PS3 has outsold Xbox 360 in Europe since October

2008 was predicted to be a big year for the PS3, and it looks like things are going according to plan: Sony announced today that European PS3 sales had topped the five million mark, and that the PS3 has been outselling the Xbox 360 sur le continent since October. Combined with the PS3's strong US showings lately, and that's a pretty solid run -- and we'd assume things are only get to get better once MGS4 hits in June. Hmm, looks like a few of you decided to take the plunge after all.

[Thanks, Nimro]

[Ike Turner @ May 7th 2008 8:16AM]

DuckTales

[Revels @ May 7th 2008 9:11AM]

Mo Money Mo Problems

[shanoboy @ May 7th 2008 8:20AM]

Next time they drop the price I'll get one just for the bluray player and it's PC to PS3 streaming capabilities.

[clak @ May 7th 2008 12:06PM]

Does anyone realize that if Apple had 20% of the computer market, that they would be bigger than Microsoft? Their market cap is 164 billion right now, with only 6% of the computer market. Microsoft market cap is 278 billion.

I don't really care that much about the whole console war (I'm a Mac Pro/Boot Camp/Crossover Games gamer), but the fact remains that Microsoft has lost 6 billion on the Xbox so far. When people talk about Microsoft making a profit on the Xbox, they're speaking in terms of one fiscal quarter, which is three months.

So Microsoft really has to make a profit in excess of 6 billion before they really turn a profit on the thing. I must admit, the Xbox has a great selection of games and a good online presence, but what really kills the attraction for me is their problems with the RROD and the fact that you can get ports of most of their exclusive games on PC.

So those are the facts of the situation and it doesn't look like it's going to get better for Microsoft from here on out. It also doesn't help that the PS3 has Blu-Ray and Metal Gear Solid 4.

Pimps forever!

[Mark @ May 7th 2008 10:09PM]

This has nothing to do with Apple. Go fanboy somewhere else. Please and thank you.

[xValentine @ May 7th 2008 8:21AM]

Ofcourse PS3 outsold the 360 in that Month/Year.

Most people have already has a 360, that's why. :)

But still, (PS2, PS3) > (Xbox, 360) in Europe.

Grats to Sony nonetheless.

[xValentine @ May 7th 2008 8:23AM]

sorry for the grammar. lol

[Esat Dedezade @ May 7th 2008 8:35AM]

You beat me to it.

The xbox 360 had a year head start. Hence the market would be more saturated with people who wanted one already owning one. Therefore sales would expect to slow down.

[sinjinn @ May 7th 2008 8:51AM]

no, not really. the market ffor a next gen console is nowhere near saturated and the xbox has had big price cuts , but its still being outsold.

dont get me wrong , im going to rebuy a 360 becos the ps3 online sucks balls, but the ps3 is ascending.

[Silverfrog @ May 7th 2008 9:05AM]

re: valentine

[Silverfrog @ May 7th 2008 9:14AM]

re: valentine

I agree that the market is no where near saturated. When the PS3 and 360 reach PS2 numbers, then you may have an arguement but right now, it's nowhere close. Please note that PS2 sold 127 Million units as of Nov. 2007.

When you can say that 98% of households have either a 360 or a PS3 (like DVD players), then you can say it's saturated.

[Paris @ May 7th 2008 12:02PM]

Your comment makes no sense at all.
If you follow through the link and read the actual article you'll realise that what they've said is:

"We have sold more PlayStation 3s throughout Europe than Xbox 360 even though they launched 16 months before us."

They didn't just outsell the 360 for a month/year. They've outsold he total number of 360s.

[gutterglory @ May 7th 2008 8:22AM]

Considering the Xbox 360 was out a year before the PS3 i sure hope they would start to over take Xbox. Doesnt mean they are any better thought. Also... XBOX's streaming capibility is way better than PS3.

[Rowdehaj @ May 7th 2008 8:59AM]

I have absolutely no trouble with the PS3's streaming capabilities, it's fast, stylish (interface-wise) and easy - What's better about the Xbox one? If you're talking Media Centre Extender, you have to boot into a completely different UI for that, don't you?

Mind you, I don't have an Xbox 360, so these are just assumptions.

