PS3 unable to hold its own against Wii, Xbox 360 this holiday season

Considering the way that the Wii flew off shelves last month, this next item probably won't come as a shock to anyone. According to the Wall Street Journal, both Nintendo's console and the Xbox 360 trounced the PS3 in holiday sales, with U.S. sales falling nine percent from this month last year. During this same period, sales doubled for the Wii and rose eight percent for the Xbox 360. Perhaps none of this should be a surprise, as Sony declined to cut prices on their system, while a lack of exclusive game titles and a number of inexpensive Blu-ray players went a long way towards making the PS3 the least attractive option in an already difficult retail climate. If anything, it looks like Sony won't be able to rely on the console to help prop up a flagging electronics division that just announced it will be cutting thousands of jobs in a bid to boost profitability going into 2009. Happy New Year, indeed.

[Platinum_Skeet @ Dec 29th 2008 5:36PM]

When the competitors are half the price what do you expect?

[nerdtalker @ Dec 29th 2008 5:38PM]

When the competition has halfway decent games, what do you expect?

::flame suit on::

This comes from someone who owns all three.

[Daren @ Dec 29th 2008 5:38PM]

especially when the competitor has better games and online service.
Just sayin' all the blame cant be placed on the price...

[Arkenklo @ Dec 29th 2008 5:43PM]

It's like all top'o'theline gear, you pay alot extra to get alittle performance-boost, but just enough to place you above all else. Some buys it, most don't.

[Platinum_Skeet @ Dec 29th 2008 5:51PM]

I have all three too. I just think it's more of the PS3 loosing exclusives that's killing it...


Final Fantasy
Grand Theft Auto
Resident Evil

Add to it titles like Lair and Haze don't meet expectations then you have the reason why it's not doing so hot with moving hardware.... But hey this is just stateside in Europe and Japan the PS3's moving units...

[oGMo @ Dec 29th 2008 6:02PM]

I don't care. Sales figures don't matter to me. Games I want to play do. The PS3 has stuff like LBP and the cross-platform games. If I wasn't entirely anti-MS I might get a 360 for some of the RPGs (though to be honest, the ports of stuff I've played have not impressed) and a few of the smaller things (Braid?).

The Wii has what this year? Mario Galaxy? Oh wait, that was LAST year. Yet it still continues to outsell. With no games that interest me. So sales don't matter to me, as a gamer. Games do. And as the Wii shows, increased sales != increased games.

[walshwarriors @ Dec 29th 2008 6:12PM]

Are u kidding me? no exclusive games, there are tons. more than xbox and in my opinion better exclusives but i wont go into that. Sony cant cut their prices because it STILL costs more to make a ps3 than what they sell it for.

[Shinigami @ Dec 29th 2008 6:18PM]

I have to totally agree with the first post. Wii is the cheapest, Xbox 360 is the last-gen console, offers the same things as PS3 (mostly) but at half price. Which one would you pick?
Statistics say that people pick the console based on its price. I hate to admit it, but PS3 is screwed.

[Aguiluz @ Dec 29th 2008 6:49PM]

I got a PS3 running Folding@Home under my desk right now. Contributing to Team Engadget, of course! ;)

[MadMike @ Dec 29th 2008 6:54PM]

The price is the major factor.

[Taylor. Yes, Taylor. @ Dec 29th 2008 7:15PM]

@ Whoever said wii is cheapest...

Actually Xbox 360 is the cheapest by $50. Most people don't realize that still tho, sadly.
-Taylor

[BigD145 @ Dec 29th 2008 7:34PM]

The low end of the 360 is cheaper than a Wii, but it's also not completely functional. You also need to add on the price of online service if you want a complete package. Games are more expensive on both the 360 and PS3. BluRay movies tend to cost more, as do the TV's that offer the full experience of even having BluRay. There's also the electrical bill that nobody considers with the PS3 generating the highest bills and the Wii generating the lowest.

[supert @ Dec 29th 2008 7:45PM]

I have a WII, PS3 and XBOX. The only game I've played on the PS3 is Resistance. Other than that it just runs Folding@home, but I've even turned that off to save electricity. The PS3 turned me off since you can't control it using a universal remote. Its games seemed to come out later than the XBOX so I'd buy them on the XBOX. The online community on the XBOX is more robust. Regrets, I have a few, the PS3 is one I'll mention.

