The OFFICIAL PS3 Vs X360 Vs Wii

[BlackKnight]

The Wii is the most depressing console of all time

You are absolutely correct. It markets a device to a large non-gaming audience, gets a large number of sales, and pretends that means it is what gaming is all about.

 

It is like that Goosebumps series from the 90s breaking sales records and then preaching to all other novelists that it is how a story should be written.

 

Illogical and arrogant. I'm glad Wii software attach rates and sales are pitiful, else that wretched machine might have could have changed gaming as we know it into light hufflepuff rubbish.

[garyoak99]

You are absolutely correct. It markets a device to a large non-gaming audience, gets a large number of sales, and pretends that means it is what gaming is all about.

 

Illogical and arrogant. I'm glad Wii software attach rates and sales are pitiful, else that wretched machine might have could have changed gaming as we know it into light hufflepuff rubbish.

 

I wouldn't say the Wii's software attach rates are THAT bad; aren't the PS3's software attach rates even worse?

 

What about those who worry that the Xbox 360's software attach rates are TOO high?

 

While traditionally a growth in attach rate is considered to be a positive, the report suggests that such an increase could mean that even though Xbox 360 software continues to enjoy brisk sales, the hardware itself has not seen similar increases in consumer demand. In fact, it concludes: “We believe the unusually high attach rate on the 360 is a sign of an increasingly unhealthy console growth rate, and should be worrisome to publishers and investors.”

 

The analysts further explain their hypothesis by offering that a significant portion of the Xbox 360 consoles currently in circulation were purchased by hard-core gamers, who, by definition, purchase a lot of games.

[BlackKnight]

How can a system have too high an attach rate? The software sales per unit sold at a lost is where the profit comes from.

[garyoak99]

How can a system have too high an attach rate? The software sales per unit sold at a lost is where the profit comes from.

 

Okay, the article goes on to say this:

 

Because of this, even if the hardware installed base were to remain relatively unchanged over the next 18 months, the software attach rate would continue to climb. Thus, while the numbers would seem to indicate a healthy consumer trend for the Xbox 360, the report concludes that “its growth will be capped fairly quickly without an ever-expanding hardware installed base.”

 

The report further adds that the Xbox 360's high software attach rate is “a damning commentary on the limited hardware installed base, most of whom are hard-core gamers.” The analysts add that what is actually needed by Microsoft for its latest console, as well as by third party software publishers, is “quicker adoption of hardware and a rapidly growing installed base on which to sell progressively more game units,” rather than just more games sold per existing Xbox 360 owner.

 

I don't understand this comment though:

 

The software sales per unit sold at a lost is where the profit comes from.

 

"Sold at a lost?"

[gavin19]

I don't understand this comment though:

 

The software sales per unit sold at a lost is where the profit comes from.

 

"Sold at a lost?"

 

I assume BK meant that given the 360 itself is sold at a loss, then the software sales are where the profit comes from.

[garyoak99]

I assume BK meant that given the 360 itself is sold at a loss, then the software sales are where the profit comes from.

 

Oh! I see; that would make much more sense! The only problem with that would be the following argument:

 

What does it benefit publishers and investors if ten games are being purchased by a total audience of 10 million 360 owners? It doesn’t take effort to see that a console with an attach rate of 8 and an installed base of 50 million is superior to a console with an attach rate of 12 with an installed base of 20 mln."

 

The amount of hardware sold does affect the ultimate profit although the software attach rate is important to a certain degree.

[BlackKnight]

What does it benefit publishers and investors if ten games are being purchased by a total audience of 10 million 360 owners? It doesn’t take effort to see that a console with an attach rate of 8 and an installed base of 50 million is superior to a console with an attach rate of 12 with an installed base of 20 mln."

Yeh but if we're comparing the Wii and the 360, it's more like an installed base of 50 million with an attach rate of 0.5, as compared to the 360.

 

As for the PS3, the installed base is similar to the 360, but with an attach rate of about half as many games per machine.

[garyoak99]

Yeh but if we're comparing the Wii and the 360, it's more like an installed base of 50 million with an attach rate of 0.5, as compared to the 360.

 

As for the PS3, the installed base is similar to the 360, but with an attach rate of about half as many games per machine.

 

That is a bit excessive; the latest software sales ratios were from April of this year:

 

Xbox 360: software sales ratio: 7.5

Wii: software sales ratio: 5.3

PS3: software sales ratio: 4.6

 

The Wii software sales ratio or attach rate doesn't look THAT bad compared with the Xbox 360 especially considering the Xbox 360 did have an extra year to market its games. The software sales ratio for PS3 does look bad even considering that both the Wii and the PS3's software ratios have already improved from what they were just six months ago!

[BlackKnight]

Those numbers are skewed. Remember that the Wii has always had 1 pack in title. The 360 and PS3 have and haven't, but the Wii always has, in every box.