2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA) - Kotaku Comments

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

invisiblewok — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 03:02:28 MST

so japan has a population of 127 million, the U.S. has a population of 300 million, and Europe has population of around 700 million... perhaps Microsoft needs to worry more about how the 360 is selling in Europe vs how it is selling in japan. However I still find it funny that CoD 4 was selling more copies for the 360 than for the ps3 in Europe... seems fishy.

invisiblewok

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

dgodinho — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 01:50:26 MST

I maybe biased in saying this, but I think Xbox360 users were, for the most part, anxious to get in to the next generation of gaming (for the influx when it was first launched.) I was considering buying the console because of Bioshock, but once I took a look at the features of the PS3 and considered the great probability that Japanese developers will be more inclined to develop for it, I was happy to pay the extra money.

I think Home will be a big factor, as so much is made of Xbox Live. Based on sheer presentation, however, PS3 has a much more sophisticated presentation, which is why I see it as being a potential home theatre center rather than a simple gaming system. I'm still impressed that I can surf the internet in seconds on my HDtv, although, I wish the browser was better.

dgodinho

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Juminatriascala — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 12:23:15 MST

@superbeast1370:
Wow! Thank goodness I found the guy who speaks for all European and Japanese gamers!

It's you!

Juminatriascala

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

PearceShea — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 08:30:50 MST

In talking to a (albeit few) European friends their guess as to why the xbox brand has been so unappealing is for several reasons: As someone else pointed out PC gaming is quite big in Europe and this has had a big impact on the "console wars."

Because alot of European gamers are into pc gaming, and because they are often much more into Linux, and open-software (think about any homebrew/hacks/mods/etc you might have downloaded and then figure out where the developers lived... I think most, if not all of my stuff is from central Europe) and building their own stuff, Microsoft has been very very unpopular among gamers as a sort of "evil empire."

And because they often put their own pc boxes together, they find the high failure rate of the 360 to be just outrageous. On top of that, with the 360, alot of areas in Europe (so say two of my friends) have a long lead time and long shipping time and this makes the 360 repair process a much bigger deal.

That's what they say. Does that make sense to anyone else?

PearceShea

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

L_K_M — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 01:16:38 MST

Nayl said: "Firstly, Switzerland WAS the only country that profited from the holocaust and this is a well known and well documented fact."

Well, certainly not the only one, but clearly one of them. So? Did I say anything else? What has that got to do with the topic we're discussing here? I mean, what the hell is wrong with you?
Me: "Europeans don't hate Americans."
You: "Switzerland profited from the holocaust, so you're wrong."
Really, what the fuck is wrong with you?

And yeah, I misspoke, I meant 360s in the post you answered to, not PS3s, obviously.

L_K_M

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Nayl — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 20:50:10 MST

@L_K_M: Firstly, Switzerland WAS the only country that profited from the holocaust and this is a well known and well documented fact. Switzerland was neutral and was a fantastic place (due to its neutrality and its famous Swiss banks) for high ranking Nazis to stash the money they made from the holocaust. But a lot of them died, so Switzerland was left with a bunch of cash that it couldn't return to its owners. That which could be returned to holocaust victims was, but I bet a lot of it wasn't.

Secondly, I never said anything about Europeans not buying PS3s because we're anti-american, because Sony is a Japanese company. I'm going to let you off because English probably isn't your first language, but next time read more carefully.

Nayl

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

h0mi — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 18:49:58 MST

What are the prices (at respective launches & now) of the 360 and ps3 in Europe?

h0mi

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

L_K_M — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 01:02:26 MST

@Atilla_the_Nun: Last time I checked, the attach rate was 360 > Wii > PS3, along the lines of 7>4>4, but that was some time ago. Obviously the 360 has the largest attach rate - it has the most games, was on the market the longest, and hast hte most harcore gamers. But the difference is not as large as you suggest, and it's probably that the Wii sill beats the PS3. Its attach rate is better than most gamers think.

L_K_M

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

sycodude — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 20:42:37 MST

ps2 library > 360 library

now fuck off

sycodude

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Nightshift_Nurse — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 20:30:38 MST

@Atilla_the_Nun: It's a fact that the 360 currently has the highest attach rate, what I was disagreeing with was the 40-1-0 numbers you were suggesting.

Give the competition another year to reach the point of maturation the 360 is currently at and we'll see if the gap isn't mostly or wholly closed on one or both fronts.

Nightshift_Nurse

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Nightshift_Nurse — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 20:28:01 MST

@Vecha: The fact that Sony mismanaged the issue doesn't change the facts: DRE's pale in comparison to the number of RRoD's in the same time frame. And Sony did fix the DRE by roughly this point in the consoles life, RRoD's show no sign of disappearing anytime soon.

Keep on deluding yourselves that this isn't the most egregious fuck up in the history of console gaming...go ahead...continue to mention DRE and maybe the numbers will miraculously jump to the epic rates of hardware failure the 360 can boast. It's no skin off my nose if you wanna throw that 800lb. gorilla a banana or two.

Nightshift_Nurse

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Atilla_the_Nun — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 20:02:53 MST

@Nightshift_Nurse: I'd say it's higher than you might think and definitely higher than either PS3 or Wii systems can boast. You see, the 360 library has more in common with the PS2 library at this point, than either of the other two systems' libraries. And the library is the single most important thing for a console, no?

Atilla_the_Nun

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Vecha — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 18:41:12 MST

@Nightshift_Nurse:

Guess you haven't heard of the class action lawsuit over the DRE...oh well.

Vecha

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

heero69 — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 18:07:44 MST

I'm from Europe, and I do see alot of people hate on America (mainly the goverment not so much the people but it can happen). Now diving into the subject, I can see it happen, mainly because the games on the PS3 are better suited for the euro demographics, the fact that Sony is a big brand here just increases the likely wood of it happening.

heero69

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

joncoffee — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 17:01:41 MST

orly?

joncoffee

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

moveteam — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 15:05:00 MST

@Thinker: I would like to know that too. But I only think they cover the big Europan markets, like UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain. Some mid-size markets like Scandinavia (Sweden, Denmark and Norway) probably count too.

But EU has a population of 500 mio., and whole Europe about 700 mio. The greatest market except Asia.

moveteam

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Nightshift_Nurse — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 14:41:21 MST

@Atilla_the_Nun: I wonder how many more gamers out there are like me: 360 attach rate of 40, versus PS3 attach rate of 1, and Wii attach rate of 0.

Well, with attach rates as fanciful as those, my guess would be none...particularly since not even the 360's library is large enough to boast that many worthwhile titles.

Nightshift_Nurse

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Atilla_the_Nun — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 14:03:23 MST

Yes, the 360 has serious design problems leading to overheating of the GPU and eventual RROD. So you'd have to be a fool to disagree that it has the highest failure rate of all next-gen consoles. That's why I just bought a PS3 over the holidays.

Now, when my 360 RROD's, I have a backup console to keep me busy during the turnaround. My 360 library is around 40 games, give or take. My PS3 library is 1 game (Ratchet & Clank) which I got as part of the bundle. Obviously my Wii library is 0. This year I plan to purchase most games for the 360. The only PS3 games will be exclusives.

