Advertisement

Report: Euro Xbox 360 sales hitting a wall, PS3 price drop 'inevitable'

A recent report from research company Screen Digest asserts that the Xbox 360's European sales have "hit a wall" and are being constricted by a target market that is "too focused on adult males." The report, as detailed by GamesIndustry.Biz, suggests that sales will continue to suffer as Microsoft struggles to "break out of a small number of genres" in an attempt to capture the attention of a wider audience (perhaps one swayed by the likes of Beautiful Katamari?). Still, the Xbox Live service is labeled as a "beacon of hope," and many of the most anticipated titles in the year's fourth quarter are attached to the Xbox 360.

On the topic of the PlayStation 3, Screen Digest reportedly criticizes Sony for relying too much on the PlayStation brand and being unclear about the features offered by the system. The report predicts an "inevitable" price refinement drop before the end of the year, one "in line with previous PlayStation first time price reduction timings," going on to suggest that Sony dropping the price in tandem with the launch of Home would be quite the "bombshell."

As for the Wii, Screen Digest believes that Nintendo's wildly successful console is splitting business models within the industry, resulting in some publishers quickly releasing mediocre titles and riding Nintendo's coat tails all the way to the bank. Other publishers, however, are realizing that the "lower development costs and fastest growing installed base confers significant economic advantages in publishing games for Wii relative to competitive consoles." Provided the games don't involve the hunting of men, that is.

[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]