strong presence in Europe, but more notably in Japan at the moment. However, Japan as a market is shrinking and is smaller than Europe....

indyman77776256d ago

Europe is reported by Sony wrongly. They add about a sixth of the earth when they include the Middle East and Russia. Microsoft does not do this misleading conniving trick. If you compare apples to apples Microsoft lead. But if you fall for the Fony lie Fony leads!

thesummerofgeorge6256d ago

There's just too much of this generation left to say who's gonna win. PS3 has a huge rest of the year and a huge year for 2010 game wise as well. When God of War 3, Heavy Rain, and MAG etc. are out, I think it will change things. All parties involved aren't giving up without a fight, and we all shall reap the benefits of their pissing contest.

barom6256d ago

Almost gotta agree but it also largely depends on this generation's lifecycle. If it will last 10 years and I believe that it can, anything that's gonna come out is just gonna be a small upgrade like the DSi. If we are to say last console cycle started when the Dreamcast came (1998) and this generation started when 360 came (2005) then that's already 7 years.

Given the economy, developers' budget and the fact that both MS and Sony needs to recoup a lot of their costs (MS with faulty machines and Sony with early price drop). It's easy to see this generation drag out a few more years compared to that of last generation.

Anyway back to my point, if this generation does last 10 years. Then Sony can still "win". Sony hasn't really hit the so called sweet point yet price-wise and the HDTV adoption has really just begun gaining ground with 40" HDTVs just starting to go for as low as 800$'ish. So unless MS releases another console and call it an early win, I still think Sony can still gain ground (not to the point they were last gen but ahead of 360). And there's no reason why a 360 owner can't buy a PS3.

In Europe, I'll bet the turning point will be when Gran Turismo 5 hits.

IdleLeeSiuLung6255d ago (Edited 6255d ago )

Unfortunately, even if it drags out to ten or even twelve years, by that time it doesn't matter very much. The important phase is in the first 5 years, not when a new console is out and the previous generation is a remnant of the past.

Even if the big two, Sony and MS, is trying to extend this generation to recoup the cost, it is conceivable that Nintendo will force the other two to release a new console. Worse is that, MS has proven that first to market has a huge advantage and you can bet this is a huge factor in the next console cycle even if they just release a more expensive machine early so not to compete with the older generation machines (alas what Sony is doing right now).

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OGharryjoysticks6257d ago

means there will always be a head

morganfell6257d ago

Correct. A head to lop off. MS is acting as if this generation doesn't have several years left in it and the fact is it does indeed. Just look how close the PS3 has managed to pull despite a year head start in the US (a year and a half in the EU). I love arrogant guys like this that will completely disappear when the smoke clears.

Kurylo3d6257d ago

u do realize this generation is practically over.. only about 1 or 2 years left im sure til the next consoles.

Hellsvacancy6257d ago (Edited 6257d ago )

The Ps3's gonna b around 4 atleat another 7 years i cant say the same 4 the 360

Its not like Ms can cut the price of the 360 anymore than wot they already hav where as Sony hav up2 £200 pounds 2 play with (meanin in 6 years time id imagine the Ps3 sellin 4 "£100)

This Gens if faaaaaar from decided

ThanatosDMC6257d ago

That's kinda sad that people want to get to the next console after the one they liked failed. For me, a console is allowed to die off after having thousands of games on the market, basically the PS2 standard. The 360 and the PS3 have a minuscule amount of games compared to it.

So far both have limited amount of games. Probably most gamers have the same game on their consoles, there still not enough of them to make a variety.

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JasonPC360PS3Wii6256d ago (Edited 6256d ago )

What the hell does a year head start matter when the 360 is still outselling the PS3 by 200-400k a month?

Well... whats you excuse for that? Does that head start include the hundreds of thousands more consoles sold each month over the PS3?