I wonder how many more gamers out there are like me: 360 attach rate of 40, versus PS3 attach rate of 1, and Wii attach rate of 0.

In other words, console sales mean nothing without software sales (except maybe in the case of Nintendo, who's just as happy to sell you a Wii even if you never buy a single game).

Atilla_the_Nun

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Idree — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 14:00:26 MST

Europeans like quility products.

I just can't count the numerous shows about the 360 breaking on television >.>

Idree

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Nightshift_Nurse — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 13:20:18 MST

@fearing: Ohhh boy! Well at least it took this long before people started parading out the whole "Well I worked in retail" garbage...as if that makes you any kind of authority.

Again, we've all seen the same numbers and read the same articles. The percentage of DRE's is far, far lower than that of the RRoD. And we're not even done with the RRoD saga yet. DRE capped off at something around 3-5%, RRoDs are at 30%...oh yeah, exactly the same numbers!

Hey! I've got another anecdotal story that doesn't prove anything, too! I'm about to be on my third DS Lite due to a combination of hinge cracks, failed shoulder buttons, and yellow screens. Yet the DS Lite continues to be generally regarded as a reliable system? Why? Because people like me are the exception...bad luck.

That's why I never, ever put any stock into a person who claims that the DRE must have been as bad because they went through three or four PlayStation 2s - the numbers prove that my case with the DS and theirs with the PlayStation 2 are anomalies. A pisser to be sure, but still not representative of either product as whole.

Face it, the 360 hardware is built like shit. For all of its qualities, the 360 has one glaring, unprecedented flaw. Just please stop with the embarrassing fanboy antics trying to prove that it's anything other than that.

Nightshift_Nurse

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

ca$h — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 13:10:26 MST

I guess next gen really DID begin when Sony said it was going to. In Europe, at least.

ca$h

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Heihachi.vs.Kazuya — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 13:09:16 MST

Wtf first Japan is anti-American because they think the xbox360 sucks now Europe is anti-American because they think the xbox360 isn't all that and a bag of chips? C'mon people. The ps3 is just more appealing to a greater number of people get over it.

-get the console with the games and features you like and stfu.

Heihachi.vs.Kazuya

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

brent_w — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 13:01:02 MST

I'll believe Nintendo's numbers over EA's guesstimate ...

brent_w

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Chadders — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:59:05 MST

Just to be fair and balanced: yes, there is a lot of anti-Americanism in Europe.

BUT There's also a lot of Anti-German feeling, anti-French feeling, Anti-British feeling. A lot of it can be quite regionally intense. Heck, look at Belgium for some inter-necine conflict.

I doubt there's any gamer out there who thinks about nationality whne picking up a console. The only people who think that are paranoid.

Is nationalism why Europe is flooded with Linux on people's PCs? OH WAIT! It's not!

Chadders

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

LittleBigPlaneteer — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:57:25 MST

@Ninja_Dood:

Don't let idiots like that ruin it for you.

LittleBigPlaneteer

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Ninja_Dood — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:32:41 MST

@Nayl: OMG people like this make me want to move out of America.

Ninja_Dood

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

DARTH_TIGRIS — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:30:23 MST

People may not know this, but NPD and VGChartz are all just estimates (similar to Nielsen ratings). So what does that mean?

We don't have accurate sales numbers for anything gaming related. Only estimates. In all regions.

So what are we arguing about?

DARTH_TIGRIS

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

L_K_M — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:21:15 MST

@Nayl: Uhm... You spout a bunch of insulting, absurd ideas about Switzerland, and then you tell me I have no idea what I'm talking about. That's... what's the word? Ironic, right. Here's something else that's ironic: A Brit telling a Swiss he has no idea about Europe. Like Britain cares about Europe :-P

Claiming Europeans don't buy the PS3 because they hate America is ludicrous, anyway. Most probably don't even realize Sony isn't a US company.

Anyway, you're just ranting, aren't you? Please, the next time you actually have nothing to say, alert me to that fact. Saves me the time it took me to write a reply to you. Now back to playing Burnout.

L_K_M

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

SAKY — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:14:02 MST

@fallingdove: In the US, the playstation brand was synonymous with gaming in the average consumer's mind (Mass Market)...... until they released the PS3 @$500-600.

SAKY

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Vecha — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:02:42 MST

@Nayl:

If I didn't know you weren't american I would have guessed you were...you sound just like the ignorant redneck gun touting americans.

Vecha

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Nayl — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 11:57:08 MST

@homernoy: Well I couldn't help being born in the greatest country on the planet now could I. Its not my fault that other countries are inferior.

Nayl

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Harteex — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 11:17:22 MST

Oh and btw, HDDVD is not only dead here, it has never lived at all. I've never seen any HDDVD movies here, but some stores are selling Bluray movies.

Harteex

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

aaa — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 11:15:58 MST

@Soldrak: Nintendo dominated for two successive generations. NES and SNES.

aaa

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Harteex — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 11:12:11 MST

Well so far it seems the 360 is more popular than the ps3 here in scandinavia. I know much more people owning a 360 than a PS3, and the last few times I was at my local EB Games there were always a group of like 4-6 people playing the 360 while none at the ps3 (Although today the PS3 had crashed so that probably explained no one was playing :P).

But according to VGChartz (estimates, not that reliable), while the 360 has sold more in total, the ps3 is selling more and is catching up.

Harteex

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

The Shape — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 10:47:00 MST

@zoesch: Sooo.. American cars too over the top for europeans therefore europeans dont want an xbox 360 cause they're too "over the top"??

The Shape

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

OT79 — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 10:36:51 MST

@superbeast1370: You´re right,it´s silly not consider their nationalism and the "hate for almost everything american (E.U.)common in this days" except for the UK,where the 360 sells very well,if you join this with all the damn problems about the RROD problems,you got the answer about the bad performance of Xbob360 around the world,Microsoft really shoot in the feet with the lost confidence about their system.
I got a PS3,and works so perfectly,I enjoy everything it brings to me,Blu-Ray,Online playing for free,great games(you know what they are)I´m happy with the PSP connectivity and all the whole multimedia entertainment that it got,I never gonna buy a 360,buying a future but almost secure headache?no thanks,yeah,are good games(but mainly FPS,a genre not so appealing out there )but i definitely prefer the PS3 exclusives,as you can see,there´s a lot of reasons about the 360´s struggle out E.U.

OT79

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Cidor — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 10:31:24 MST

No surprise to see the PS3 outselling the 360 here in Europe. Many people that I know just dumped there 360 and switched mainly to PS3. The 360 has almost no exclusive games because almost all of the games are also released for PC so people wait until the games comes to the PC and enjoy free online gaming instead of geting a 360. While the PS3 exclusive games are not coming to PC there will never be a Uncharted or GT5 on the PC.

Besides of that Sony has a much better reputation in Europe. The people know that the product has a very good quality while the 360 has the RRoD issue and is more likely to break. Also the people know that they get for a bit more money a complete console where there will be good games for it even in 3-5 years and Sony has good EU developers who can deliver good casual games like Eye Toy, Singstar and so on.

