PlayStation 3 overhauls Xbox 360 in global sales

by Steven Mostyn - Apr 4 2011, 04:21

It may have taken five years, but Sony Computer Entertainment has finally hauled back market rival Microsoft where global adoption of their respective home videogame consoles is concerned.

Moreover, although the Xbox 360 launched in 2005, a full year ahead of the PlayStation 3 (PS3), and has enjoyed a recent Kinect-inspired sales spike, research released by Strategic Analytics shows that the PS3 now holds a user base of 43.4 million as opposed to the 42.9 million that favour the Xbox. 

The report, which charts the rise of all the major gaming platforms up until the close of 2010, suggests that Microsoft’s first-to-market sales advantage has been eroded due to the Xbox 360’s fading popularity in Europe and Asia.

Taking a close look at projected global sales for 2011, Microsoft is expected to end this year having sold 56.6 million units, while Sony can look forward to increasing its dominance with 59.1 million sales. 

While Sony will doubtlessly enjoy the bragging rights that surpassing Microsoft brings with it, the PlayStation 3 still remains a distant second to Nintendo’s motion-sensing Wii in terms of global success.

The Nintendo Wii, which also launched a year after the Xbox 360, presently has an installed user base of around 75.5 million.

That being said, Strategic Analytics claims Nintendo will finish behind both Sony and Microsoft in 2011 as prospective Wii buyers await the underpowered console’s much talked about successor.

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