14 DAY TRIAL // A number of analysts have predicted that in the coming years the PlayStation 3 home gaming console from Sony will likely surpass the rival Xbox 360 from Microsoft when it comes to overall installed base, with exact results depending on price, availability and when the new console generation is introduced.
Jesse Divnich, who is an analyst working for EEDAR, has told IndustryGamers that, for the first half of 2011 and when taking the entire world gaming market into account, the PS3 has managed to sell 10 percent more than the Xbox 360.
When it comes to overall sales over the life of both devices, it seems that at the moment the Microsoft platform has an advantage of about five percent over the PlayStation 3.
But when taking into account the higher replacement rate of the Microsoft device, the worldwide installed bases for the two rival home consoles are pretty similar at the moment.
Analyst David Cole, who is working for DFC Intelligence, sees the situation in similar terms.
Billy Pidgeon, who is working for M2 Research, has said, “Should Microsoft release a successor to Xbox 360 and shift the pipeline for hardcore games over to the new consoles, that would be a possible scenario by which PS3 could bypass Xbox 360′s active installed base.”
He added, “This scenario would give PS3 the opportunity to soak up the hardcore sector.”
The analysts are saying that the strong performance that the Xbox 360 is enjoying in the United States, where it is doing better than both the PS3 and the Nintendo Wii at the moment, is linked to the launch of Kinect.
At the moment neither of the two companies have announced plans to create an entirely new console, but rumors about the hardware possibilities of the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox 720 have been around in rumor form for some time.