The All New VGChartz Gap Charts, July 2011 Update - News
by Miles Taven , posted on 07 August 2011 / 7,816 Views
Welcome to the all new VGChartz Gap chartz. If you visited this article before you'll remember 5 distinctive charts, Xbox 360 Vs. Playstation 3 in every region, plus a Global chart, as well as a Wii Vs. PS3 & 360 (HD) chart. As this generation begins to come to a close most of these charts were very unlikely to show any sort of change in direction, so they have been retired. The PS3 Vs. Xbox 360 Global chart remains, still managing to duke out who wins 5 years down the line, this is still very much an interesting battle to watch. I've added two new charts to make up for the loss, Wii Vs. Xbox 360 in Americas, and Wii Vs. Playstation 3 in EMEAA. Both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 have been and should continue to diminish the gap in their respective regions and may even come close to overtaking the Wii. Later in the year I will be adding a PSvita and Nintendo 3DS gap chart. 
Global:
Gap change in July: 84,661 - Playstation 3
Gap change over last 12 months: 224,981 - Playstation 3
Total Lead: 3,362,735 - Xbox 360
The PS3 continues to decrease the gap, more so this month than last month, despite June being a 5 week month. In Americas and EMEAA both are practically stalemate, so Japan is the winning factor here for the PS3. As we march closer to fall and then the holidays, Japan becomes much less important as EMEAA, and especially Americas, rise significantly. Coupled with Kinect being a holiday oriented product, and thus likely to spur on more sales of Xbox 360 Vs. PS3 and the Move, as things stand this would be a good indication of how things might play out. However price cuts are likely to occur, at least for the Playstation 3 given Sony's recent forecast of 15 million for the FY, 700k up YOY. Microsoft seem determined to win 2011 as they've stated this on several occasions, but if Sony cut the PS3's price, even by just $50, I'm unsure how the X360 can compete let alone win without some sort of reduction themselves, either to standalones, Kinect standalones or bundles. The likely scenario is they both drop $50, for standalones and bundles, giving Xbox 360 the holiday edge once again. However PS3 has an 800k lead this year that won't diminish quickly whatever happens.
Americas:
Gap change in July: 93,779 - Xbox 360
Gap change over last 12 months: 741,490 - Xbox 360
Total Lead: 9,003,133 - Wii
The aim of this chart isn't to necessarily analyse the potential of X360 overtaking the Wii in Americas, as it only has an outside chance (although a very real one, depending on how events pan out over the next few years) but to track how much Xbox 360 can diminish the gap. As it stands now, the Wii is still selling moderately well and as long as this continues the X360's gains will be small, although they will grow for the foreseeable future now. The Xbox 360 has a chance to close the gap considerably should the Wii continue its rapid fall, as looks likely with little software support left and WiiU on the horizon. Whilst Nintendo expect the Wii to be down year over year 3 million (and likely to drop further) Microsoft seem bullish that the Xbox 360 hasn't even peaked yet and that we're about to see a momentous 6 months of Xbox 360 sales for the latter part of this year (although July isn't indicative of that so far ...) With Xbox 360 closing the gap 94,000 units in a dry July, a price cut to Kinect or hardware bundles should cement first place easily in Americas this holiday. 
EMEAA:
Gap change in July: 50,536 - Playstation 3
Gap change over last 12 months: 572,934 - Playstation 3
Total Lead: 9,442,572 - Wii
As with the chart above, this isn't to solely analyse the chances of the Playstation 3 overtaking the Wii in EMEAA. This battle mirrors Xbox 360 Vs. Wii in Americas rather well; both are around the 9/9.5M mark, both have been consistently outselling the Wii this past year, and both look to do so for the foreseeable future. Playstation 3's gains over the last month and year are smaller than Xbox 360's, however the PS3 hasn't reached mass market price here yet, and should sell very well in its twilight years, long after the Wii has been discontinued.
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I would like to see a PS3 vs. Wii in Japan battle. That is a very close one as well and the PS3 has been very dominate their recently.
Why not a chart about PS3 vs. Wii in Japan??? PS3 is overselling Wii for all weeks this year
I will keep an eye on it, right now it's look less likely a prospect than the other 2 battles.
Looking* even
I like the new charts! Although I cared for the Wii vs. PS3-X360 chart, the argument about consumers not being interested in HD wasn't sound, so I understand why the chart became less relevant. I don't necessarily agree with posters stating that the next price cut will determine the outcome of this gen's console wars; this has been the most unpredictable one and the future is ripe with uncertainty.
I would still like to see the Wii vs HD, because it's a good indication of how the generation has changed. Oh, well.
IMO 360 and PS3 are identical consoles/offers, the real battle is definitely Wii VS HD and the HD consoles, or should I say console without an "s", already won the battle : to me the red ocean is bigger than the blue ocean.
I disagree, I think even if the 360 wins this xmas (which if they both cut, they likely will with Kinect) PS3 can still overtake down the line. IMO it will, however this holiday pans out.
