PlayStation 3 Slim vs. Xbox 360 S - Launch Sales Comparison
The two HD consoles, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, have both released a new slimmer model in the last year. The PS3 Slim released in 2009, September 1 in America, September 3 in Japan, and September 11 in Europe. The Xbox 360S was released in 2010, June 14 in America, June 24 in Japan, and July 16 in Europe. It won’t be a perfect comparison as they were released at different times of the year, however they both did launch at the same price.
The PlayStation 3 received a price drop of $100 to $300. The Xbox 360S launched with one model at $300, the same price as the previous elite model. A month after release the X360S Arcade model without a hard drive was released for $200. The X360 has been priced at $200 and $300 since September 2008. The old PS3 models dropped to $300 from $400, while the old X360 models received a $50 price drop on June 14, to $150 and $250. The PS3 Slim launched with a 120 GB HDD and the X360S with a 250 GB HDD. The PS3 Slim comes with a Blu-ray drive while the X360 comes with a DVD drive and they both come with built-in Wi-Fi. The PS3 Slim was released in September when sales generally start picking up as major titles are released. The X360S was released during the summer a period that usually sees the lowest sales as few major titles are released. Now that the differences are explained, the first ten weeks in America and Japan and the first seven weeks of EMEAA are shown and discussed below.
In America the PS3 Slim had a bigger opening week than the X360S. PS3 Slim sales dropped until week 3 when sales stabilized in the 80,000 range. Sales increased on week seven due to the release of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. The X360S sales increased in its second week as available stock increased. X360S sales have remained above 100,000 in its first ten weeks on the market. Sales picked up in week eight as the $200 arcade model was released. In week ten both systems have evened out as the X360 is only ahead by a few thousand.
To sum it up, in Japan the PS3 Slim launch dominated the X360S launch. Before the PS3 Slim launch sales were similar to the X360, fewer than 5,000 a week, however afterwards sales jumped considerably 150,000 in its first week. Sales since then have remained high outselling the Wii slightly on a weekly basis. The X360S helped increase sales slightly as first week sales were at 17,000. The minor boost would only last a couple of months as sales would drop to pre-X360S sales.
The PS3 Slim had its biggest opening in EMEAA its biggest region with sales of 269,000. The X360S opened up with 217,000 in its second biggest region. In their second week on sales only 9,000 separated the two, in favor of the PS3. However the gap would grow in the third week as the PS3 Slim will remain ahead for at least the first seven weeks as that is how long the X360S has been on sale in EMEAA. X360 sales increased slightly on week six as the cheaper arcade model was released.
Now taking a look at worldwide numbers with each region aligned, it shows the PS3 Slim had a much bigger opening than the X360S, with sales of 585,000 compared to 356,000. However the PS3 Slim with the much bigger opening had a much bigger drop off in its second week as sales become equal between the two, both selling 322,000. The PS3 Slim did pull ahead slightly after the second week and has increased to 75,000 in week seven. The gap looks like it will grow as PS3 sales increased each week and as the X360 will decrease for a couple more weeks, before the release of Halo Reach.
The worldwide total adding up each week shows that the opening week is the main reason the PS3 Slim has ended up selling more in the first seven weeks than the X360S, however the gap did grow about 150,000 more. The PS3 Slim ended up selling 2.2 million in its first seven weeks, while the X360S sold 1.8 million, a difference of 400,000. The gap for the aligned launches will most likely grow as the PS3 Slim goes into the holiday season while the X360S will be just going into September and October. Both slim models helped to increase sales for both systems considerably as sales were up more than 100% year on year.
Another comparison will be done at the end of this year looking at the PS3 Slims first holiday (November/December 2009) and the X360S first holiday (November/December 2010). This will be a better comparison as it will look at the same time periods.
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