PS3 vs. 360 vs. Wii: Oh What a Difference -($100) Makes
Written by Max Freiert (contact - e-mail) -- August 9th, 2007 | Recommend ThisGamers have said it. Sales have proven it. Heck, Compete even showed it pre-launch: $600 is too much for a video game console. In July, Sony finally recognized this widespread belief and dropped the price of its 60gig PS3 to $500 last month. This certainly hasn’t caused stock boys across the world to dust off the PS3 surplus with any sense of urgency (and probably won’t), but could $499 be the magical price point where a PS3 purchase becomes feasible?
Looking at online demand for the three next-gen consoles, that answer could be, “Yes…but only because I still can’t find a Wii”.
The chart below shows Compete’s estimate of monthly in-market video console demand based on the number of U.S. consumers observed shopping online for each console. July represented a month of positive growth in demand for all 3 consoles, but neither the Wii nor 360 experienced even half of the PS3’s (much needed) lift in shoppers.
- Since December, the Wii has outpaced its next-gen competition in both demand and sales, with July being no exception. In the most recent month, the Wii’s demand remained stable, attracting nearly 700,000 total shoppers, its highest count since January.
- With rumors of price cuts, improved customer service and hardware enhancements circulating the web, demand for the Xbox 360 grew 20% in July, good for 570,000 shoppers and a demand level not seen since December ‘06. Interestingly, the 360’s demand level was up 32% from July of ‘06.
- Apparently a 16% price cut was good for 50% growth in demand for Sony. While it still lags behind the other 2 consoles (Wii demand is nearly double that of the PS3, even in Sony’s “big” July), the PS3’s price cut spurred its first substantial demand increase since November.
How related are the PS3’s price cut and online demand? The chart below shows weekly demand surrounding the PS3’s price cut for each console. In the week immediately following the announcement, PS3 demand spiked 144% after an 8 week period of relatively little change in demand. While PS3 demand fell in the week ending July 21st, it appears to be improving again.
Even more interesting is the effect that the PS3’s price cut has had on the competitive landscape. The chart below shows the share of total PS3 and Xbox 360 shoppers also considering the competitive console. If you’re Microsoft or Sony, you want this percentage to be 0, so the first half of 2007 would be a time to celebrate for the Xbox team. The impact of the PS3 drop in price had a huge impact on comparative shopping.
- The price drop caused the share of PS3 shoppers considering Xbox 360 to fall from 28% to 23%. This is probably still uncomfortably high for Sony, but it’s a big improvement over June.
- On the other hand, 360 shoppers were 26% more likely to consider a PS3 in July, meaning that PS3 is back in the running for more consumers when they evaluate gaming console options.
With Microsoft just announcing a drop in the 360’s price across all models, the battle rages on. If $500 is the threshold for considering a PS3 over a 360, is $280 a similar tipping point for considering a 360 core model over the Wii? August will certainly be the hottest month of summer in the gaming industry.
Did you like that post? You'll love these.
- Price Cut Works: Xbox 360 Demand Matches Wii Demand in August
- PS3 vs. Wii vs. Xbox 360: PS3 Demand Soaring but Sticker Shock Cometh
- Xbox 360 Wins the Holiday Battle, But Nintendo’s Wii Positioned to Win the War
- Xbox 360 vs. Wii vs. PS3: Wii more in demand now than at launch
- Xbox 360 Elite: Microsoft’s - sort of - response to PS3
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August 9th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Very interesting post, great work on this.
August 14th, 2007 at 8:58 am
When you say “Observed shopping online” is that just shopping behavior, conversions, or an estimate of conversions based on traffic? Very interesting stuff!
August 14th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
John-
We define online demand as the total number of visitors per month that visit a SKU level page for one of the 3 consoles.
This metric does entail any measure of conversion, which is actually a strength when dealing with a console as hard to stock as the Wii…it’s still difficult to buy a non-bundled Wii online!
August 15th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
Hmmmmm. But then aren’t the Wii numbers overstated b/c buyers will bounce around to multiple sites (all of which have none in stock), whereas PS3 buyers will stop after the first page where they can make a purchase (since there’s no shortage of those)?