Cidor

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

homernoy — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 10:23:33 MST

@Nayl:Well, after reading that garbage, it is pretty obvious you hate everyone. Not just America.

homernoy

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

zoesch — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 10:23:19 MST

@MakeMEaSandwich: It's like saying Europeans don't buy American cars because they are American. Newsflash: Driving distances in Europe are shorter and the roads smaller so most american cars wouldn't make much sense in Europe due to space, parking and gas prices.

Why is the PS3 selling more in Europe? You have a generation of gamers that grew up with the PlayStation brand (PS1/PS2), you have a ton of advertisement in place (Have you watched a Serie A, BPL or Spanish Primera match lately? What about the Champions League? Lots of Sony ads there) and you have a different culture regarding money and saving. You find that most hardcore gamers in the US have all 3 consoles, after all they are entertainment and we have a culture of disposable income. In Europe you find that they'll have one console and one PC, normally the console that perform more functions for the price is the leading one, after all, you might earn more but between taxes and the cost of living you end up having a lot less disposable income.

Playing the Xenophobia card is retarded, there's always a good and logical explanation.

zoesch

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

AngelMayLaugh — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 10:19:17 MST

@Nayl: "To argue that the French don't hate America is laughable, their governments have been consistently staunchly anti-american since the end of the second word war."

Word war? Was this a spelling bee or something?

AngelMayLaugh

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

The Shape — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 10:14:01 MST

@superbeast1370: That doesn't stop americans from buying japanese consoles..

The Shape

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

zoesch — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 10:13:24 MST

@Nayl: And I'm amazed that you were the fastest sperm, what the heck are you on?

Nobody except a vocal minority hates the US, as an American (Who lives overseas) I find the standard response is "Oh you're American? yeah, the US, nice place, whatever small talk and off you go, see ya later" no hate, no nothing.

Unless you get your opinions from FOX News in which case, yes, the world hates America (I would too if all I saw was Neil Cavuto or Ann Coulter)

zoesch

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Vecha — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 09:59:38 MST

@Nayl:

So... "hasn't got the first clue of how to properly use the power" It's a jealous thing? lol

Vecha

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Nayl — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 09:56:33 MST

@L_K_M: lol Switzerland, the only country that profited off the holocaust. Past crimes aside, Switzerland is nothing, you have no power in international politics and you keep yourself to yourself so I'm not surprised that you're completely clueless about overall European political opinion. To argue that the French don't hate America is laughable, their governments have been consistently staunchly anti-american since the end of the second word war. And no, there is little distinction between bush and a lot of Americans and people, at least here in Britain, are fully aware of this. I'm sure there are some nice Americans out there but for the most part the country is hugely ignorant of the world around it and hasn't got the first clue of how to properly use the power it has. As a results it alienated the entire world, save for a few countries it buys vast quantities of oil from like Saudi Arabia or countries it sells vast quantities or arms to like Israel.

Nayl

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Kaneda — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 09:55:39 MST

@L_K_M: Sorry again man. As I said, I got the wrong target!

Kaneda

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

DarrenIndeed — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 09:40:25 MST

@notalkjustrock:

Most europeans don't even know about this feature, even after they buy the console.

I work at one of the largest branches of Gamestation in the UK. While I obviously can't speak for the rest of Europe, over christmas we sold far far more 360's than we did PS3's. Infact the amount of people who just refused to buy a PS3 once they found out there was no backwards compatability on the 40GB SKU was quite shocking.

DarrenIndeed

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Vecha — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 09:39:19 MST

@L_K_M:

There are quite a few americans, myself included, that hate bush and the health care system...

though those of us that do are titled "left-wing crazies"..lol

Vecha

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Mpalm. — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 09:36:05 MST

@fragdurarsh:

Exactly! That is, except for europe, japan, and you know... the rest of the world.

Mpalm.

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

fragdurarsh — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 09:32:21 MST

Control the North American market control the world.

fragdurarsh

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

L_K_M — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 09:29:56 MST

@Kaneda: What??? I have no idea what you're trying to say.

Nayl ranted: "Regardless of the way the UK government behaves, the population of the UK basically hates america. France hates america...but then they hate everyone and Germany just doesn't spend a lot of time thinking about it. They're too concerned with European integration (something that is long overdue). The rest of Europe is too small to really feature on the political map but they hate America too."

Look, buddy, I live in Switzerland. I have friends in Germany, France, Austria and Italy. Nobody here hates America. Most Europeans disagree with what the current US government is doing in Iraq, to put it lightly, and we think some ideas Americans have (such as about what constitutes proper health insurance) are ridiculous, but that is not the same as "hating America." Most of my pals have friends or relatives in the US. Europeans read American books, we play American games and we watch Hollywood movies. We have nothing at all against America or against Americans, and we're perfectly capable of drawing a distinction between Bush and an American in general.

If that does not apply to you and your pal, that is your problem and not indicative of a general feeling Europeans share.

L_K_M

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Vecha — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 09:25:27 MST

@Kaneda:

I kinda wish blu-ray was a bigger jump from DVD...like VHS-DVD was...

I only have one blu-ray movie...

Vecha

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Kaneda — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 09:22:05 MST

@KirbyMorph: Yeah so I was saying: It's probably because of people like you that people think Canadians are rude idiots. And then I added that you were probably from Ontario.

Oh and we'll see how big a joke Blu-ray was in a few years. Because we all know standard DVD will be around for ever because that's what you prefer and it's therefore the best format around and it's completely future proof!

Kaneda

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

rawg — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 09:19:22 MST

I hope that EA takes these projections to heart and adjusts their development priorities accordingly. Assuming that their predictions are based on good data, other publishers should take note as well.

The good news is that when companies invest in making sure their games play well on the PS3, they tend to do well on the 360 as well, so everyone wins.

rawg

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Kaneda — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 09:16:46 MST

@Kaneda: Crap. Sorry man I meant this other guy, not you! Kyrbymorph was the idiot I was callnig an idiot. Sorry again!

Kaneda

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Vecha — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 09:12:56 MST

@rawg:

Funny you say that...360 fanboys were saying BC doesn't matter when sony was 100% BC.

Not calling you a fanboy or anything..I just find it funny that once sony practically dropped support for it it was A-OK to have no BC.

@fearing:

Yea...I went through 3-4 PS2s for that problem...but they had such great games..I kept rebuying ps2s...

Vecha

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

jsf49 — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 09:12:51 MST

When I turn on a 360, it feels like Russian roulette.

jsf49

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Vecha — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 09:09:57 MST

@smitty1123:

I wouldn't have bought the 360 if games like Mass Effect were on the ps3...

I hope next gen sony makes the ps4 feel more "gamey"...when I turn on the 360..it feels like a console...when I turn on my ps3..it feels more like a media hub more than a game console...just my opinion though.

