Answer: Only a select few, who were promptly laughed at.
In regards to sales, it just didn't seem feasible that the PlayStation 3 would ever catch up to and surpass the Nintendo Wii and the Xbox 360. Early on in this generation, some haters went so far as to say the PS3 was dead in the water, and the Wii sprinted out to what seemed to be an insurmountable lead.
But as I've been saying this entire generation, the Wii was just a fad and fads operate on a limited time budget. Lo and behold, five years and a horde of shovelware later, you have trouble giving away the Wii, and now that the Wii U is here, Wii sales are bound to keep tailing off. It has topped 100 million, I believe, while the PS3 and 360 sit at about 75 million each worldwide. So it's more than possible that the PS3 will emerge on top when all is said and done.
Don't forget, the PS2 sold a huge number of consoles after the PS3 came out and this time around, you'll very likely see the same thing when the PS4 arrives. The price of the PS3 will drop again, accessibility will be high, and the library will be gigantic. You should see far more PS3 sales worldwide after the PS4 comes out when compared to Xbox 360 sales after the new Xbox hits (although that's just a guess). And as the PS3 essentially outsold the 360 this generation already – 75 million sales in just over 6 years as opposed to 75 million in over 7 years – the trend will likely continue. Although I have no doubt the Xbox will still rule in North America.
But anyway, I'm just wondering where all those skeptics are who flooded forums and communities around the 'Net, saying the PS3 wouldn't only be in dead last this generation, it'd be so far behind you wouldn't even be able to see it. …mm-hm. What say you now, haters?
Answer… me. I lived with the same guys I lived with before 360 or PS3. They were original xbox fans, and I was PS2. When both were coming out, I was still cocky about the PS2 dominance, the fanboy war was raging once again, and I asserted my stance.
Oh… trust me… when news came out the PS3 passed the 360, I facebooked them all!!! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
Lol, huh?
I did. I know that bribery and cheating never gets you on top for long. Theres always a bigger fish and MS will never beat Sony. Just as wind will never defeat the ocean. In my OWN opinion of course. Don't be angry Ms fanboys this is a playstation oriented site afterall.
but when does the ocean ever beat the wind? The wind sometimes take bits of the ocean and drops it across land(it's known as rain). The ocean gets air bubbles that quickly rise to the surface and return to the sky. So who really wins? huh? HUH?
The wind and the ocean work together while fanboys of both sides argue which is better, but little do they know the enjoyment of the ocean would fall flat without the sky, and the sky without the ocean. This is not unlike Sony and MS, they work together while we all argue over which console is better. 🙂 btw, PS3 is better.
Last edited by PSN French on 1/31/2013 4:39:44 PM
I was one of the originals who said that when all was said and done, the PS3 would 3PEAT as king of all three gens.
And I will continue to stand by my statement.
Fully agree. Even though it didn't get many new AAA jrpgs(real important to the PSXe guys 😉 it still at least got those very games via PSN =)
Ni No Kuni almost makes up for the whole JRPG catastrophe this gen.
Dont know why so many thumbs down for World, he isn't far off.
Ni No Kuni has showed that this type of game can come out and do incredibly well, so lets hope that next gen is a little different than this gen was for the JRPG.
Pray the Japanese go back to their roots.
The PS3 had it rough this gen. But yah, anyone who thought it was going to die an early death was retarded.
But the PS3 really wasn't like Sony's prior 2 eras in popularity. Doesn't the 360 significantly outsell the PS3 stateside? With euro and jap markets making up the ps3 deficit.
Anyway, not my intention to sound a debbie downer but seeing that Sony was the seemingly invincible empire to now a ship with smoke billowing out of certain quarters, and a videogame market that handed over a lot to MS, I would've hoped for better. Heck, if things weren't so different this gen, I'm sure Sony wouldn't have opted for PC parts for it's upcoming game system. Instead, I think we'd have more of Sony's creations.
