RSIgamers

A number of people raised comments about my previous article (Console Sales - The Report Card) by saying that the Wii was skewing the results. There was also some doubt as to my final conclusion that growth in the industry was being driven primarily by Wii sales. This article is a short follow-up. I will attempt to reproduce a few of the graphs, but removing the Wii from the analysis so we can get a clearer picture of the “hardcore” consoles. The results were quite surprising…

Raw Sales Data

Once again, lets start with the basic. The graph above shows raw sales data for the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 alone. Not much to say here that hasn’t already been said, the Playstation 3 pulled back into the race at the start of 2008 but aggressive pricing and bundling by Microsoft ensured this didn’t last long.

Relative Sales

The graph above shows relative sales between the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Its just another way of representing the information displayed in the previous graph, except it highlights each manufacturer’s sales as compared to the other a little more clearly.

Revenue

A common argument made against the Xbox 360 sales figures is that it is so much cheaper. It’s pretty logical to assume that having a cheaper price than the Playstation 3 will lead to higher sales. However, what the above graph shows us is that despite this lower price, consumers spend more money on buying the Xbox 360 than the Playstation 3. It should be noted that the figures for revenue I have attempted to extrapolate are estimations at best. The estimation method used was to locate the dates each company implemented price drops and multiply the price of the middle skew with the number of consoles sold in that quarter. This assumes that on average, for Microsoft the extra revenue gained from selling elite units offsets the lower revenue from arcade units. This is in line with past statements from Microsoft which state that the average price paid for an Xbox 360 for all consumers is approximately $10-$20 less than the price of the Pro model.

Total Revenue

Another representation of revenue data, this graph shows us the total revenue gained from sales of consoles by each manufacturer since Q1 2007. It shows that both companies have made impressive revenues, but that Microsoft is (predictably) slightly ahead. Granted that ’slightly’ ahead constitutes approximately $500million, but that is small change for companies of this size over such a long period of time. It is noteworthy that these are revenues only, the cost of manufacturing for the Playstation 3 is likely significantly higher than that of the Xbox 360. It is very possible that Microsoft is much further ahead of Sony in terms of profits from console sales, not to mention Microsoft’s higher revenues from the online marketplace and Xbox Live subscription fees.

Total Console Sales

This is the data I find the most fascinating. I drew the conclusion based on the last article that growth in the industry was being driven by Wii sales alone. Based on the graph shown here, that statement was clearly false. We clearly see that even after taking Wii sales out of the equation, the total sales of the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 combined are increasing. Hardcore gamers rejoice, your industry is not being throttled. It is definitely growing, you just have to dig a little deeper to find it among the overwhelming Wii sales figures.