Vecha

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

rawg — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 09:09:16 MST

@okenny :): lack of BC may piss some people off but I doubt it will discourage them from picking up a PS3 when the next gen version of their favorite franchise comes out on it (GT5, MSG4, FFXIII, SingStar).

rawg

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

fearing — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 09:07:21 MST

I can't belive someone said DRE didn't even compare to the problem that RROD is right now! Were you around when DRE was happening? Seriously. Just because it's not happening to you in the hear and now doesn't mean it doesn't even compare. I worked in video game retail for the same company during both, and I can tell you DRE was much more widespread for PS2's from the first year, and I'm still encountering people with that problem. Obviously not to the extent that I did before, but compared to the RROD problems which have almost completely dropped off here since the September/October timeframe (and that's a lot of 360 sold since then here in the States), the DRE seemed to effect a much higher percent of PS2 units from the first couple years of production. Get some perspective.

fearing

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Vecha — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 09:06:37 MST

@Nayl:

America as a country? Or do they hate the people too...

I had a friend who was an exchange student come to my high two years ago...she would badmouth America every day(she was from Italy)

Vecha

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Nayl — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:58:17 MST

@L_K_M: Yes it is. Very Anti-American. Believe me, I live here. Regardless of the way the UK government behaves, the population of the UK basically hates america. France hates america...but then they hate everyone and Germany just doesn't spend a lot of time thinking about it. They're too concerned with European integration (something that is long overdue). The rest of Europe is too small to really feature on the political map but they hate America too. I've been gaming online for years and the one theme that keeps occurring with the people I play with is that America sucks.

Actually the whole world hates America really.

Nayl

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

smitty1123 — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:57:46 MST

@Altgod: Not to answer a question with a question, but why would anybody with a longstanding experience with Windows trust Microsoft?

/Then again, I'm one of those freaks who genuinely misses DOS, so take that with a grain of salt.

smitty1123

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Chadders — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:48:56 MST

UK gamer here.

If Pro-Evo on the Wii makes a quantum leap in how the game is played (i.e. no having to run into players, hoping the AI is there to catch up with you), the Wii will sell more than if Brawl ever comes out here.

The only console I have is a Wii. For the past decade, I've only played PC games. I don't think I missed much in the intervening years. And I'm 25, so I guess that averages out the 5 and 55 year olds, doesn't it? :P

The reason I bought a wii is because it's cheap, reliable, good games, innovative control... why would I get an Xbox 360? ZOMFG teh grfx?!! its 2% moar real now!!! And a PS3 can go home, far too expensive for now and not enough games.

Plus given those 2 Live services are complete pants in Europe, they have a much dulled edge over the Wii in that respect. A mate of mine hasn't even plugged his 360 into the internet!

Chadders

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

edhe (xbl) — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:47:34 MST

They really should advertise. That'd help.

edhe (xbl)

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Vecha — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:45:01 MST

@kirbymorph

Could you not argue your point without the constant name calling?

Vecha

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Soldrak — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:43:45 MST

@KirbyMorph: You know people used to say HDTV's were useless because most consumers would never care about them and wouldn't be able to tell the difference between standard and high def.

Fast forward to today, both next-gen consoles are touting high-definition and HDTVs have made their way into 40% of American homes and growing.

The lesson here is that just because an older format is outselling a newer one, doesn't mean the new format is a failure. Things take time, convincing consumers takes time, getting enough money to buy expensive next-gen technology takes time. And sometimes a recession throws a wrench into the cogs. The most important thing to note is that Bluray sales are picking up and gaining momentum.

Now I won't disagree with you completely, in five years physical disc media might become irrelevant and Sony may have a phyrric victory in Bluray. But this would rely on uptake of ultra-fast broadband accelerating in the next five years throughout the world, something that probably won't happen.

Soldrak

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

-EDGE- — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:41:57 MST

@KirbyMorph:
WOW, fanboi rage much?

Where did I say more "sophisticated gamer"? You sir, are an ass, and I don't even have to call you one you did it for me with your own words.

But, hey thanks for playing come back when you grow up.

-EDGE-

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Kaneda — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:40:15 MST

@L_K_M: People probably think Canadians are rude idiots because of people like you. Let me guess. You're from Ontario?

Kaneda

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Drakron — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:38:45 MST

That is bullshit, Nintendo is selling after all ... look at the first place in sales.

Its always strike me as odd the fact its all about PS3 vs Xbox 360 despite the fact the Wii is kicking ass and taking names.

And yes, there is the PlayStation brand that sells but then again there is a reason why europe is the only market with strong growth potential, its still PC land and the Wii have far better chances of making it that the PlayStation.

And the whole "europe is anti-American" is also bullshit, we have FAR more reasons to complain about Japanese companies that treat us like we are trash ... remember Xenosaga? we only got episode 2 ...XenoGears? NEVER released.

And last, those are EA "guesses" ... nobody really knows the picture unless you get Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft disclosing their actual sales figures ... snowball chance in hell of that ever happening.

Drakron

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

L_K_M — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:37:31 MST

@Nayl: Europe is not Anti-American in any way.

L_K_M

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

KirbyMorph — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:36:17 MST

@-EDGE-: Ahahahaha. More sophisticated gamers? Whoo. That's a good one. You're playing games in your parents' basement and you're calling yourself "sophisticated"? You play the same damn games as everyone else with the exception that Europe's football is different than the US's football. We in Canada like hockey for reference.

My Opinion Below:

You're a Sony fanboy wanker that can't realize that Bluray is a garbage format that is being DESTROYED by DVD. Not HD-DVD. The regular one that sells millions of copies of each title. Bluray is a joke and will be one for a long time. Being king of the losers is not exactly something to strive for in a retraded format war that more consumers don't give two shits about. And that's before we even get to gamers who don't give one fucking bit about playing movies on their GAMING SYSTEM.

KirbyMorph

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Vecha — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:34:02 MST

@-EDGE-:

Yea...last year I thought the 360 would end up that way...but in the recesses of my mind I had my doubts.

Seems like this may end up as a repeat of last year(unless the wii continues to grow in sales.)

Vecha

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Soldrak — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:32:17 MST

@Candlejack: Firstly, the reliability of Xbox 360 is not a joke, it's a sad reality.

Secondly, by pointing out Europe you kind of disprove your theory that people buy consoles based on nationality. It IS about brand power and mind share. Sony has built up tremendous good will through the success of two generations of excellent gaming consoles. Before them, no company has managed to dominate the market for two successive generations, not even Nintendo.

Thirdly you can't expect brands to rise and fall within a generation or two, these things take time and I think a number of things are eventually going to work in Microsoft's favor for the good or ill of gaming. The main one being the phenomenal expansion of the American gaming market relative to the European and Japanese markets. In the next generation of consoles, the gaming market in the U.S. alone will probably be much larger than the combined markets of Japan and Europe. Then there will be the rise of new markets, such as India, China and Korea, markets which may be more hostile to Sony and where nationalism and racism against the Japanese may be a reality.

Note that I'm not saying this is going to be a bad or good thing, and I'm not counting the large amount of bad will Microsoft has generated this generation from the awful short-sighted way they've handled the RROD mess. I'm merely focusing on the long term momentum of all three companies when faced with the reality of a dominant American market.

Soldrak

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

-EDGE- — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:32:14 MST

@Vecha:
Couldn't agree more with the JRPG's.

I would imagine, and again this is PURE speculation on my part that the PS3 will wind up with the more diverse software lineup of all the systems. Due simply to the fact of its appeal to a wider market base.