[Nick @ Dec 29th 2008 8:12PM]

What's with these people saying PS3 exclusives suck? Let's take a look:

-LittleBigPlanet: It isn't childish, it's alot of fun when you get into it - couldn't stop laughing the first time I played.
-Resistance 2: Awesome game, cool weapons, 60 players online (which works like a charm, PSN doesn't suck here at all).
-Motorstorm Pacific Rift: Very nice successor of Motorstorm 1, much better graphics and gameplay.
-MGS4: Unbelieveable graphics, gameplay is again very awesome, the best PS3 game if you're a MGS fan.
-Valkyria Chronicles: Unique, but cool graphics. Very nice RPG to play.

And some upcoming exclusives which look very promising:
-Heavy Rain
-MAG: 256 players online!
-Final Fantasy Versus XIII
-Killzone 2: However alot of people didn't like Killzone 1 (which wasn't very bad at all), alot of in-game footage make this game look awesome.
-Gran Turismo 5
-God of War 3
-inFamous
-Uncharted 2

Just to name a few. So much for not enough games I suppose (and since when does quantity equal better quality..?). And however it's a little more expensive than the Xbox's games, you get a lot more content thanks to Blu-Ray as opposed to DVD (50GB vs 9GB). I think it's worth the extra 10 or so dollars. Especially when you look at the awesome exclusives still coming out, it's safe to say the PS3 is very competitive even though it's twice the price of the Xbox 360 (the cheapest version WHICH DOESN'T COME WITH AN HDD, yeah thanks for this great update which lets you install games.. On your HDD).

[john @ Dec 29th 2008 10:30PM]

@Nick, chill homedog. Nobody is saying ps3 exclusives suck, it just doesn't standout as much as multi-platform games that can easily won over by xbox-live service. People service, what can I say? It's just the invisible hand at work.

[Temple @ Dec 29th 2008 10:04PM]

Personally, the things I like about the PS3 are exactly what make it expensive and keep its sales low: standard-HDD, Nvidia graphics, Cell, and Blu-ray.

I have all three systems, the Wii I barely play, 360 I play a lot, but the PS3 is a great media machine. Its dead-quiet, which the Airbus 360 is not, and it plays Divx, Blu-ray, etc (its also a great upscaled DVD player). There's an elegance to it. I'm finding I'm playing more and more PS3 games when its multiplatform which I previously always relied on my 360 (maybe because my 360 Elite I feel will die on me sooner rather then later). I'm also finding a lot of quality games on their PSN network that gets updated weekly that I'm actually buying. Lots of really unique indie titles like Last Guy and Crash Commando.

[phinn @ Dec 29th 2008 11:15PM]

PS3 definitely has the best games all around (tons of exclusives, the best cross platform, and blu-ray) but its $400 price point is too much. Thats a fact. Even though the Xbox 360 is more expensive for most people with Xbox Live, a WiFi card, rechargable stuff, hard drives for some, etc. People just don't care. $400 as a base price was too much this holiday season.

Oh well. PS3 is an awesome system and it is far from dead. It's sales are higher than Xbox 360 give the amount of time it's been out so it's got a long way to go.

[Flashpoint @ Dec 30th 2008 12:39AM]

Platinum is right.

PS3 is OVERPRICED
Lacking exclusive titles - developers see the 360's XBL is more profitable
Comparatively lame online system compared to XBL


Regardless who disagrees with me...this is the perception on the streets. Lay consumers and kids aren't arguing about which is better, they just percieve PS3 to be the weaker of the 2 systems. And I said "2 systems" because Wii isn't even a real competitor. It sells cause its cheap.
I bet you this year more garbage bags will be sold than PS3's too....

[Nick Catalano @ Dec 30th 2008 1:30AM]

It is all about the price. And Sony cannot lower the price. Let me explain:

People still don't realize that when it comes to pure graphics/computational power the PS3 has the other two beat by a mile (five miles if comparing to the Wii.) The Wii is a Gamecube on steroids with a nifty controller and the 360 is just a sprused-up version of the old G5 Power-based macs with a nice graphics card and the Halo brand. They cannot hold a candle to the architecture that is inside the PS3 in both their cell-based processor and their graphics subsystem. Add on to that the possibilities that come with the extra space on the blu-ray disks and you will find that Sony sorta overshot this generation of systems when it designed the PS3, putting in technology that is so insanely complex that it costs a fortune to actually build their systems (still.)

