- Nintendo shows strength
- Xbox 360 outranks PS3
...But dwarfed by Sony
Independent numbers do not support Xbox 360 dominance in Ireland as figures released yesterday by Microsoft suggest.
The Chart-Track Irish games charts released last week show that, for example, Xbox 360 sales of the multiplatform ‘Transformers: The Game’ accounted for only 16 percent of the total sales on the top-20 multi-format chart.
Meanwhile the PlayStation 3 accounted for 6 percent less of sales of the Transformers game at 10 percent; however, the rest of the sales went to other Sony consoles, the PlayStation 2 (50 percent) and PlayStation Portable (17 percent).
The game - at number one in those charts - entered the charts over four weeks ago at number three, at that stage Xbox 360 sales were at 24 percent but since dropped to the above number.
Microsoft hold similar or lower percentages of multiplatform games sales lower in the charts, and their console features less the Sony brands. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 only features in five places of the top-20 multi-format chart, while Sony brands are in 12 different places. Unlike the older PS2 that is still going strong with a massive Irish install base, the first Xbox is a no-show.
Questionable numbers
“For the past year, Xbox 360 has been the number one console in EMEA, having obtained more than 30 percent of the market in terms of overall revenue (more than 45 percent in the UK, Ireland, Netherlands and Sweden*),” reads a the Microsoft press release [NOTE: there is no corresponding note following the ‘*’ included].
However, if the examples outlined above are anywhere near close of the true picture of the games market in Ireland, it shows that Microsoft yesterday unfairly stated that they have 45 percent of the market in terms of “overall revenue”. It’s unclear if Ireland is incorrectly included among the UK, Netherlands and Sweden, or if the company has an abnormal meaning of the term ‘overall revenue’.
Another possibility is that Microsoft are selectively calling classing the ‘home’ market as the wider market while excluding portable console which make up a large percentage of the actual games market. Unlike its Japanese rivals Sony and Nintendo, the US-based company has no handheld consoles.
This confusion mirrors Microsoft press release in March which gave “record-breaking” United States specific numbers, but when we contacted the company at the time a spokespersons said they “never release country specific figures”.
Nintendo with eight exclusives
Nintendo meanwhile have eight exclusives on the charts including taking up places from two to six. If more comprehensive set of figures were publicly available Nintendo could even come in second for overall market share.
Nintendo looks to have gained since the launch of its low-priced Wii console, added to this the handheld DS system has been a larger seller in Ireland and continues to be such.
The particularly high Nintendo presence could be explained by the low games release for the industry over summer months, however any summer irregularity would not explain Microsoft’s low percentages which are in line with our past reports on games sales in Ireland.
The future?
It still looks as if Microsoft has yet to capitalise on their head start launching the 360 before Christmas 2005, compared to the PlayStation 3 that only launched in March. With the high cost of the new Sony console and a price drop for the 360, Microsoft could still convince many users of Sony’s older console to switch over.
A lot depends on how long and to what extent Sony and third-parties
continue to support the PlayStation 2 while the PS3 slowly moves to
price drops and how fast can Sony build the new console’s catalogue of
titles.
Our independent source
The Chart-Track Irish chart is the only available independent source of games point-of-sales information in Ireland. While it should be noted that retailers GameStop and Smyths are not included, the chart firm’s website lists a large selection of retailer such as Argos, Play.com, Currys, Roxy Records, Dixons, Tesco, Game, Tower, Golden Discs, Virgin, Heartbeat City, Xtra-vision, Heatons, Zhivago, HMV, PC World, and other unnamed independent retails. Chart-Track also compile the Irish music charts and the UK games charts.
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