-EDGE-

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Vecha — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:25:23 MST

@Mpalm.:

Yes...that would be grand. It's the main reason I bought a ps3...because I knew soon the ps3 would get more then the 4 or so jrpgs on the 360...

Vecha

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Mpalm. — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:21:50 MST

@Vecha:

Yes, we need more RPGs of all sorts, tactical, jrpg, everything. Hopefully disgaea 3 comes to the states, that will keep me occupied for 200 hours or so :o

Mpalm.

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Woylez — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:18:07 MST

Even my gran says i play on 'that playstation' too much. Although its an Xbox.

Woylez

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Vecha — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:15:42 MST

@-EDGE-:

I bought the Ps3 for the original games such as uncharted and folklore etc...I think this year the ps3 will end up being the first choice(or continue to be according to this data)

I just wish the ps3 would get more JRPGs.....

Vecha

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Ignatius — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:15:37 MST

@Sparx88:

Screw a brick wall, it's going to hit a spiked titanium bunker so hard that it explodes backwards.

Ignatius

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

-EDGE- — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:11:34 MST

All bullshit and fonboish shit aside, the EU & JPN markets tend to have more sophisticated consumers. Couple this with the cultural differences and it is easy to see why the PS brand would be more appealing. This is not at all to say that the NA consumer is not sophisticated or is "low brow" it's just a marketing fact.

My Opinion Below:

Also if I personally was coming into the market "right now" and I was an educated consumer, I would be hard pressed not to choose the PS3. This is NOT because I feel one is better then the other but with the format war all but decided in favor of Blu-Ray, the games about the same on either system, and free online play I think the perceived "value" of the system could tip me more to the PS3 side. 10 months or so ago, and my perceived "value" as a consumer might have been quite different and more toward the 360 side.

(On an aside I did intentionally leave the Wii out of my opinion, as for whatever reason marketing people tend to...for whatever reason. Because from where I'm sitting the Wii is the only run away success of the gen of consoles.)

-EDGE-

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

homerj — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:06:19 MST

There's the forgotten thing with the PS3 that it's region free. A system where you can import a game is a pretty good idea. You can import a standard PS3 game from the US or Japan, and have it just work.

That and Europeans hate Microsoft. However, he Germans love David Hasslehoff.

homerj

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Vecha — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:04:03 MST

@Candlejack:

I didn't buy the 360 because I'm an american I bought it for the games. Yes it has broken down on me twice.

I didn't buy the ps2 because the ps1 was just so damn good...I bought it for the games. And it broke down on me even more than the 360 has.

Vecha

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

baked ham — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:00:22 MST

@Lemming To The Sea: Who cares. It's not worth worrying.

baked ham

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Vecha — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 07:57:05 MST

So...last gen...Sony had more games with a console that broke down quite often and sold a metric ton.

This gen Microsoft had more games(which will probably change soon) and their console broke down quite often and still getting it's ass kicked.

Guess history doesn't repeat itself.

Vecha

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Kyle81 — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 07:55:44 MST

Thing about the 360 in Europe to remember also is that PC gaming is actually still very popular in many regions of Europe and outsells console games. Lot of 360 games end up on the PC and like last gen, people are just ignoring 360 for there PC's in many territories like Germany. PS3 on the other hand is known more as a console to them that has its own games so the 360 suffers. And also there seems to be lot of animosity towards MS in Europe.

Playstation is big in Europe, its pretty much what many call any console. You will see a TV program from Europe where there is an xbox, and they will call it playstation or simply refer to playing playstation. Brand image.

Kyle81

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Spiderbait — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 07:54:31 MST

It's actually not because of differences between countries. It's actually quite the opposite, we all like to fuck with everyone else so we simply say random numbers to those that ask.

Spiderbait

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Nayl — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 07:51:56 MST

I would imagine American patriotism/nationalism cancels out the general dislike almost everyone has of microsoft in America. But Europe is very anti-american so it only serves to fuel the fires of dislike for microsoft products. Add that to the high failure rates of the 360, and the popularity of previous playstation consoles (Europe was the biggest market for PS2) and you can see why PS3 is outselling 360. The price, though ridiculously high here at launch (more so than in America) didn't put us off as much because the average european is better off than the average american.And price was one of the biggest factors in PS3s early troubles in america.

Nayl

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

L_K_M — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 07:45:50 MST

Youlikeyams said: "The PlayStation brand has always been very strong in Europe because it was the first console that everyone had heard of properly"

Possibly the first console you heard of properly (depending on how old you are), but you can trust me when I say that Pong, Atari VCS 2600, NES, Gameboy, C64, Amiga 500, Megadrive (a.k.a. Genesis) and SNES were huge brands and had great name recognition in Europe.

L_K_M

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

xIvSlowDeath420 — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 07:45:20 MST

@L_K_M: EXACTLY,MOST EURO'S HAVE WINDOWS.Which is exactly why they don't trust MS,Pull your god dam heads out of your asses,the world has been treated like shit by MS for years upon years through windows,EVERY pc gamer knew exactly how this console thing was gonna go the moment they announced xbox many moons ago,and guess what,we where right.

xIvSlowDeath420

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

L_K_M — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 07:42:56 MST

@Altgod asked: "But, my questions is, why would Europeans not buy 360s because of distrust for MS? Don't most Europeans have PC's? With Microsoft Windows. Or are there a lot more Macs in Europe?"

PCs are sort of a necessary evil; people distrust Microsoft because they have to use Windows (and had to cope with viruses and stability issues and lack of compatibility and such).

I think the general view is that you're pretty much forced to use a computer, and often there's no valid alternative to using Windows. Having said that, where I live (in Switzerland), Apple's market share is way above average; I think they're over 20%. I'd say more than half of my friends and colleagues own Macs (sometimes in addition to Windows PCs).

L_K_M

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

xIvSlowDeath420 — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 07:40:48 MST

@Sparx88: Whats so odd,i would like to think this year the average consumer will start to smarten when it comes to the 360 and its poor reliability.I mean we're constantly being fed the evidence so you would think the backlash is inevitable.In my case i've had my PS3 longer than my 360 and use it likely %50 more and i'm on my 3rd 360,although to be fair mine only red ringed once,the second replacement unit was aquired because MS sent me a broken one back.Played movies and logged in just fine,unfortunatly it wouldn't recojnize 360 discs.

xIvSlowDeath420

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

ReyBrujo — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 07:38:39 MST

The 6 million Wii figure by Nintendo is lifetime sales in Europe, which includes 2006. The 4.8 million figure by EA is sold during 2007. Anyone would realize about that (otherwise you would have also think DS has sold 8.7 million lifetime, or PlayStation 2 has sold only 3.8 million lifetime there).