A cell-based blade for an IBM bladecenter costs approximately $10k, the company behind Yellodog Linux or the PS3 just announced the pricing on their PCI-E-based cell processing module of over $6k ( http://us.fixstars.com/store/index.php?submit=software&submitimg[hardware][fixstars]=1 ), the PS3 starts at $400.

[peecee @ Dec 30th 2008 3:49AM]

I have Wii & PS3. Not keen on the Egg Box. I tried one out again the other day and it may just be a matter of taste but the decision I made in the first place to get the Playstation over the Egg Box was certainly the right one to my mind.

[Patriks7 @ Dec 30th 2008 5:15AM]

Uhm half? According to Amazon, the price difference between a PS3 with 80 GB and a Xbox 360 Pro with 60 GB (best comparison I found) is $100.. So not really half.. And I'd rather pay the $100 for the Bluray and lack of RROD :p

[Mike @ Dec 30th 2008 5:30AM]

The sad thing is, there are morons that believe this cr@p.

The thing with statistics, you can twist them to say what you want. Yes, PS3 got beat on holiday sales in the US. But it still (marginally) outsold the 360 in total sales in 2008 in the US. and outsold the 360 by a large margin in Japan and Europe.

At the end of the day, that means the PS3 -> 360 gap has closed by another 1.5m consoles worldwide. Meaning Microsoft only have a 3m console advantage (and some of those will surely be RROD's that were thrown away because the owners did not know about 3yr warranty extension for RROD).

I wouldn't be suprised to see the actual on the ground active number of PS3 and 360 consoles to be with a million of each other globally.

[Flashpoint @ Dec 30th 2008 9:09AM]

I think the sales comparisons are dumb because most gamers have made a conscious effort to buy all 3 systems - or at least - have 1 of each console per household.

People seem to be purchasing the systems as they become available.

As for all that "cell processor architecture" bullshit... A PS3 and an Xbox360 work just like a regular desktop. Games don't benefit from the CPU as much as they do the GPU because CPU's aren't good at 3d graphics - that's the GPU's job.
360 has the better Graphics processing system while PS3 has a better sound system. tell ya what, compare FALLOUT 3 on PS3 and XBOX and you'll see that PS3's draw distances are much shorter and the PS3's antialiasing isn't up to par.

Now compare the 360/PS3 version to the Wii's.... Oh wait....

[Hugh @ Dec 29th 2008 5:38PM]

that's unfortunate. as a 360 owner i keep finding myself wishing i had gotten a ps3. sony's got to start getting it together or the war may be between two consoles.

[Stormwater BMP @ Dec 29th 2008 6:13PM]

Well, my 2 cents.... Beta:Xbox 360 as VHS:Wii. Maybe the same argument could be made for HD DVD and Blu-Ray.

[Jon Doe. @ Dec 29th 2008 6:31PM]

Well if that was the case then Beta would have won because they are kicking the shit out of VHS. By the time the PS3 gets its shit together MS will have the 720 or whatever the heck they call it out which will take 2 years to start selling because everyone will be scared as hell to purchase a first gen MS console after the initial cluster that is/was the 360.

[Shinigami @ Dec 29th 2008 8:15PM]

War between Wii and Xbox360? Wii wins. Its cheaper.

[Gus @ Dec 29th 2008 10:07PM]

@Shinigami:

No.

[Mike @ Dec 30th 2008 5:35AM]

They got it together a long time back. Unless you hadn't noticed, Microsoft enjoyed 12 months in the US, and 18months everywhere else, where they were selling consoles with no competition.

Where did that lead go? Sony had amost managed to destory it, whilst having to fight with 2 other consoles in the market.

How can anyone think that is poor performance???

The 2008 exclusives were better on PS3.
The Multi-plats looked as good, and sometimes better on PS3.
2009 is almost entirely PS3, as I don't see a single Xbox exclusive worth owning on the radar..

I would be really disappointed to have opened a Xbox360 on Xmas day, knowing my parents just bought me 2007's console of the year....

[Eric @ Dec 29th 2008 5:39PM]

I know I was looking at Blu-ray players, and considered a PlayStation 3... when it came right down to it, though, I didn't buy it. There haven't been many games I've seen for PlayStation 3 (that I want) that I can't get for Wii (Bad Company is the only one that comes to mind).

