Microsoft’s 7 Year Console Cycle Vs. Sony’s 6 Year Console Cycle
The seventh generation of consoles have been some of the most unique and most sold consoles in history. The seventh generation consoles have brought us great new video games with amazing new characters. We take a statistical look at Microsoft’s 7 year cycle compared to Sony’s 6 year cycle.
As the title implies it cannot be ignored that the Playstation 3 got a later release than the Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 released on November 22, 2005 and the Playstation 3 released on November 11, 2006 in the United Stated. This means the Xbox 360 got just about a full year head start on the Playstation 3.
Sony E3 Conference
Since the timeframes of the console releases are different this will be factored into account. Console figures up to September 30, 2012 were released by both Microsoft and Sony for Q1 2013. Microsoft stated that they had sold 70 million units. Sony has stated that they sold 70.2 million units. No math needs to be done here. The Playstation 3 has finally managed to catch up and surpass the Xbox 360 in sales.
Even though the Playstation 3 has sold more units than the Xbox 360 in a shorter timeframe it does not necessarily mean it has had a more successful console cycle. In the beginning it was pretty rough for Sony. In the first year of the PS3′s cycle it sold 5.5 million units. Compared to Xbox 360′s first year sales of 7.6 million units.
That’s just the amount of sales during each consoles first year. At the time of the PS3′s first year sales of 5.5 million the Xbox 360 had sold 10.9 million units. Even though the Xbox 360 got a year head start that meant that the Xbox 360 would go on to have more momentum and units than the Playstation 3 through most of their life cycles.
On a very general basis the PS3 and the Xbox 360 can play the same types of games with relatively the same graphics. This means that a very important factor is the types of exclusive games that were offered on each system. We buy game consoles to play games after all, and appealing exclusive games such as Halo or God of War can be a determining factor in what console we buy.
On another note both systems have had their fair share of system failures. The Xbox 360 with the red ring of death, and less frequently the Playstation 3 overheating and even catching on fire in some cases. This could also be another cause of the sales change.
Red Ring of Death
Since these consoles are still in their life cycle, final conclusions cannot be made as there is still time for things to change. As it stands at the end of 2012 the PS3 has sold more units than the Xbox 360.
Even with Sony catching up to Microsoft, it still took six years to do so. The Playstation 3 was still outsold for most of the Xbox 360′s and the Playstation 3′s life cycles. New consoles seem to be on the horizon for both companies, I think Microsoft and Sony should be focusing on the future of games.