[alexhrose71 @ May 7th 2008 9:04AM]

No you don't need to boot into the media center extender dash anymore, not unless you want to access the additional features (ondemand movies via other providers, internet radio, slideshow with music etc. etc.). In the main 360 dash you can view mpgs, avi's, wmvs, images, play music.

The dash was updated in this manner about two years back. When the 360 originally launched its true, the media integration wasn't complete (video was in mce only). That was partly due to the state of development of MCE and changes made to support Vista since (which are now compat with WMP on XP too).

[BuddyBoy @ May 7th 2008 10:09AM]

I have to agree the Xbox streaming is better then the PS3, but only in it format support, it plays more of my files, in-fact I haven't had a file it won't play.

I still prefer the interface for the PS3 plus as a media centre it's much quiter. I hope sony sort out the Divx and mp4 problem i have soon.

[DanishTech @ May 7th 2008 8:26AM]

Not true.. those numbers are based upon consoles send to vendors.. not units sold.. sony is still behind around 250.000 units.

[maty @ May 7th 2008 8:44AM]

Oooh, interesting point! Got a link for that? Would like to read it =].

[Vanillacide @ May 7th 2008 9:14AM]

@maty

You can see the results of consolidated European retail sales in this handy chart:
http://vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=Wii®1=Europe&cons2=PS3®2=Europe&cons3=X360®3=Europe&start=39208&end=39572&weekly=1

Interestingly the UK is more like the US than the European mainland, in that 360 continues to outsell PS3:
http://vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=Wii®1=UK&cons2=PS3®2=UK&cons3=X360®3=UK&start=39208&end=39572&weekly=1

Moreover, in the USA the Wii hasn't yet overtaken the 360:
http://vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=Wii®1=America&cons2=PS3®2=America&cons3=X360®3=America&start=39208&end=39572&weekly=1

[JakeB @ May 7th 2008 11:02AM]

Only reason why Wii hasnt taken over the 360 in the US is probably due to the lack of the consoles in the stores. PS3 will catch up and in my opinion will level with the 360 and only exceed when news of the next-gen XBOX comes out. But thats only in the US, worldwide I can probably safely bet the PS3 will outsell the XBOX.

If Sony got togeher and made the online play better a lot more would be sold. Hell, I still want to see a channel for all game consoles. I think online play would be a lot more competitive that way.

[teej @ May 7th 2008 11:45AM]

@JakeB,

There's not really a lack of consoles anymore. My buddy is a Gamestop store manager, and up until about 1-2 months ago, everyone was calling him daily looking for consoles. Now, they finally have stock...and they're not moving; same goes for other Gamestops in the D.C./Northern VA area.

[JakeB @ May 7th 2008 5:30PM]

That could be because online people like Amazon has them in stock a week or so earlier. I can still walk in to any Gamestop store in CA and there are still shortages on the Wii. Especially in Target where I live. Friend says they still have a waiting list on the Wii.

[Michael @ May 7th 2008 8:33AM]

Waiting for die shrink which will hopefully result in a smaller version of PS3. Once that happens - I'm in. X-mas 2008? I hope so.

Michael

[iPriest @ May 7th 2008 4:03PM]

It might be worth the wait. Because it's the only problem I have with my PS3. It's humongous size, actually i don't like the way it looks at all at the moment.

[Scribbins @ May 7th 2008 8:34AM]

A portion of this surge in sales can be attributed simply to the declaration of blu-ray as the HD format winner. I, along with two other friends, have PS3s that have never played a game... and are used solely as glorified DVD/Blu-Ray players.

360 for games (Wii as well)
PS3 for movies

[The 3rd Hot Dog @ May 7th 2008 8:47AM]

Despite the prevailing attitude, they *do* make games for that curvaceous BD player sitting by your TV.

Some are even exclusive!

[Andir3.0 @ May 7th 2008 8:57AM]

Ooh, I can play that game too...

I along with my two brothers that have PS3s and my parents (that I bought them) only use them for games. Mind you, my parents mainly play the PSN games like Pixeljunk Monsters, Flow and my Dad loves Pain. Though, I think my parents might have a Blu-Ray movie or two now. I haven't been home since Christmas.