In the end, I ended up with the Sony BDP-S350.

[Patriks7 @ Dec 29th 2008 8:25PM]

True.. would be hard getting all those versions of Mario on the PS3.. better stick with your Wii..

[eggothewaffle @ Dec 29th 2008 5:41PM]

Wait, wasn't Little Big Planet and Resistance 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4 and all those other awesome exclusives supposed to make the Sony PlayStation 3 GOVERNOR OF THE UNIVERSE this holiday season?

[adrian @ Dec 29th 2008 8:16PM]

It looks bad for the PS3 but we just don't know how long the PS3 production cycle will be.
The cost of the console and software will be the true test of it's sucess if it falls in the future.

[Jay6464 @ Dec 29th 2008 9:03PM]

Completely agree, Not setting out to be a fanboy, but the writer's comment that the PS3 has a lack of exclusives is ridiculously unfounded when you consider that IGN just voted the PS3 as the best console for exclusives this year...

[Poom @ Dec 29th 2008 9:33PM]

I completely disagree with anyone who says the PS3 is failing now due to its lack of exclusive titles. I think the main reason is that tthe 360 has already gained too much momentum in one year before the PS3 was released. It has penetrated the market more, so people would rather stick with it for non-exclusive titles. Companies then jump ship and Sony loses a bunch of exclusives. People who don't have a console yet would buy one that has a larger consumer base.

[iphoney @ Dec 29th 2008 5:41PM]

Dreamcast 2: It's sinking.

[Matt Etchells @ Dec 29th 2008 5:48PM]

you never know, could happen..

if sega was to re-enter the game console business again; they would have my business for sure.

the current generation of systems are lacking in way too many areas; not exactly in the performance department, but where a console is supposed to be... think about it..

[iphoney @ Dec 29th 2008 5:59PM]

I was implying that the ps3 will have the same fate as the Dreamcast (thus calling it Dreamcast 2), but a new console from sega would be ****ing sweet.

[Platinum_Skeet @ Dec 29th 2008 6:14PM]

Sega's been failing miserably on a lot of games since they went software.... Sonic will never be the same video game mascot especially since he's been on every competitors system... Sega's just better off calling it off until the get a A+ sonic title then I can say I'll reconsider it...

[Nytrojen @ Dec 29th 2008 7:20PM]

@ Platinum skeet

Unfortunately, I have to agree. lately SEGA's dropped more balls than a busload of eunuchs. I used to be such a hardcore SEGA fan... still have my Genesis and Japanese Dreamcast tucked away.

Problem is, Sonic's now way too childish, and the kids that SEGA's trying to woo these days really don't care for him, whereas the actual Sonic fans are now in their 20s. Someone needs to tell SEGA that their target demographic has shifted.

A mature Sonic game with darker tones and a muted Tails might actually fare well.

[Ryan @ Dec 29th 2008 5:42PM]

It's simply a price issue. I understand that they don't want to keep losing money, but they need a $300 model. In return, the Wii will probably cut costs, but there is no way a person should pay $250 for a Wii over a $300 PS3. It's worth the $50. Might save that in batteries for the controllers within a year.

[chefgon_ign @ Dec 29th 2008 7:23PM]

Unless they, you know, want a Wii? I have all three systems and my Wii has provided me with a hell of a lot more entertainment than the PS3 has, even when you throw in Blu-ray movies.

[slick @ Dec 30th 2008 12:31AM]

I think its a little more than price. The Wii is still doing well from being the new kid on the block type deal. I mean when you can put a video game console in a retirement home and only have to explain to the elderly how to use it once, you have something.

Next, the 360 offers, IMO, the best online play. Period. People aren't buying 360's to play games all by them selves anymore, or with a friend next to them (the Wii has that market). They are buying these to play online. And as broadband becomes more and more wide spread, this trend will go up.

PS3 needs something up their sleeve.

[Rsxhawk @ Jan 1st 2009 2:05AM]

It would be nice if there was a 300 dollar PS3 unit available. But IF people are merely buying Wii's because they're cheaper @ $250 compared to PS3's $400 price tag, perhaps you shouldn't be spending money on a game console to begin with. If 250 bucks is your limit, maybe gaming isn't what you should be concentrating on. On the other side, if you CAN afford 250 bucks, why can't you afford 400? You're gonna end up spending 150 bucks more eventually anyway when you realize you actually want to play games on the Wii so why not just spend the extra 150 and get a blu ray player, built in HDD, wi-fi, and hi-def video/audio output (just to name a few)?