Anyway, I love my PS3 and I've enjoyed it more than any other single console I've owned =)
I couldn't agree more Temjin. Especially the parts about Sony "gifting" Microsoft their position this generation and the PS3 not being as popular as Sony's previous systems. No way does MS end up gaining so much matketshare at Sony's expense if the PS3 hadn't fallen flat on its face at launch. The Wii was a complete surprise and created an entirely new market so I give Sony a pass there but Microsoft's gains are inexcusable in my book. Sony outsold MS by 129 million consoles last generation for crying out loud.
It's great Sony turned it around but damn did they make it hard on themselves. Now they have an entrenched competitor that dominates the highly coveted NA market and isn't afraid to spend money on advertising. Sony could have done much better this generation. They had all the momentum and it was their war to lose. I don't think you are being a debbie downer to point that out. It's fair to say the PlayStation brand isn't as strong as it once was. What's unfair is to call it a failure.
Now hopefully the Vita will get the same type of love. That handheld has some crazy power. Devs need to start releasing some games on it.
I said that it would.
Lots of times. I also predict sales well past 100 million units before PS3 ends it's life.
All said right here at PSX…since mid 2009 when I started commenting here. Said it elsewhere since the PS3 launch. Oh, there is an interesting interview with Peter Reeves as he was exiting SCEE for retirement back in mid 2009 where he says that the PS3 will be the dominant console in 3-5 years. PS3 has the lead over 360, Wii is dead, and PS3 will continue to sell after PS4 arrives. So, I think Mr Reeves might well be able to claim that he told us so…
Here's one of mine from March 2011 (scroll down);
https://temp.psxextreme.com/ps3-news/8657.html
"It should be noted that 50 million units after 4 and a bit years, puts the PS3 on schedule to hit at least 100 million units by the end of it's life. Sony's own figures show the picture nicely. The FY2010 sales of PS3 already total more than 12 million units with only three quarters reported. Sony are on schedule to sell about 15 million PS3s in F2010 – as they predicted they would. On that pace, they can sell at least that many in FY2011, and a similar number in FY2012. Even if sales decline gradually there after, the PS3 would be likely to eclipse 120 million units sold in it's lifetime. Not bad for a console tagged as a failure by all and sundry."
Great to see you back, Highlander. You were missed. Well, at least I did. Good thing we're already friends on PSN before your "hiatus".
Have you played Ni no Kuni yet? Like waht WorldEndsWithMe said, it almost makes up for the lack of JRPGs this generation, Sure does for me!
I got this, hold my beer…
No he will never play Ni No Kuni
I sure didn't think so, Playstation sort of gave up this generation without a fight early on but as it turns out they didn't have to fight so hard as quality hardware and exclusives pulled it ahead at the end while Xbox 360 essentially self-destructed with RRoD, lack of exclusives, Kinect-focus, and bank-draining timed DLC purchases.
Who went through and down-voted every comment? Show yourself!!!
Nobody really pays much attention to that, so no worries. If there's anything on PSXE that I wish would go away, it's that. Those "thumbs" are more of a distraction to the actual discussion anyway.
The downthumbs should go, yeah. It only causes bad vibes. Either that, or a bit more advanced system where it required more than one person to downthumb something before it got marked as disagreed with.
Just gotta get some moxy and say "aw yeah" at the upvotes and "pfft poor guys don't know how right I am" at the down votes! ;p
I never doubted that the ps3 would be a success. To be honest I didn't have a unit till the price drop 2009. Let's be honest here the entry point during the first years of the ps3 was insanely high. I really want to get a ps3 because of MGS4 and when they dropped the price in September 2009 I immediately forked over cash for a ps3. Remembered my first games, Assassin's Creed and MGS4.
You know I remember when the PS3 come out there were many sites, including this one, that said the ps3 price point was not going to be a problem, as long as it had games. The sites refuted anyone who even brought up the price tag.
I laughed at the idiocy of it all. I knew price would affect the ps3 …. and it did.
It let the competition get ahead of them. Had the PS3 came out at 400 bucks it would have DESTROYED the Xbox 360.
IF Sony comes out at 400 this year with the ps4, they will once again be the supreme being of the gaming world. But Sony, MS, and Nintendo are going to feel the pain a little from new Valve system. Valve will have awesome games at a hell of a lot cheaper prices.
