Worldwide Hardware Sales from CNN.com (1 Viewer)

[Steven_V]

According to a couple of CNN.com articles, here are the current worldwide sales numbers for the next-generation consoles...
Units sold:
1) PS2- 30 million
2) GCN- 4.5 million
3) Xbox- 3 million
Source: CNN.com
Nintendo cuts GameCube price
Sony cuts price of PlayStation, PS2

 

[Masood Ali]

I hope they release numbers for each major region soon too.

 

[Joel Mack]

I'd be interested in knowing how many PS2's have sold since the introductions of XBox and GCN...

 

[Rob Lutter]

yeah... but is that pre pricedrop? When are these numbers dated?

 

[James Zos]

I myself have personally purchased 3.2 million Xbox systems (I like to have a couple of extra lying around the house) so I know these numbers can't be real.

 

[Dan B]

Just to note, the article you linked to says that those numbers are approximate systems shipped, not the amount of systems sold.

-Dan

 

[Camp]

I myself have personally purchased 3.2 million Xbox systems (I like to have a couple of extra lying around the house) so I know these numbers can't be real.

Ahh...that's where my missing shipments went!

 

[Ryan Peter]

Camp, how have the Xbox sales been since the drop? Has there been a big turnaround? Since the drop, what is the ratio of Xboxes being sold to PS2's or GCN's being sold? Rough estimates or just what it seems like to you type of info is fine. You don't need to give hard numbers or anything, heh.

 

[StevenK]

ZDNet reports an 800% increase since the price drop. Top article today.

 

[Camp]

Ryan,

Honestly, I've been on vacation since the price drop. So I haven't seen hard numbers.

I'll report back on Tuesday. I think you'll find whatever increase in Xbox sales will be equaled by PS2 sales.

800% would sure be nice though. However ridiculous that number is.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

The thing is, right before the X-Box dropped, the PS2 dropped, and right after the GCN dropped. If anything, all of the sales of all of the consoles would increase.

What I wanna see is post-E3 sales.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

From http://www.teamxbox.com/news.php?id=3229

The head of the nation's top specialty toy retailer said on Wednesday the recent price cut for the Xbox game console had boosted sales and predicted that Microsoft Corp.'s machine would become the industry's leading platform.
"With the pricing adjustment that just took place, the lift in unit sales is fabulous," Toys "R" Us Inc. chairman and chief executive John Eyler told other CEOs at Microsoft's annual "CEO Summit" gathering in Redmond, Washington.
In a display of support for the U.S. software giant's bid to take a chunk of the $20 billion gaming industry away from leader Sony Corp. and its PlayStation machines, Eyler said that the Xbox would become a leading platform for games.
"It is going to accelerate over time to where we have critical mass and this platform really becomes the premier (medium) of the video game industry," he said.

(Personally, I don't think that can happen in this generation. I also question the context of the latter statement.)

 

[Andy Sheets]

Maybe the guy figured it couldn't hurt to give Microsoft some extra flattery since he speaking was at their event?

 

[Rob Lutter]

Hey, you can't blame the guy for speaking the truth. I think that PS2 sales are going to reach their "terminal velocity"... and then SLOWWW... the market is really saturated with PS2s right now. I think that gamers will CRAVE something MORE... and RIGHT THERE... is... THE MICROSOFT XBOX
(dun dun daaaaa!)

 

[Romier S]

CRAVE something MORE... and RIGHT THERE... is... THE MICROSOFT XBOX dun dun daaaaa!

Rob, that sounds like the beginning of an Ed Wood movie

 

[James Zos]

On second thought, maybe this joke is a bad idea.

 

[Camp]

The head of the nation's top specialty toy retailer said on Wednesday the recent price cut for the Xbox game console had boosted sales and predicted that Microsoft Corp.'s machine would become the industry's leading platform.

Of course, it benefits any retailer if #2 or #3 begins outselling PS2. We've already built a huge installed base of PS2 customers so adding an equally large base of Xbox customers is good for business.

 

[Ryan Peter]

Let's not forget that Genesis had a big chunk of sales and was doing very well until the SNES came out and ended up the premiere gaming system of its generation.

 

[Romier S]

Let's not forget that Genesis had a big chunk of sales and was doing very well until the SNES came out and ended up the premiere gaming system of its generation.

Ryan, there was never a clear and decisive victor in that particular battle my friend. For every year the Genesis was ahead in sales the SNES matched and surpassed it the next. The next year the opposite would happen. It was an absolute see-saw battle and damn fun one to watch too. Not too mention it garnered some of the greatest games and series of any generation before it.

I would love to see final sales numbers of both consoles at the end of their life spans. It was one of the few times there really was no clear market leader. Both the Genesis and the SNES were household names. I don't think we will see such a close competition any time soon.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

I would love to see final sales numbers of both consoles at the end of their life spans. It was one of the few times there really was no clear market leader. Both the Genesis and the SNES were household names. I don't think we will see such a close competition any time soon.

IIRC, that was the first 'generation' of systems where sports games sales REALLY took off as a large percentage of games sold. Next thing you know all the major sports games have new (often with low development cost) 'updates' each year, resulting in huge profits for publishers like EA. The Genesis benefited greatly from lots of sports franchises, which benefited the end consumer by keeping the system popular.

Personally, I think that Sony paid close attention to this and made sure they had the best sports support for the PSX, and that this helped them capture marketshare quickly. Heck, I bet they bought Madden developers for Gameday not just for software profits, but to make sure they had a quality NFL franchise if EA did not give them good support. The lack of such strong sports franchises were at least partially responsible for the 'failure' of the Saturn in the US, and certainly hurt the Dreamcast and N64 as well.