ReyBrujo

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

zetopazio — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 07:24:36 MST

Cant say in all europe, but here in Portugal, Sony invest a lot in publicity and in localizing the games, the dubs sucks most of the time but atleast they do, and people like those kind of special attentions, Nintendo almost dont invest in publicity, in fact there is no Nintendo Portugal, Nintendo is represented in Portugal by the same company that sell the Barbies and other toys, and they dont do almost anything to promote, Nintendo is lucky because they have the respect for they past with NES and Super Nintendo, also the Game Boy was hugely sucessfull in here, then we have Microsoft who dont invest at all, despite we have a Microsoft Portugal, i dont even remeber to have ever saw a advertising on tv, most of the Non and Casual Gamers dont even know what a Xbox is, and also the fact that the games of the console are more appealling to Americans then to us dont help much, so thats why the Playstation brand is more popular in Portugal then the other brands!

zetopazio

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Candlejack — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 07:02:55 MST

@Soldrak: I understand, but the theory fails since Europeans like M rated games just as much as Americans. The only difference country-wise in the general acceptance of a genre like the shooter that I could agree on would be Japan.

Believe me when I say that even Xbox360 owners that I know personally joke about the reliability of the hardware. The games might be better than what the PS3 can offer so far overall, but that is still holding a lot of people back. It also leaves a bad taste in the mouth when thinking of American consumer electronics in general.

Why does it sell good in America then? Simple...because it's their home market. You don't have to be a nationalist to choose the "westernized"-Xbox360 over the PS3 for that. Which also explains why the PS brand is favoured in Europe; it's the only proper hybrid of western game styles and far eastern counterparts. Add a racing sim that stands for quality on top and you've got yourself a person who doesn't even want to think about the 360.

Candlejack

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Soldrak — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 06:53:33 MST

@Candlejack: The explanation could be as simple as different gaming tastes. Because Microsoft is an American company they are better able to position their games to appeal to their home market, same with Sony in Japan.

I'm not sure there are a lot of people who go into stores with nationalism in their minds and the Patriot Act in their pockets, that's an extremely crass way to generalize people and is simply not acceptable.

Soldrak

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Soldrak — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 06:50:02 MST

@NameYourCharacter: Aww, diddums. Did I disturb you're EA bootlicking session?

Soldrak

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Mpalm. — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 06:37:19 MST

@maiky-nisute:

Yeah, it couldn't be that people like the games on ps3 or anything. It couldn't be because people may enjoy RPGs and such a bit more than FPSs, and playstation has been the huge console for RPGS throughout history. It can't be because people may also have PCs and don't bother getting 360 because the top games like bioshock, gears, and COD4 all came out on PC as well. It can't be because maybe some people don't really find halo 3 to be a good game. No, it's just because people want a blu ray player.

Mpalm.

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

NameYourCharacter — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 06:35:37 MST

@Soldrak: Aww, diddums. Did somebody have to fall back on ad hominem because they don't like some numbers?

NameYourCharacter

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Soldrak — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 06:23:57 MST

And I predict that EA will continue to make shitty games like Madden 2008 in the year 2008.

Soldrak

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

bhapgood — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 06:13:14 MST

*europe love pro evolution soccer

bhapgood

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

bhapgood — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 06:11:17 MST

Europe Pro Evoltion Soccer, and there used to playing it with a playstation controller. I know many people that bought a PS3 the moment Pro Evo came out.

bhapgood

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

zapaterosantosubito — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 06:10:15 MST

@RuneX: Your reasonment has some flaws. First and foremost, Xbox360 may have more games of higher quality, but you should really consider that it has a very narrow selection of certain genres. No interest in the main attractive of Xbox360 games selection (FPSs) equates to a not-so-natural choice.
This, assuming you actually base your purchase on game selection. Even this might not be the case. As I stated earlier, a great slice of the EU market is, well, kids. More than you can possibly imagine. Kids don't choose their consoles, the want the console. It was PS2, and now is PS3, it's as simple as that. It's not the Sony branding, it's the Playstation branding that will sell units. Same goes for the PSP, which is quite popular and recognizable and is bought (I witnessed this many times myself) even when the best choice would be the DS for the buyer.
Most people buying a console here aren't just interested enough in the market to make a well thought choice based on titles available (assuming it's a good parameter to base your choice on, which I won't debate here). That's the same reason why the US marketing approach of Xbox360 didn't work in Europe. Different target demographics. It isn't just the age range, it's what the people willing to buy a console actually think about consoles that's different.

zapaterosantosubito

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

cdammers — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 06:08:20 MST

What BassCadet said. Microsoft are going to fall behind this year, perhaps even in the UK, if they don't get their arse in gear. By that I mean dropping the price (at least they have the headroom to do that) and improving Live. That means one or more of a) making it free, b) allowing people to set up dedicated servers, c) improving the video marketplace substantially, or d) opening up to UGC. Once Little Big Planet and Home come out, Microsoft is going to lose its one big advantage. Hell, I didn't even own a PS2 and I'll probably have a PS3 then.

cdammers

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Weasal — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 06:06:49 MST

You get what you pay for
360 is cheaper has lots of games but is not reliable
PS3 is exspensive has fewer games but is very reliable

Give me reliabilty over games anyday

If you have a launch 360 that is stil ok sell it quick your 3 years is up in 9 months.

Weasal

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Candlejack — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 06:01:15 MST

@RuneX: Trust in the brand. Trust in the hardware.

The Xbox360 is unreliable and Japanese as well as Europeans and Americans know that. Why does it sell good in the US? Because it's an American product by an American company. No other explanation - because in Europe & Japan you get the same quality games and still it doesn't sell as good.

It's a tough one to explain but judging by sales, there is no other explanation.

Candlejack

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

RuneX — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 05:48:14 MST

@fallingdove:

Hmm, never understood namebrand recognition. When I hear people its the reason all I can think is that people are incredibly stupid. So when I hear it used as an excuse for europes higher sales, I think of them as incredibly stupid as a whole. Now before anyone gets mad, Im not actually saying its true, just that the reason makes one think that. Why would anyone buy something because it has a name on it? If I repackaged horse manure and slapped sony on it would europeans and japanese buy it?

MS does not have name recognition in the US, hell, most americans that I know adamantly hate MS as a company. There is no great love for them being an american company or anything else like that either. The simple reason people buy the 360 is because it has a far greater number of games of which the quality is higher en mass.

Now look at the Japanese, its the same here. The sheer number of games for the 360 is far greater than the PS3, the quality of games is also greater.(not even debatable, sony has very few high selling titles and the ones they do have are usually better on the 360) When I walk into a store, there are always more 360 titles available. So why do people buy the PS3 and not the 360? I can only hope its not brandname.

Now onto these stats, we all know that the PS3 sells more in europe, but why? Once again you have more titles on the 360 than the PS3. Even if you judge for taste in titles, the 360 has every area covered with more depth and quality.

The logic im trying to grasp here is why the PS3 is outselling the 360 when it has fewer games(it is a game console) of lesser quality in the japaense and euro regions. It just seems to me that people are damned sheep who buy or dont buy something simply becuase of a name on the cover. Makes me feel sad for the human race in general.

(Note: Im not a fanboy of the 360 at all, nor do I dislike any region or any nationality. If it comes off that way, its not intended. Im just in shock still as to peoples judgements on various subjects. Im personally happy as a tri-console owner who just sees the differant benefits of them and cant make logical sense out of things regardign sales and preferences.)