August 15th, 2007 at 6:58 pm
Anybody know when or if Sony will rerelease the 20 MG PS3? I was so ticked. I wanted to buy a PS3 and was waiting for the cheeper one to come down in price, and now that they’ve come down in price, they don’t sell the cheeper one anymore :( I want a new one because Sony doesn’t have near the reputation in the 2nd hand market (durability) as the XBox or Nintendo does I can get those 2nd hand, but I’m not comfortable buying a PS3 2nd hand.
Tracy
September 5th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
@Tracey. Really? the xbox 360 is more durable than the ps3? have you seen the failure rate for the 360? Apparently 1 in 3 360’s break down within the first few months. Nice work Max, interesting stuff. I am still torn between the ps3 and the 360 but if sales pick up for sony consiquently drawing more developers then i am definately going for a ps3 otherwise i will reluctently crumble to microsofts irritating technique of strangling the industry with it’s incredibly good business and incredibly bad electronics.
September 12th, 2007 at 8:56 am
John - Sorry I missed your comment earlier. The demand measure doesn’t double count someone who looked at more than one site, so if someone looked at target.com, walmart.com amazon.com and bestbuy.com for a Wii, they would only be counted once.
October 14th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
Oh yeah Wiii is the Best!
October 14th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
Wii i meant
December 17th, 2007 at 9:49 am
ps3: its 600 bucks with incredible graphics and blue ray, now that its cheaper sony may attract more buyers
xbox360:300- 400 bucks good graphics and incredible games!!!! nice all round system
wii: fun 2 play is gonna be the most attractive of the 3. its much better shooting a basketball using the wii remote than the x button.. but all are good consoles
December 17th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
I’ve observed the Wii being the gift everyone’s looking to put under the tree this Christmas. I picked one up mid year and sort of regret it. After Wii Sports, I couldn’t find anything to play on the console. So I’ve been playing the 360 exclusively since about July. Very little excites me about the Wii. The remote is not really that innovative. It’s more frustrating. My casual gamer guests “read: girlfriend and her sisters… i.e. NOT gamers” struggle with its pointing inaccuracy.
I think plenty of families are going to buy Wiis, and that will boost numbers for a long time, but eventually their kids are going to beg them for a different system. I am just afraid Nintendo has sold a lot of paperweights to a lot of families.
And I am desperate for the Wii to do better! I am pleading for a game that I just can’t wait to run out and buy, but I’m just not seeing it.
April 2nd, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Very cool I like the Wii the best because it rocks!
May 5th, 2008 at 8:05 am
Honestly if you really think about it the wii is the most expensive of the 3. your paying for a new version gamecube you buy something new to download a bunch of old games. the only reason it sell is because of names like mario,zelda,pokeman but how many second or 3rd party games are really good hardly any they all suck. if you asked me if your willing to spend 280 on a machine thats glorifide by the past not the present buy an old xbox have it moded and put a bigger hard drive in it and you could play everything just like mine. i have evry game from atari to n64 plus every arcade title since games begun all for only 80 bucks. 360 and ps3 have way better games and the fact that you can play them online (with no lag. smash bros. wii) makes them far supirior and good graphics.
June 15th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
ok, no disrespect to the wii or anything, but the sales doesnt say anything about how good the system is. the wii sells more because it appeals to the younger crowd and it costs less than the ps3 and 360. the ps3 and 360 cost more because of their “nex- gen” graphics and hard drives. hard drives are not cheap as i recall and the ps3 has built in blu ray, you cant excpect a ps3 to cost $250 if it has blu ray, supply and demand people.
and everyone is so into the motion sensing, as i recall the sixaxis controller uses motion sensing just like the wii, then some complain about there being no rumble, the ps3 now has the dual shock 3 in stores complete with rumble and motion sensing. So i dont see what the big fight is all about, wii is for fun , and ps3 is for real gaming- bottom line, contact me at frankiehen2@yahoo.com if u have any more questions about the ps3 vs wii, thank u.