14 DAY TRIAL // It seems that a fight is brewing between video game hardware manufacturers Microsoft and Sony when it comes to their results on the Australian market, with both companies claiming that they have performed better during 2011 in the territory.
Microsoft has just announced that the Xbox 360 is the only console that has managed to post an increase in sales during last year, with a 5 percent increase in the value of the hardware, software and accessories sold during the tracked period.
David McLean, the consumer channels group director working at Microsoft, has stated, “It’s clear to see that the momentum in this industry is with Microsoft and the Xbox platform. We won at the telling Christmas period, we are standalone in our growth this year and looking at the past five years our consistency is unprecedented.”
Sony previously stated that it had managed to capture 25% of the overall number of consoles sold in Australia with its PlayStation brand and also got 31 percent of the overall value of Australian retail.
Sony also highlighted the fact that the PlayStation 3 version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, the biggest entertainment launch of 2011, had managed to sell better than the versions for the Xbox 360 and the PC.
Microsoft said that the Xbox 360 console had managed its best month ever in Australia during December of 2011 and that subscriptions for the premium Xbox Live service had gone up by about 40 percent.
Both Sony and Microsoft are trying to keep their consoles in the limelight during the early months of the year as analysts are expecting both companies to make announcements linked to their upcoming console generations.
Both the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 are supposed to have 10-year commercial plans, and Microsoft and Sony are aware that any announcement will lead to a drop in sales as a number of players wait for the new hardware rather than pay for devices which will quickly prove obsolete.