Ben-DutkaBear with my train of logic for a moment, bearing in mind that I'm a big fan of several Xbox 360 exclusives.
First, the facts- The Xbox 360 routinely outsells the PlayStation 3 in North America, although in terms of worldwide sales, it now appears as if the two consoles are just about even. Call of Duty certainly sells best in the US, the one country where the 360 actually does top the PS3 on a consistent basis. And according to recent numbers, approximately 70% of CoD players use the 360 for playing any new entry. Typically, the split is 70/30 between the PS3 and 360 versions of any new CoD and sometimes it's an even bigger discrepancy.
Now, the PS3 is well known for its exclusives (no, we don't need to run down the list). The 360…well, we've got Gears , Forza , Halo , and Alan Wake , with a few other minor ones (like one of my favorites, Lost Odyssey ) adding to the console's appeal. But Gears and Forza combined could never hope to reach Call of Duty sales numbers, and the Halo fans have to face up to facts…this is a CoD world these days, although Halo 4 is slated for the fall. The bottom line is that the 360 exclusives, regardless of what anyone says, don't have anywhere near the appeal Call of Duty has on a country-wide basis. I mean, it's not really even close.
Then you start counting up the sales of the 360 versions of the last four CoD entries…the numbers are astronomical. Of course, the PS3 benefits to some extent as well, but it's hardly the same thing. Furthermore, as CoD is basically a community event (multiplayer is the major draw), newcomers are probably enticed to purchase a 360 because the majority of their friends likely play CoD on Microsoft's system. So it's very likely that a great many people out there did in fact purchase a 360 only for CoD in the past few years, and given the sheer size of the numbers associated with that franchise, and Microsoft's general success in this country…
Now, if you just took away CoD and didn't factor in the profound impact that franchise has had, would it really significantly affect 360 console sales? I honestly think it would.
COD is definitely a factor in driving 360 sales. It helped get the 360 sales ball rolling along with Gears, and Halo. I also think the social dynamic of LIVE is driving sales especially with the younger crowd. Ask these younger people why they bought a 360 and the main answer they will give is because all their friends have one. They get on LIVE just to be with their friends and socialize. Peer pressure and all the other complex social dynamics are at play pulling in players. Some of these younger gamers get on LIVE to socialize almost as much as they do to game. Removing COD from the equation might not impact that demographic all that much at the end of the day. They would just "bunny hop" over to Halo.
I would point out that the COD games are available on the PS3 but Microsoft has smartly put a ton of advertising behind the series and picked up the timed exclusive map packs. I remember a lot of those ads stating the 360 was the best place to experience COD. Gamers associate the 360 with the COD series more than they do the PS3. I'm sure that helps but that one single series does not explain away the amount of sales and marketshare Sony has lost this gen by itself.
The NA market sales inbalance is a big reason the 360 is ahead. I also think that sales inbalance has definitely contributed to 360 centric feel of this gen. Publishers covet the NA market a lot. COD is definitely a player in that larger equation but I think there is more going on in that particular market.
I think the fact that Xbox has always been cheaper than PS3 has also helped them. When the casual gamer (or soccer mom) is told my a Gamestop employee that both consoles are "practically the same" of course they will opt for the cheaper one. People do whatever it is their friends do, and MS was able to create a powerful brand with Xbox.
Call of Duty probably helps in that whenever you see a CoD commerical its always for Xbox 360 though.
How has the 360 always been cheaper? Do we really still have this myth top talk about? Really? I thought by now reality had obliterated that particular nonsense.
360. Buy an arcade system, add an HDD, wireless adapter and XBL subscription. Total cost = more than a PS3. That doesn't even include the cost of a BluRay player for the 360 owner. If you want to compare a basic 360 Arcade to a PS3, it's a false comparison since to play many of the online titles you need an HDD. So the bare minimum upgrades to an Arcade box are an HDD and XBL Gold subscription, so in the first year, that Arcade system is going to cost you very nearly what a PS3 slim costs even if all you do is throw in an HDD and XBL subscription. This menu pricing where the price of the minimum spec option appears lower is little more than a scam. And those still pushing the myth are buying into that scam.
Highlander,
You can buy a 4GB 360 console for $199, and its often on sale for $149.99 at different online sites, or it comes with a $50 giftcard/free game bundle. PS3's cheapest model is currently at $249, and that was a result of a recent price drop. Before that it was $299. Casual consumers like mothers buying for their kids, don't know and probably don't care about hardware size or bluray capablitites. The entry price has always been $50-100 cheaper than the PS3. This is not a myth, but a fact.
XBL subscription is usually mentioned to the consumer after they already agree to buying the Xbox. They probably figure the PS3 has a similiar subscription based fee.
4GB isn't going to help much with a game played online that wants to do an install to HDD. Therefore an HDD is required. XBL subscription costs are part of the cost of owning a 360. You have perfectly illustrated the point by saying that people don't look at those costs. The truth is that those costs are there, and do apply making the 360 cost as much or more than the PS3 over even just a 2 year life, and that doesn't include the BluRay player.
I mean you are def right about the HDD and extra peripherals. But you have to think that there are a decent number of uninformed, unsophisticated consumers unlike yourself that simply don't pay attention to how big the HDD is. They see the price in the window of Gamestop and know that it's cheaper than the PS3.