So there, that's one more than you! Isn't it fun spouting circumstantial evidence?

[Scribbins @ May 7th 2008 9:19AM]

Andir3.0

Assuming that you use the PS3 for games, you would be connected to the Playstation Network for console and games updates. Not completely accurate as I'm connect to the PSN, but as previously stated don't used the PS3 for games.

As of January 2008 there were only 2.5 million people connected to the Playstation Network, in the same time period Sony had sold 3.25 million PS3 units. That leaves 750,000 people who had one and weren't on the network (aka DVD players given the criteria above). US Numbers.

PSN Subscribership:
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=17412

Sony Sales:
http://kotaku.com/346301/whos-winning-the-console-war-in-the-us

[Andir3.0 @ May 7th 2008 9:49AM]

You don't NEED PSN to play games. Any game that requires an updated firmware includes it on the disc.

Using PSN numbers to determine gaming usage is flawed.

[rip @ May 7th 2008 1:49PM]

@ Sribbins:

I waited about 4 months after getting my PS3 to sign up for PSN. Why? Because it was largely unnecessary to me at the time. Oblivion GoY, Ratchet and Clank, Assassin's Creed, and Uncharted were all taking up plenty of my time. Not to mention several Blu-Ray movies.

After working my way through most of those, THEN I signed up (post Jan 2008) and promptly downloaded PixelJunk Monsters and Super StardustHD.

Oh, and you don't need a PSN account to download PS3 OS software updates.

[Raheem @ May 7th 2008 8:50AM]

This just in: Sony press release announces Sony are the best company in the whole of Sony*!

*Sony have taken the liberty of renaming the Earth, "Sony," because Sony are so great.

[maty @ May 7th 2008 8:53AM]

My Xbox already streams media from my PC - music, videos, pictures (not that I need to, as my Xbox and PC are hooked up to the same screen, hah).

I'll be buying one (maybe) for MGS4/GT5 and Blu-Ray. Just not sure the price justifies the product still/I'm a poor student.

As for the sales? Of course they're going to outsell the 360 - its been out longer and total cumulative sales beat the PS3 (19m 360 to 13m PS3).
Besides, I'm always weary of BBC online articles. By law, on the TV, they have be unbiased and independant - that does not apply to their internet service. And the article completely leaves out the 360 side of the story here.

[Marty @ May 7th 2008 8:54AM]

"If you're talking Media Centre Extender, you have to boot into a completely different UI for that, don't you"

You mean the Media Center application on the 360 dashboard?... yeah, and? What's your point?

If all you want to do is watch MPG, WMV, DivX, view photos or stream music... then NO, you don't have to start the MC application. It all streams directly to the 360.

Media Center I only use for DVR'd television that was recorded using MC. And even then, I could just move the files to a shared folder and stream them without MC.

All of it is very simple and very uncomplicated, so it's not like I'm doing anything that the average Joe couldn't figure out.

[Frank Furter @ May 7th 2008 8:54AM]

Poor 'ol Microsoft, looks like the shine is just wearing off. First they start losing market share while Apple gains, then the whole Vista debacle, now this. Hang in there, it'll only get worse.

iPhone.

[Pochi @ May 7th 2008 9:35AM]

Poor bastards only control 90% of the world's PCs.

They're practically nonexistent...

[Steffen Jobbs @ May 7th 2008 10:45AM]

Shine? What shine? When did MS ever have a shine?

Apple has the shine. In fact, it's dazzling. 3G iPhone FTW.

[JC @ May 7th 2008 11:22AM]

Steffen Jobs:

What a tool you are. I barely could understand what you were saying, what with you mumbling with Steve Job's job in your mouth and all.

[alexhrose71 @ May 7th 2008 1:50PM]

Isn't it odd how the Apple fanboys are all over "evil MS" yet fail to notice that their darling co. has locked out third parties entirely, making proprietary hardware that runs a proprietary OS, with the kitchen sink installed as default...extending to a proprietary music device, proprietary music store, proprietary video server..... all using proprietary DRM..... oh and a proprietary phone OS running on a single network with exorbitant fees.

