Analyst Says Both Sony and Microsoft Executives Are Right in the Console War

The console war is a series of very tough battles in which the top three manufacturers, Nintendo Microsoft and Sony, are fighting over each customer and try to come up with new and innovative ways in which they can attract them to buy their own consoles.

In the last few months it seems that the arguments between the three companies have died down and that they would let the sales numbers do the talking, but it looks like Kaz Hirai, the CEO of Sony, and Aaron Greenberg, the group product manager for the Xbox 360 at Microsoft, have decided to revive their bitter battle and released some statements aimed at their opponents.

While Hirai says that the Xbox 360 lacks longevity and that his company is the true game industry leader, thanks to the PlayStation 3, Greenberg points out that, although the Japanese company can consider itself a market leader, the sales numbers show that Sony won't be able to catch up with the Xbox 360 until 2014, and that Microsoft's console will continue to sell for quite some time.

Now, as the battle seems to end, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter declared that, in a way, both companies are right and that if sales are going as they have in recent years, Sony and Microsoft might be in a dead heat in 2011 in terms of sales across the world.

“Aaron Greenberg is right that Sony likely won't catch Microsoft in the U.S. until at least 2014. Kaz is right that Sony will likely catch Microsoft globally. If the Xbox 360 outsells the PS3 by 1 million units per year for 2009, 2010 and 2011, [and Sony sells more in Japan and Europe] the two consoles will be in a dead heat by the end of 2011,” says Pachter. He then also tackles the subject of the Wii, and how Nintendo didn't get involved in the console war, despite selling the most. “Funny that nobody is talking about catching the Wii.”

It seems that, although seeing these company executives throw accusations at each other is pretty entertaining, only time will tell if, when and what the outcome of the console war will be. That is, the battle for second place, as Nintendo is in a position where it can't be matched by its rivals.