Jimmy raises some valid points when he mentions the 4gb model and the $50 gift cards. I have seen the Xbox 4gb model on sale frequently at $149.99. I have also seen the 250 gb 360 bundled with $50 gift cards. That sort of thing tends to go on way more when it comes to retailers in NA than it does with the PS3. The 250 gb model features a larger hard drive than the 160 gb PS3 model at $249 plus it comes with a headset and Xbox Live Gold membership. It's not too difficult to see why consumers might think that's a better deal. I also think the average consumer is subjected to a lot more 360 advertising. Highlander raises some interesting points but I don't think your average consumer will perform such a detailed analysis before making a purchase.
The 360 being perceived as cheaper might be a small factor but I tend to think even the soccer moms will buy the consoles their kids want so we need to look even deeper. I know for a fact the younger demographic prefers the 360 mainly because of the unique social characteristics of Xbox Live. They use Live as hang out and they aren't always gaming either. I know younger members of my family use cross game chat to talk to their friends while watching Netflix. I only mention that because Highlander pointed out that survey data points to the 360 being used more outside of gaming which runs contrary to what a lot of people think.
Temjin mentioned Kinect as a driving factor when it comes to 360 sales. I know MS reported that 60% of 360 sales in NA in the first half of 2011 were Kinect bundles. I know a few 360 owners that upgraded ro the Kinect bundle which is how I inherited my 360.
My answer to the question posed in this article is no. COD is not the only reason.
I do think that CoD is an interesting lens through which to examine console sales and use. Especially as market survey data this week actually showed that the PS3 is more often used for games by it's owners than 360, and more 360 owners by their console for uses other than gaming than PS3 owners now. Odd considering that the PS3 includes a BluRay player, but whatever…
Either way, when you crunch the numbers of XBL subscriptions and parse out the Gold subscriptions you end up with a Gold subscriber number that is nearly 40 million fewer than the total number of Xbox 360s sold. It is however, remarkably close to the raw sales numbers for CoD on the 360 platform.
In fact if you look at sales of multiplatform online multiplayer games like CoD, they are very heavily linked to that XBL Gold userbase. If you look at it country by country, the heavy sales of titles like CoD to align remarkably well with the countries that have higher numbers of XBL Gold subscribers. Funnily enough, those are typically English speaking nations in NA, EU and Australia.
I've never understood why game makers are so besotted with the performance of games like CoD when they are so heavily dependent on a minority of the game market. If the English speaking gaming world decides CoD sucks butt, the game will tank faster than a strip poker game at a Methodist faith conference.
But the point is that yes, the success of the 360 might in some way be linked to games like CoD since there is a clear linkage between the success of both CoD (and games like it on 360) and the number of XB L Gold subscribers. It's almost a symbiotic relationship. It's not the only factor since of the XBL subscribers fewer than half play online. But then, I think that Kinect and the Kinect bundles were responsible for an awefull lot of repeat purchases of 360.
That repeat purchase thing though is really a factor of the fear generated by constant RROD events. With many 360 owners admitting to keeping a spare system just in case their primary one dies.
I think that the popularity of the 360 is a falsehood. The XBL silver subscriptions paint a truer picture of the number of 360s that are still alive, and the number is 10-13 million short of the total number of units sold. But with repeat purchases by a gamer population conditioned to playing online with friends in the same game it's not hard to see how 360s numbers are built. Nor is it difficult to see the herd mentality in action.
Has the site been jacked? i keep getting a blank page with "welcome to inginx"
600 dollar super gaming machines that are innaccessible to the masses? That was the number one factor that let millions buy the xbox first. Then tons of friends who had to decide whether to buy the xbox and play with friends or buy a ps3 and play for free on the psn comes into factor.
I hope Sony sees the huge mistake they made and keeps the next price of their new next gen system to under 400 bucks.
Sick to death of 360 fanboys pushing this pricing myth. Go back to the launch price od the 360 and PS3. Sit down and work out how much an average 360 user spent on their 360 over 3 years (assuming that they didn't even have an RROD or buy a replacement system). Compare that to the cost of a PS3 at launch ($500, not $600). the annual cost of PS3 online gaming $0, three years of online gaming on PS3 $0. Just on that basis alone, a 360 owner spent an additional $150 on their gaming, and that doesn't include buying a stand alone BluRay player, wireless controllers and a bigger HDD. Good grief, I though this BS had finally been laid to rest years ago, I can't honestly believe that there are still so many people that swallow the lie that 360 is cheaper.
When I was inline for the BF3 launch I would say 70% of the people in line were 360 users. I heard many of them say that the online experience is so much better on the 360. I own both and the 360 was my primary system for many years(BTW like Ben I still have my launch 360 with no rrod) and I have no idea what is so much better about the online experience. Only thing I can think of is the free mic but that's hardly a deal breaker.
Especially considering the PS3 uses bluetooth or USB mics and very many people have their bluetooth cell phone headset that they can use.
lol thats a funny theory be more funny if true. i think the xbox sales in U.S. was due to an affordable level of gaming price for most. also the tactics of microsoft throwing money for limited time exclusive DLC.
the gap between ps3 and 360 sales are quite narrow.
Like 2 million or something.
It will eventually catch up but I bet it will be after the 360 successor comes out.