Me thinks only Sony can fight them. All I know is I like RPGS and SRPGS and if smaller companies cant afford to make games for Sony, they will sure as hell make them for Valve.
End of Line.
I think we don't have to worry about Sony supporting smaller companies. They are doing it right now like how they supported sports friends on the kick starter program. Jack Tretton said thru the PSblogcast that they want to support these small innovative companies.
I agree that the battle for the next generation will always be the price of the console right out of the gate.
That's the second time you've blatantly misquoted me. I would NEVER have said the price point wasn't an issue for consumers, not with the PS3 launching at $600. In fact, I've said numerous times I wouldn't have bought one had it not been necessary for work.
ethird1, the PS3 (60gb version) was really worth $850 bucks, I saw an article berfore that Sony lost $250 on each system sold. So when u think about it consumers really paid off $350.
Last edited by AcHiLLiA on 1/30/2013 2:01:37 PM
AcHiLLtEriVuS
The 60GB system were around $900 to make, and the 20GB systems $850. The 60Gb had the larger HDD and wireless ethernet – hence the extra cost. But the other point is that is just the build cost, not including packaging and distribution. At the end of the day though, as you say, the PS3 was an absolute steal, Sony was literally giving consumers $300+ discounts on every unit sold at the start.
Now thinking about it I wished I bought one back then, but it was Blu-ray that was holding me off, it was still in war with HD-DVD, if Blu-ray lost, Sony could of been in deep sh*t.
I never had any opinions either way. I didn't care, and still don't care what is the most sold system.
Will the PS4 outsell the X720? Why should I care? What's important is that the system itself is appealing to me and that it is supported by the key developers who are making the games I want to play. That is really, seriously all that matters to me.
Last edited by Beamboom on 1/30/2013 2:09:52 AM
Same here. I really couldn't care less who outsells who. It doesn't bother me anymore like it used to back when I was younger. As long as I'm having fun and enjoying my hobby, on whatever platform it may be on, that's all I really care about.
Yeah exactly, it do remind me of the younger days.
It's moments like these I like to quote Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon, "I'm too old for this shit.". 😉
i always did.
i saw the whole point of playstation, the raw technology of the thing, backed with the first party support $ony brings and it was clear it would do fine.
not to say it did everything perfectly, far from it, but when you have so many awesome publishers behind you, and such a powerful system its kinda hard to fail!
exactly the problem with the vita, as i said above and the other day, the WHOLE point of playstation is raw power.
why do you buy a playstation over a nintendo or xbox system?
power!
but, sadly, the vita just does not have that!
there for it has no purpose.
and exactly why im so worried about the ps4.
the rumored specs have it at pretty disappointing to say the least, $ony is in the worst financial position they have been in years, and their latest system has not exactly instilled confidence in me.
How is this "the whole point of playstation, the raw technology of the thing" exactly the problem with Vita. the Vita hardware is lightyears ahead of 3DS, and comfortably ahead of any but the very best Tablets available. Quad core A9 CPU, quad core GPU with dynamic core clocking and core allocation. How is that not raw computational power which is – as you claim – the whole point of Playstation? You make no sense, as usual.
except that the current ipad through raw bench tests received a higher score.
as usual $ony went half gimped.
cant understand why they always go all out on one thing, and skimp on the others.
they gave us a OLED screen, NOTHING has a OLED screen!
but when it comes to other parts, well, thats a other kettle of fish.
whats the point of hiring the worlds best chef to create your dinner, than garnishing it with the sick of a hobo?
Last edited by ___________ on 1/30/2013 7:54:41 PM
*current* iPad, not the one available when Vita launched…? The A6X is a dual core A9, Vita is quad, there is a clock speed difference, but clock for clock Vita has twice the compute power. A single threaded task will run faster on the A6X because it has a higher clock, but anything designed to use all the cores will run faster on the Vita. GPU is of similar performance in both. A6X is only in the newest iPad which lists at…$499 for the least expensive model.
