Manta Ray wrote on 02/16/13 at 14:21:34:
Hasn't PlayStation actually surpassed 360 at this point? I thought I remember hearing that not too long ago.
It has beaten the 360 a couple of time in monthly sales. But that doesn't amount to much considering how long this console generation has gone on. In January the 360 absolutely smashed the PS3 and Wii in console sales. The 360 has beaten both the Wii and PS3 in monthly sales and overall sales.
I believe the 360 has enjoyed over 22 months straight as the top selling console.
Since Sony has entered the gaming market the PS3 is their least successful console in terms of profitability and sales. The PS2 is still beyond the PS3 in units sold. in fact in 2011 the PS2 outsold the PS3 on one occasion.
I've also heard the amount of money they have spent on developing the PS3 hardware and software for the system is still more then they have actually made with the PS3.
PS3's place in the Sony family is seemingly more to keep them relevant in the gaming marketplace. Not so much profit. It would be about profit if they could maintain the popularity they had for the PS1 and PS2. It's kind of like how the first X-box wasn't a profit, but it allowed Microsoft to enter the market legitimately with the X-box 360. Except that Sony isn't earning any cred with this.
This generation marks the first time they have had real direct competition from a corporation large enough to combat them on a hardware and marketing level.
The PS1 enjoyed an early release and at it's launch only had to compete with the Sega Saturn, this caused third party developers to flock to the system. The fact the N64 was cartridge based and harder to develop for boosted the PS1's third party support as well. The PS2 had the same benefit except that it had to compete with the X-box during the end of it's life cycle.
The PS3 however released 2 years after the 360 launched for $599. It isn't enjoying preferential treatment from third party developers that the PS1 received. Also the power difference between the 360 and PS3 is minimal despite Sony's claims about the PS3's "raw potential".
I think the removal of backwards compatibility hurt too. The 360 at least has some compatibility going on. In the end Sony removed linux support and backwards compatibility. If Sony kept backwards compatibility in the PS3. People would be buying PS3's instead of PS2's and their numbers would probably suck less.
That is all going to change next generation though. They are going to eliminate backwards compatibility and used games. So the whole market is going to change again. It wouldn't shock me if the PS3 or 360 remain big sellers during this new generation.