PS3 outsold Xbox 360 in 2007

[Tyler Durden]

Interesting read: http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.p...crewed-up.html

Anyone that knows me or has read my articles in the past knows I’ve never been one to back down from a conspiracy theory or even a strong hunch. I’m getting that feeling again and it’s related to how both Microsoft and the gaming press in general are reporting on Microsoft’s Xbox 360 sales. Something is starting to smell funny, and it’s wafting this way from Redmond.


Find out what I mean, after the jump.



Anyone can cook up a good conspiracy theory, or rumor. Hell, I’ve written how you can do it in past articles. What’s better than making up rumors? Dealing with facts. What are the best kind of facts? Facts straight from the horse’s mouth. Numbers are great too, because there’s so little room for interpretation. They are what they are.


Let’s talk about numbers, shall we? Not just any numbers mind you, but sales numbers. Sales numbers that show Microsoft sold 7.73m Xbox 360’s in calendar 2007. While Sony sold 8.83m PS3s during that same period. The sources of these numbers are Microsoft and Sony and so far out on “teh interwebs,” nobody’s denying any of these sales numbers… but for the sake of this article, I’ll spell them out and cite sources.


If you were to go back to January ‘07 and check out this video (at the 6:30 mark) you would see Microsoft’s Robbie Bach announce they sold 10.4 million Xbox 360’s as of December 31, 2006. If you read this UK GameSpot article, you’ll see that they claim to have sold 17.7M Xbox 360s through December 31, 2007. Major Nelson confirmed these numbers. A simple subtraction of 10.4 million from 17.7 million tells us that 7.3 million Xbox 360’s were sold in calendar 2007. Can anyone really dispute that? I don’t see how.


So, we know Microsoft (according to their own numbers) sold 7.3 million Xbox 360’s in calendar 2007, but if you look here you will see that Sony reported that they sold 8.83 million PS3’s in that same time-frame (a reminder that Q4 ‘06-Q3 ‘07 is actually the calendar year of 2007… or January 1, 2007 - December 31, 2007).


I make it no secret that I’m a big fan of the PS3, but I’m left scratching my head at this point. Microsoft sold fewer Xbox 360’s than PS3’s in 2007? They sold fewer Xbox 360’s in 2007 than 2006?! How can that be? Everything I read in the gaming press said how horribly the PS3 sold and how well the Xbox 360 sold… how can these numbers stand in the face of what we’re being told?


Was it because the 360 did not do so well at all in Japan? Was it because the PS3 outsold the 360 in parts of Europe and is trending toward outselling the 360 for the entire region for 2008? Was it because of that pesky Red Ring of Death issue they had to deal with… I wonder how significant that really was to their sales? They acted like it was “no big thang,” but if these numbers are accurate, then it may have been “THE big thang!”

I have to admit, with the numbers presented as they are, it makes a very compelling case for the PS3 outselling the Xbox 360 in 2007. I really can’t see how I’m misinterpreting them, but it’s always possible. As much as I hate to admit it, I just have trouble believing more PS3’s were sold in 2007 than Xbox 360’s. Something in my gut tells me it didn’t happen, despite all the evidence to the contrary. The more I think about it, I think my uneasiness is due to nobody else talking about it.
I want to know why nobody else is talking about it?
Most industry analysts estimate the RRoD issue has caused a nearly 33% failure rate (at its peak, assuming we’ve seen that)… Could it be that sales were affected by this negative press to a much higher degree than the gaming press would have us believe? That begs the question of what would the mainstream gaming media gain by not reporting the news that the Xbox 360 was outsold in 2007?

One might suggest Microsoft’s “bleed money until there’s no money left…. Ha ha ha, we’re Microsoft! There’s always money left!” outlook to the gaming industry. Microsoft spends a lot of money in the industry. Is there a reason Microsoft’s reporting their sales as cumulative?

Did they not want to point out they sold more 360s in 2006 than 2007?


I leave it to you, the reader, to speak up about how you take this information. Do you think the Xbox 360 was outsold (worldwide) in 2007 by the PS3? If the PS3 is already outselling the 360 during its first full year on the market, what does that mean for the 360 in the near and not so near future? EA has already gone on the record stating they thing the 360 will finish third behind the Wii and PS3 respectively in 2008. For those keeping score, that’s this year!


If the “Media” won’t talk about it, we will.

Sony still down by about 7 million units though, which won't be easy to make up.