Seems like you're not comparing like with like in any event, and as usual miss the point. Vita is over a year old with it's quad cpu/quad GPU, and only the most recent iPad is coming close to being it's equal in terms of performance – and which costs substantially more than Vita to boot.
your the one missing the point dude.
ipad is a freaking tablet, it is FAR from designed to be a dedicated gaming machine!
as i said the whole point of playstation has always been to be the most advanced system possible, and they have always held that for quite some time.
hell it took years for PCs to come back and start offering the levels of power the ps3 offered at a reasonable price!
hell, the ps4 is set to do the same if rumors are true and it does have 8 core CPUs, no 8 core CPU is on the market yet!
the vita is made to be a gaming device, nothing else!
so it should be THE BEST at doing its job, no ifs and or buts!
but its not, there runs the problem.
as i said before $ony gave us futuristic technology with the screen, OLED, how long is it going to be before we see other 5" devices using OLED?
at a consumer mass produced level?
but than with everything else they used yesterdays news.
why do $ony always consist with hiring the best chef in the world to make a dish, than serve it with other dishes that were created by hobos?
just ruins the whole thing!
I still think the new PS3s are fugly, so if I had to get a new one, I'd try to find someone selling a new 1st gen slimline. If they do one more redesign in the PS3's lifespan, I hope it's much nicer.
The white one looks smexy
Back in 2007 I thought the PS3 would overtake the 360 in 2 years tops. I seriously underestimated Microsoft and thought Sony's advantage globally would make up for the one year head start the 360 had relatively quickly.
I had good reasons for thinking this. After all Sony had absolutely dominated the market for two consecutive generations. I didn't realize how much damage had been done to PlayStation brand. I guess I was in denial but Sony had never really been challenged before. No competitor even came close to outselling the PS1 or PS2.
All three systems have had success. It's true Sony will end this generation having lost a lot of marketshare(roughly 44%) but the PS3 was by no means a failure. Sony deserves credit for turning the PS3 around. Microsoft deserves credit for almost tripling the amount of consoles they have sold when compared to last generation. Nintendo deserves a lot of credit too. The Wii was supposed to be dead on arrivial according to the talking heads yet they created their on market while going from worst place last gen to first this gen. A market that both Sony and MS have followed Nintendo into by the way. The Wii luanched around the same time as the PS3 and shot past the 360 like it was standing still.
Last edited by Excelsior1 on 1/30/2013 5:32:43 AM
I think the error in your analysis is that are missi9ng the importance of XBL in the English speaking markets, primarily NA and UK. If you do an analysis of sales data, the NA/UK markets are quite different to the rest of the world in their liking of the 360. I think that it comes down to the popularity of certain FPS titles that sold heavily on the 360 and made great use of the XBL system. PS2 had great games, bu no Network to call it's own. So it had no way to fight against XBL. When PS3 arrived, Xbox/Xbox36 had swallowed up a huge proportion of Western shooter fans who enjoyed online multi-player shooters. That slowed PS3 adoption in the NA/UK markets more so than it did elsewhere.
Now that PS3 has become well established and PSN is a quality gamin service in it's own right, the advantage that MS built with Xbox and XLB that propelled the 360 forwards before PS3 came to market is no longer present.
I'm not blaming shooter fans for PS3's slow start, so much as I am crediting XBL and the online multi-player craze in NA/UK for the early success of 360 and slow start of PS3.
The negative media spin, astroturfing, Fear Uncertainty and Doubt campaign, war against BluRay and whining about the price of the Ps3 did not help either…
Well, I did say I underestimated MS. I probably wasn't really aware of the importance of XBL back then. I probably still would have thought the PS3 was going overtake the 360 relatively quickly. Like I said I was in denial and did not know how much damge had been done PS brand.
I'm well aware of the negativity the PS3 faced early on. The price point generated some backlash. Poor running multiplats on the PS3 didn't help either. Gamers didn't really care whose fault that was and I don't blame them for wanting to play the best version of game. The vast majority of games are multiplat titles. Thankfully PS3 multiplats have improved. We still get a bad one now and then like Skyrim.
Anyways back to the negativity the PS3 faced. Ken Kutaragi did Sony no favors when he made that awful get two jobs if you want a PS3 quote. Please note that Ken is no longer the CEO of Sony. So some heads rolled over at Sony because of the PS3's slow start.