I guess, to me, if I'm going to spend hundreds of dollars on a game console i'm going to play for the next 10 years, I might as well get the one that packs the most punch for my dollar. Thus far, that has been my PS3.

[decapitor @ Dec 29th 2008 5:44PM]

I'll probably buy one when FF13 comes out and/or it drops to 300 bucks. The only games I kinda want to play is Metal Gear 4 and Little Big Planet. Needs more killer games and price drop. The numbers speak for themselves.

[theletterj @ Dec 29th 2008 5:52PM]

If you already own a 360, you won't need to get a PS3 for FF13 as it's coming to XBox. MGS4 is almost worth it though. Almost.

http://www.edge-online.com/news/final-fantasy-xiii-goes-360

[shaka999 @ Dec 29th 2008 5:45PM]

This is disappointing. I got a PS3 as a blu-ray player but hoped for better games. Things just seem to be getting worse. The online experience is way below the Xbox, the games are more expensive, and its falling behind a a media player. The whole Netflix thing really pissed me off. Why doesn't Sony just shoot themselves in the head and get it over with.

The only way they could salvage things at this point it to really open up to new applications. Get full Hulu support. Go back and get Netflix running. The hardware has so much to offer but Sony is acting way too much like...Sony.

[KarlW @ Dec 29th 2008 6:30PM]

Sony has been adding in features. Things have been much better in 08 than they were in 07.

The biggest complaint with the PS3 was a lack of games. Sony responded with Resistance 2, MotoStorm: Pacific Rift, LittleBigPlanet and Metal Gear Solid 4. Those are all top quality games, and they're all exclusive to the PS3. On the non-exclusive front, the PS3 also got Fallout 3, Grand Theft Auto 4, Call of Duty, and loads more top quality games. In 2009, we should see Killzone 2 heading up another very good list of games.

The next biggest complaint with Sony was the online services. I've never used a 360, but I feel entirely satisfied with the PS3's online gaming experience. There's no gaping hole as far as I'm concerned, other than the disparity between EU and US stores. Sony tried to add to their offering with a video store and Home. The jury's still out on Home, but from my experiences with it, it'll be a fun addition once more content gets added.

Whilst all of that's been going on, Sony's added in-game music and XMB access and trophies (which according to reports are going to be mandatory next year). They've also added Flash 9 support to the browser, revamped Folding@Home, held numerous beta code scrambles, and cleaned up the XMB's account management features. The PSP has gained access to the PS Store from the device, and from next year all first-party releases will be available to buy online as a download.

Sony's made massive improvements to their gaming line-up. They've done well to address the biggest two parts of the PS3 that fell short. The one issue where they should have done more is the issue of price. The PS3 has dropped quite a lot over the year, but it still can't compete with cheaper consoles in an environment where people are in high debt and have little or no disposable income. The comfort Sony should take from this is that people likely aren't rejecting the PS3 because it has little to offer. Traditionally, Sony would continue to add new features and leave the price alone to try and make the purchase worth it. I don't think that will help them this time. People aren't buying not because they don't think it's worth it, but because they just don't have that much money, however much they would like to own one.

[Dusty Nipples @ Dec 29th 2008 7:23PM]

@ KarlW,

You say you have never used a 360, if you had, you would realize how extremely lacking the PS3 is in the software department. The 360 is incredibly smooth in its integration and how things work. The PS3 seems incredibly awkward in comparison.

The online experience, the music and video integration, friends, achievements etc, are all done so much better on the 360.

The games are getting close, and the PS3 wins on hardware, but it is not enough considering its poor software and higher price.

Between the two consoles it is so obvious which one is built by a software company and which one by a hardware company. Too bad the two couldn't join forces, they could team up and build the perfect console.

[collegekid13 @ Dec 29th 2008 7:40PM]

i've own and have used both and the only thing i like about the 360 is it's exclusive titles. my ps3 is older (first gen 80g) and it's quiter and has a bettter menu (IMO). The 360 which is a holiday pro is loud (damn dvd drive) and the menu is more confusing then learning linux.