Ah yes, good old Apple :|

[Marty @ May 7th 2008 8:59AM]

Wait... wait... BREAKING NEWS!

Microsoft Vista has outsold Windows 3.1 in the last 6 months!

Wait... even more news...

The Hyundai Sonata has outsold the Geo Storm, 10 straight years in a row!

Hold onto your hats for this one...
LCD HDtv's have outsold Analog television in the last year in both Europe and Africa! Maybe even the U.S.!

Bleh. I know Sony is on an upswing and more power to them, but the hyperbole is just plain dumb.

[brc @ May 7th 2008 9:00AM]

how to change the subject totally - whats next someone comparing sales of GTA IV on the 360 to that of PS3? with a 10% difference, I recon MS is happy. If only they would start selling the Zune outside of the States...

[Pete @ May 7th 2008 1:36PM]

I bet they wish they sold in the US too!

[The New Guy @ May 7th 2008 9:00AM]

Wait till the hackers manage to put out a decent mod for the PS3. That's when the PS3 sales will skyrocket!

You know it's true.....how many of you have PS2s with mod chips?!?!
I keep checking Pacific Mall to find out if someone has started offering a mod yet or not.

[Marty @ May 7th 2008 9:02AM]

lol. I just realized... from my previous post, one could perceive that I'm comparing the 360 to analog TV, a Geo Storm and Windows 3.1.

that was not my intent. I am a 360 fanboy, and it's far from being the Geo Storm of the gaming world. My bad!

[Andir3.0 @ May 7th 2008 9:08AM]

Yeah, from what I hear, the Geo runs for longer than a few weeks before having to be repaired.

[rjsUK @ May 7th 2008 9:13AM]

You do tend to wonder if this is all about Blu-ray and less to do with gaming.

I own both (all three if you include the Wii) and I'd give up my PS3 in a heartbeat before I gave up the other two. As a few have said already, my PS3 is just a glorified Blu-ray player.

[NineT9 @ May 7th 2008 9:14AM]

idiots... How come whenever there is good news, where people should be congradulating a product, all people do is think of all the negative things to say... no matter what the product is

congrats sony, well done.

[Silverfrog @ May 7th 2008 9:20AM]

Haven't played a single PS3 game? It can't be because there aren't any good games, because as a PS3 owner, if you said that to me, I'd tell you you're full of crap. Uncharted and Warhawk are two great games exclusive to PS3. There are many many others, but those are my two favorites. Anyways, the arguement about lack of games may have been accurate in 2006, but right now, it doesn't hold water. If you don't enjoy your PS3, give it to someone who will.

[gooftroop @ May 7th 2008 9:23AM]

I am missing something here?

"We have sold more PlayStation 3s throughout Europe than Xbox 360 even though they launched 16 months before us."

This is for total sales since each consoles launch. He is refering to the fact that the PS3 has sold over 5 million units in the EU wheres the 360 is yet to break 5 million.

So going on about "oh of course it has, the 360 has been out years before so everyone has it and thats the reason sales have slowed" is irrelevant unless you were specifically refering to David Reeves' comment about them selling more on a month to month basis since October.

The only region where the 360 does best is the USA with regards to total sales and sales per month.

[dherasa @ May 7th 2008 9:35AM]

I cant believe many of you are so close minded. How can you say that the maket is saturated with xbox 360 and that this is why ps3 is selling more? That is not a good observation. The ps2 outsold the 360 in many occasions, so your "the market is saturated" theory is false.

PS3 outsold 360 in numbers. Sony has sold more ps3 than MS Xbox 360. Is not only in a month by month basis. Many of you who say "I use my ps3 for blu ray" may be lying. Werent you the same ones that said "Digital Download is the way to go"?

You just dont want to admit, PS3 is getting away of 360. Did you know that GTA IV has a better attachment radio in PS3?

[nathrat @ May 8th 2008 10:12AM]

The PS3 has a better attachment ratio because there are a lot less games on the PS3 to compete with. The have Warhawk, that's about it, so people have been starving for another big game. I did read GTA IV had freezing issues on PS3 though.

I pretty much play Hot Shots and watch Blu-Ray on PS3.