The 360 has the US over the PS3, you know it and Sony knows it. You guys can try and come up with as many exclusives you like, but your "head start" theory doesn't work when the 360 continues to increase it's lead in the US.

morganfell6256d ago

With NPD figures due tomorrow, a smart person would retract that "still outselling by 200 - 400 a month" comment. A smart person would do that.

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FF7numbaone6256d ago

lol the gen is over microsoft lol. Not the wii and ps3. I expect Ms to pull the plug on 360 and sony and nintendo will milk.

xXKingofStingXx6256d ago

I see where you headed with your post, new consoles every 5 to 6 years and that may be the case for MS but i believe Nintendo and Sony are going to run for a little longer.

It's not a speed eating contest, it's a marathon.

Just look at the PS2, no competition and it still running!

The Emperor6256d ago

I own both consoles, and I have to say the 360 just is clearly winning, I recently bought one (I've had it 2 weeks now) and I just love it. Playing with all my friends from baseball and out of town, the games on the 360 just are something in their own. You have to think of it like this, with a larger install base, Halo Wars (while I do LOVE this game, it still IMO isn't better than Killzone 2) even though Halo Wars outsold KZ2, and Kz2 I think worldwide only had roughly over a million units sold, while Halo Wars equaled that if not trumped the premiere flagship for the PS3.

My point is, is that MS is just doing a better job (right now) than Sony. I know the Playstation brand is built for a longer shelf life, but in this economy, the 360 has the HD gaming throne, until LIVE dies and the PS3 starts selling, then the PS3 won't live past 2012

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Omega46257d ago

I dont see the PS3 ever passing the 360 in the US either, as long as the 360 can keep neck and neck with the PS3 in EU its guaranteed to beat the PS3 this gen

Since having JP really means nothing this gen since even the UK market has surpassed it and the UK is practically the same as the US for MS

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Mindboggle6257d ago

To be honest i dont think it matters who beats each other this gen...As each console has a huge fanbase and one will not steam roll the other...I expect both to be around equal sales in about 2 years or so..

360 man6257d ago

@ murkerer

alot of those people who had the ps2 were casual gamers and now have the wii

im talkin bout those dance dance revolution and singstar players

MURKERR6256d ago (Edited 6256d ago )

many people who bought a wii are looking for a second console because as figures have proved recently wii is the least played console, many people are waiting for a ps3 price drop so the console victor is far from decided in any territory

sony were arrogant and felt a backlash you would have thought microsoft would have taken notes from that

JasonPC360PS3Wii6256d ago

MURKERR there isn't 100 million people in the US waiting around to buy a PS3, the US only has 305 million people. Now for the pain... if the people that still play on the PS2/GC/Xbox are waiting to go next gen it's probably because they still can't afford it. (((DING DING DING))) thats where the 360 and Wii come in. The causal gamers go to the Wii and the core go to the 360. Guess where those gamers are coming from? thats right that "100 million" you say are still waiting.

Have a goodin :)

mint royale6256d ago (Edited 6256d ago )

The wii is the most played current gen console - Neilsen admitted they got their figures messed up. But you are correct with your point that many gamers still haven't updated.

Last gen:
PS2: 136 million
Xbox: 24 million
Gamecube: 21 million
Total: 181 million

This Gen:
Wii: 50 million
360: 29 million
ps3: 21 million
Total: 100 million

Not accounting for market expansion there are still around 80 million consumers who have not updated. Where will they go?

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Create6257d ago

Bad idea, especially with all these ps3 exclusives coming out. PS3 could easily take over with a price drop.

360 man6257d ago

u do know killzone 2 came out not too long ago and nothing has changed

poopsack6257d ago

killzone 2 is not a price drop 360 man, it is a game.

Lucreto6257d ago (Edited 6257d ago )

It depends really on the the price. I know a lot of people who are willing to get PS3s but the price is a minor problem. A price cut and we will see how the market has changed.

It is also worth noting that the PS3 price cut had a deeper effect on the market that the 360 one. Firstly it lasted a lot longer and sold more units overall.

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