PS3 vs. XBox – Sales and Active Units

It is no surprise that the XBox reigns supreme in the United States, when you look at raw numbers of units sold it makes the PS3 look like the bastard child of the industry. Then again, if we take a closer look we can see that units sold vs. active units are a completely different thing.

Sony took a leap when releasing the PS3 years ago by packing it with all of the high tech features available. It was released with large hard drives, WiFi capability, and a HDMI connection. The XBox had a more economical approach by releasing the console with limited technology resulting in a reduced cost. During a time of an economic shift the lower price point made it the console of choice.

Over time Microsoft is adding technology to enhance their system making it possible to have a more advanced system without the upfront cost that Sony has. The Kinect has been taking over the gaming industry since its release and has created a rather large following. Sony on the other hand had a huge advantage in the 3D market, they knew the technology would be coming and had this ready to go on their consoles pending a hardware update.

Overall taking a look at the numbers, it would appear XBox has the upper hand. Unfortunately this is not completely true. While XBox has sold more units it has also had many units fail and many of those sales are from people purchasing replacement units. In addition to this many XBox owners have bought the newer consoles which come with WiFi and the HDMI compatibility. Sony has had console failures as well but most of the original units are still in use today.

I still see this market as anyone’s game. I look forward to seeing how the industry will shift over the next few years as the next generation consoles are released.