Microsoft and Sony dispute European console figures

by Stevie Smith - Sep 3 2009, 16:30

According to Microsoft, the European installed user base of its Xbox 360 videogames console is a solid one million units ahead of the Sony PlayStation 3. Conversely, Sony has recently boasted that the PlayStation 3 has a one million unit lead over the Xbox 360 in the European marketplace.

So, who’s right, who’s wrong, and who’s spinning?

Speaking with videogame trade publication MCV, Xbox Europe bigwig Chris Lewis said Microsoft is “confident we are actually a million units ahead [of the PlayStation 3],” after laying claim to an installed European user base of nine million.

However, Sony recently informed game journalists at its GamesCom press conference in Germany that 10 million consumers have now slapped down the cash for a PlayStation 3 across European territories.

In offering up an explanation for the sizeable unit disparity and any confusion it may create, Lewis told MCV that Microsoft gauges its installed user base differently than Sony.

“We count the number of units in the hands of consumers,” he explained. “We are committed to continuing that momentum – not only in places like the UK, France and Germany. Continued growth in all parts of Europe is integral to winning overall.”

Of course, while Nintendo fans are likely enjoying the spectacle of bitter rivals Microsoft and Sony engaged in a pissing contest for the jaded honour of second place behind the market-leading Wii, any sense of Microsoft holding a lead over Sony in Europe – if that is indeed the case – is surely on the wane for the software giant.

Specifically, if Microsoft’s figures are accurate, Sony’s powerful but persistently expensive home console lags by only one million units despite launching in Europe almost 18 months after Microsoft’s platform – indicating Sony is slowly but inexorably succeeding in its quest to cancel out the Xbox 360’s first-to-market advantage.

If, on the other hand, the PlayStation 3’s installed user base is actually one million ahead of the Xbox 360’s, then Sony’s recently announced hardware price cuts and the introduction of the PS3 Slim will only further pump its growing market and retail muscle as the console becomes steadily more attractive in these penny-pinching times of recession.

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