RuneX

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

ahmeng — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 05:47:31 MST

Based on this assumption, it could explain why certain games perform better on one console then the others. Perhaps games like "No More Heroes" wouldn't sell if most Wii owners are girl gamers?

ahmeng

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Pombar — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 05:46:51 MST

Here in Europe we'll gladly eat up any crap Sony want to shovel our way. At least this year they'll be shovelling sirloin steak.

Pombar

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

CortezTheKiller — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 05:42:41 MST

^^ Sorry; a bit tangential I know. But some of the comments on this thread started me cogitating on it.

CortezTheKiller

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

CortezTheKiller — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 05:39:06 MST

Average ages of UK gamers I know (main groups):

Wii = 5-10; 55+
360 = 14-20
PS3 = 25-40

Also, most of the Wii users I know are female, most of the PS3 male, and I have never met a female who uses a 360.

And I haven't met a 360 owner in a long time who doesn't just play Halo these days.

Anecdotal of course, but interesting - to me at least. I'd be interested to see any formal, independent research into the contemporary gamer demographic.

CortezTheKiller

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Candlejack — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 05:32:12 MST

I agree with most of the comments regarding the PS brand in Europe, but would like to add that the UK and Germany probably are more familiar with the Xbox360 than any other country in Europe.

At least in the wide range of people aged 12 till 20, you are extremely unlikely to find someone who doesn't know about the Xbox or some of its games. Granted, few will know about Mass Effect or BioShock, but that's because we've seen no advertising for any of the 360's games besides Halo3 over here.

Another thing as I mentioned it already is the advertisement on TV. Multi platform games such as Assassin's Creed, COD4 (...) all receive the PLAYSTATION©3 branding at the end of them. Don't ask me how they are allowed to do that, but Sony knows how to pull in undecided consumers.

Candlejack

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

heisert — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 05:28:25 MST

One Word: RoD! Some Friends here in Europe got 2 Xbox 360 in their home. One 360 visits Microsoft and the other one is for play.And often the Console is broke up a few times.
Microsoft has a great, but terrible loud console. It is even possible that they are often damaged. You can read about the problem all over and sometimes it was in the tv news too. The PS3 and Wii dont have so much problems.

heisert

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Andronix — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 05:10:37 MST

The Playstation brand in Europe is helped by consumers who have known and trusted the Sony brand for many years. Playstation is the nearest there is to a standardised brand like TV or PC.

In mainland Europe the Xbox 360 is perceived as a niche console used by American hardcore gamers. Of course there is a market for it, but family games like Singstar, Wii Sports and Buzz come on the PS3 or Wii.

Microsoft have to change their 'SHOCK & AWE' ethos of advertising. What works in the USA doesnt necessarily work in Europe.

And When the Xbox 3 launches, Microsoft better make darn sure they have something that will appeal to the families of the world.

Andronix

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

steliosco — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 04:38:43 MST

no one said that the ps3 is better than the 360 in order to outsell it everywhere??

but maybe is not...Halo3 is the best fps and the 360 will exist in 2012 so im with ms!

Not!

steliosco

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

TearsandScreams — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 04:35:24 MST

I don't really care. If my 360 suddenly has support dropped for it (like the Xbox did seemingly overnight) I'll just jump ship. Brand loyalty is madness. I prefer the games available at the moment for my 360, the PS3 library has improved rapidly and will continue to do so. I do believe there's life in the old 360 yet though. Currently I'm far too busy enjoying playing on my console to worry about what is happening in the future.

TearsandScreams

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

cubed2D — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 04:32:02 MST

People saying that the 360 isnt doing well in europe because its an 'american' product are mistaken, i truly believe its brand loyalty. Pritty much everyone here had a playatation 2, apart from people like me, who were massive nintendo/pc gameing fans.I aventualy got an xbox and then a 360 when live came out, now i have disposable income, i have a ps3 as well, i hardly ever play on the thing, non of the game on it realy interest me that much, but the adverage person out there who had a ps2 and a couple of games, getting a ps3 is the natural thing to do. Its hard for a company to come along and change peoples loyalties like that. Microsoft got me because im a 'hardcore' gamer. gamer are where most of my money goes. i have time to read up on thing, im the kind of person they can get there meassge to easily. not so for the causual gamer.

cubed2D

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

LordChris915 — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 04:31:47 MST

@Lemming To The Sea: Playstation has advertising rights for fifa and football is big over here in the UK + Sony is a well respected brand (TVs, Mobile phones etc) so people have alot of faith in it.
Europeans love to show off and the PS3 specs let people gloat over their 360 owning buddies.

LordChris915

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

PirateThom — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 04:29:01 MST

@superbeast1370: What nonsense, we're not buying it because it's fail ridden and most of its best games are on PC.

PirateThom

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Omnidum — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 04:27:49 MST

@zapaterosantosubito: Dunno why im called n/a now, but they use one company, 3, to pump some extra money, but otherwise, i didnt know that.

Omnidum

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Yamster — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 04:25:39 MST

The PlayStation brand has always been very strong in Europe because it was the first console that everyone had heard of properly - the first "mainstream" European games console. Sony is a big household brand here, be it in televisions, stereos, or PlayStations so people will buy because they know what the quality and reliability are like - any issues I've had with any of my consoles (at worst I had one of the PS2s with the laser lens issue) was resolved quickly.

As the 360 tends to be oriented towards hardcore gamers, it doesn't sell at the rate it does in America because there's a pretty big PC gaming following on the continent. I think the PlayStation family is selling especially well as of late because it mixes the hardcore 'proper' games similar to those you'd find on the 360 with the casual games available such as Buzz and Singstar, And may I remind eveeryone that nobody knew that PlayTV (PS3 TiVo) existed at launch, so I wouldn't put that down as a reason for PS3 doing so well in Europe.

Yamster

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

zapaterosantosubito — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 04:23:27 MST

@n/a: Just because I like to be a picky fanboi of that particular brand of phones, Sony-Ericsson is actually a joint venture between formerly indipendent Sony and Ericsson cellphones manufacturer, targeting mainly (yet not exclusively) the european market. Even though they integrate Sony owned technologies and brands (Walkman, Cybershot, PSP Media Bar) in their phone, it's quite an indipendent company.

zapaterosantosubito

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Omnidum — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 04:14:30 MST

Why shouldnt they? Sony Ericsson mobiles are pretty good.

Omnidum

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Hammertime — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 04:10:07 MST

@nya-chama: Spain and Latin America love Sony. Believe me they're like sony this sony that, Sony Bravia, Sony Vaio, Sony Playstation, Sony Walkman, Sony Ericcson, They love Sony.

Hammertime

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Hammertime — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 04:01:52 MST

@Aethyr: It's Called Reality. The 360 is an "American Product". that's why Japan and Europe are not buying it.

Hammertime

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Basscadet — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 03:59:31 MST

@zapaterosantosubito:

Totally hit the nail on the head.
I was in a game store last week and overheard some kids talking about consoles. Looking at the 360 one said to the other "and what kind of Playstation is this?..."
The PS brand is so strong here in Europe. Most people dont realise theres an alternative to the PS3. It's the default choice for the gaming majority and now Blu Ray seems certain to win the format war I cant see the 360 standing much of a chance in future.
Also historically Sony have done an excellent job of marketing each console to each specific region, adding to their success. Even M$ admit they havent done a great job in this area previously and intend to follow Sonys lead.
The 360 needs a BIG price drop and serious marketing drive asap. I see this happening around the time GTA's released.