I'm pretty sure the XBL crowds in NA and the UK will quickly migrate over to the next Xbox. That's a tough nut for Sony to crack.
Sony has a good network now. All they need to do is add cross game chat.
Last edited by Excelsior1 on 1/30/2013 10:07:59 PM
Ken Kutaragi was not treated entirely fairly by the media with respect to those remarks.
Honestly, I wasn't a big gamer when the PS3 launched but I've always followed computers and electronics so I remember laughing at the PS3 and thinking Sony probably made a big mistake.
Think about when it launched, at the end of 2006 no one payed $600 (or more) for an electronic device if it wasn't a laptop or desktop computer. The iPhone didn't exist, the iPad didn't exist. Smart phones were for business men and women and they didn't have touch screens. The PSN was really new while Live had most of a gneration of experience behind it. HD televisions were still new and most of them were big and bulky and HEAVY, large format LCD TVs were like the 4K tv's of today. The idea of playing video games in HD was very new. Most people I knew that got the 360 when it came out didn't even have an HD TV. So the thought of putting Blu Ray in the device (when hardly anyone had HD), charging $200 more than your competitor, and eating $250 on each unit sold seemed like a recipe for disaster.
Trust me when I say I'm glad Sony took the risk, I thoroughtly enjoy my PS3 and it has definately turned me into a big gamer. However, it wouldn't have taken much to turn it into a disaster. If the iPhone and iPod hadn't changed people's perception of what an electronic device can do (and how much it should cost), if HD TVs hadn't become popular (like how 3D TVs haven't really taken off now), if HD DVD had become the preferred physical format, if Sony hadn't been able to improve the PSN to be a viable contender to Xbox Live. Any of that stuff could have sent the PS3 to an early demise. Don't believe me? One word: Dreamcast. I'm glad it didn't, though. I'm sure glad it didn't.
i never put any thought into the ps3 out selling the 360.
if sony does with the ps3 what they did with the ps2, the ps3
will come out on top.
M$ dropped the xbox when they released the xbox 360, but
sony kept on with the ps2 even after releasing the ps3.
First of all, the Wii a "fad"? Aren't we past calling it that? I can understand you having the opinion that it is a fan within its first few years. But come on now. It’s been out 6 years, not 5 as you stated. 100 million sold, and still claiming it is a fad? Yeah, and I suppose the 3DS is a fad too? Hard to take you seriously when you continue to have that opinion. Or maybe you are saying that tongue in cheek? Course you are entitled to your opinion, and I continue coming here reading your opinions every day.
Over the years I’ve always hated hearing the PS3 units sold numbers, and how Xbox has a huge lead. It just feels wrong comparing non-comparable numbers when the amount of time that the product was available to the consumer was not the same. It seems like more of an emphasis should always compare the year to date numbers. When PS3 was 5 years old, how many did the Xbox sell at 5 years old. When that is taken into account, the PS3 has really done admirably. But the pro Xbox/Microsoft crowd always conveniently ignored that.
PS. Starting to get worried about the Vita sales numbers though. What is going on? Tired of all these ports of games. Mind you I have plenty of games to play for it, but really worried what the future brings. Have we seen the best of what we will get for it?
Last edited by MyWorstNightmar on 1/30/2013 8:18:17 PM
I can't resist…
Nintendo, global video game giant since the 80's, releases its 5th major console the Wii. Ben Dutka calls it a fad. 100 million units later, Ben Dutka still insists its a fad.
In order to answer Nintendo, Sony releases its motion gaming peripheral, as well as Microsoft, to give the gaming public the ability for motion gaming on their systems.
Nintendo releases their 6th major console, the Wii U. The Wii U still has motion gaming integrated into it. Ben Dutka is not impressed.
If the PS4 and XBox720 do not have motion gaming, then I will consede that Ben Dutka was correct all along.
Although I do not prefer motion gaming, if done correctly, I do enjoy it. And I don't think it is going away any time soon, if ever.
it's always been on top in my book. Well, after something other than resistance came out.