Basscadet

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

zapaterosantosubito — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 03:52:52 MST

@symphony_of_the_night: In any case, any non-consumable product is covered by 2 full years warranty for free, under EU laws. And yes, that covers all Xbox360 failures for 2 years, and 1 full year after recieving a replacement, if you have less than 1 year of warranty remaining.

zapaterosantosubito

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

markusdragon — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 03:33:58 MST

@symphony_of_the_night:
"The Playstation brand always support their products"
Tell that to my PS1 that they refused to touch because it had a third party memory card!

markusdragon

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

xAngelGabrielx — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 03:31:41 MST

In January the 360 was close to getting passed by the PS3 install base in France but they were both at less than 600,000 units. If France is the second biggest market behind the UK then how could these numbers be accurate? I can see how the PS3 may be outselling it but how could they be out selling that much (almost a million) if it is not that big of a market.

xAngelGabrielx

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

e_iceberg — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 03:31:36 MST

The Wii began selling in Europe in December, 2006, so it's very possible it sold 1.2 million units during that Christmas. That's how Nintendo says that there are 6 million Wiis sold in Europe in 2006 & 2007. If it sells 7 million more that's 13 million in around two years. Impressive.

e_iceberg

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Iceman346 — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 03:07:07 MST

One thing which bothers me and which could also affect 360 sales in europe is the relatively poor implementation of live here.
This mostly affects the video marketplace, which only got here a few month ago, but so far is only supplied with old movies which everybody who is interested has already seen years ago. I know that this is mostly a licensing thing, but I get the impression that Microsoft doesn't care quite as much to get it running properly.

Regarding my experience (I live in germany) the amount of people I know who are owning a PS3 and 360 is about the same. On the other hand I only know one person who owns a Wii, but then my friends are mostly the hardcore gamer type.

Iceman346

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Omnidum — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 03:05:29 MST

Im not in the hype! HAH! Actually i only own a ps2 -.-

Omnidum

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Kenofthedead — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 02:58:50 MST

I miss SEGA, they did right by us.

Kenofthedead

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

koji — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 02:58:19 MST

ah and btw, now you 'merkins can see that the xbox360 isn't the number one selling console all over the world, as some of you like to believe

koji

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

koji — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 02:52:56 MST

Europe = PS stronghold, every European knows that, even when sony keeps giving us ze shafte, we still buy their goods

koji

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Demibeard — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 02:44:56 MST

I was going to say, finally a string of messages that hadn't descended into a long list of name calling and back biting, guess I was worng.

Speaking from personal experience and as a 'European' actually I'm British, I know 4 people with a PlayStation 3, one with a Xbox 360, and 2 with a Wii, now iterestingly, the Wiis were bought by women, but one has had it chipped and the other hasn't switched it on in a couple of months.

The 360 owner has a 12 year old son who just plays Halo3 (his words not mine) and the PS3 owners are spread out between a 60 year old and a 10 year old.

I guess all of our 'experinces' are tainted by our social groups.

With reference to the 'Don't most Europeans have Microsoft Windows' statement, whilst I do have a PC, it does have Windows, I have to use Microsoft products at work, I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw Redmond. My PC can and does boot to a Linux GUI, as does my PS3, I actually prefer it, find it more user friendly.

Demibeard

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Avinash_Tyagi — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 02:44:41 MST

Plunkett you need to read more, you're comparing total Wii shipments from Nintendo to 2007 sales for Wii in europe, of course there is a discrepancy, duh, first off Wii went on sale in Europe in 2006, then you have sales in 2008 as well, my god do you have any understanding of sales figures!

Avinash_Tyagi

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Nightshift_Nurse — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 02:37:24 MST

@zapaterosantosubito: 4. Included just for the raving flamers: yes we actually hate americans and their failing products.

Zing!

*rim-shot*

He's here all week folks!

Nightshift_Nurse

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

zapaterosantosubito — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 02:33:59 MST

There are quite some reasons as to why PS3 is doing exceedingly well and Xbox360 way poorly in Europe. Bear in mind that I'm speaking as European (Italy).
1. Believe it or not, gaming is still considered vastly teenager-only stuff. Kids aren't informed. Kids will buy whatever is the big trend, and it's not going to change that rapidly. For them PS2 evolved directly into PS3, there never was another choice. 95% of the market won't even know what the original Xbox was, no jest. Gamecube had its loyal fans and that was about it. Also, in Europe for most people "Playstation" is a colloquial synonimous of "TV gaming console" just as "Gameboy" is synonimous of "handheld console".
2. Living right there in the Americas you could not just realize it but, Xbox360 is an US thingy. Just the way in Japan they consider Wii and PS3 Japanese products. So, there's a natural boost in sales due to hype, word of mouth, marketing and "It's Microsoft" blah blah, that just isn't there in Europe where we've had complete dominance of Sony home consoles for almost 10 years.
3. Price. Every single price you get in the US (or Japan for that matter) must be augmented by 50% to understand European pricing. When you're going to shell out 400-500€ for a console, you tend to value your money more. Wii is still in the "impulse purchase" range. Both PS3 and Xbox360 aren't. And PS3 promises a little more out of the box. The thinking goes like this: "If I'm going to spend a little wealth on a console in any case, I might just as well get the most expensive one which won't need additional cables or add ons for wi-fi, since I don't want to go and spend a little less and get an half-baked product".
4. Included just for the raving flamers: yes we actually hate americans and their failing products.

zapaterosantosubito

2007 European Hardware Sales (As Guessed By EA)

Nightshift_Nurse — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 02:17:42 MST

@maiky-nisute:
True but the PS3 isn't there yet. already i eared some PS3 dieing around me so we will see if the PS3 wont go that same way.

Reports of 360s dropping like flies were rolling in almost from day one. If PlayStation 3's (or Wii's for that matter) were subject to any sort of inherent defect we'd know by now. To imply that any other system is not out of the woods yet after a over a year on the market is idiotic.

sure Europeans are show off's "look i have a 400,- PS3 and you don't so your a N00B" mentality. we have seen it before with the PSP and 360. Kids on school grounds beating each other up just because he or she don't have a PSP. Here in Europe people want a status symbol and an expensive console is one way to do it.

Huh. Your Europe must be different from the one I'm familiar with here on planet Earth...because none of the European adults I've met are that petty and stupid. Kids will be kids the world over, trying to site playground bullying as some sort of hard evidence of how an entire population will act is...well...stupid.

Hey, maiky-nisute! I have some straws! Perhaps you'd like to grasp them?

i think that the 360 still will do better because the "I buy a PS3 just for the blue ray" people are running out

Well, with HD DVD circling the bowl it's pretty unlikely that Blu-Ray customers are going to be dwindling, but think whatever you want if that's what gets you to sleep at night.

Nightshift_Nurse