Jabs at Sony: Microsoft comments on NPD figures

 

As if the floating French barge of Xbox 360 love and the world wide outpouring of what to do with spare money and an Xbox 360 (Why, buy beer of course!) weren’t enough, Microsoft marketing decides it needs to add some salt to open wounds. You see, Gamasutra reported that Sony felt like they needed to release an official response to the recently released NPD figures. The Gamasutra report says:

The statement quotes NPD data as showing “a 24 percent increase in retail dollars generated year-over-year for the PlayStation brand in North America with total sales of $447 million, due in part to the addition of the PS3 platform as well as the strong launch performance of God of War II for PS2 at retail.”

Despite the PlayStation 3 being outperformed not only by the Xbox 360 and Wii, but also the Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PSP and even Game Boy Advance, the statement goes on to assert that, “PS3 saw a month-over-month increase of 2 percent with sales of 129,638 units, we continued to find ourselves supply constrained in March due primarily to the shift in manufacturing focus to the PS3 PAL version to support the launch of the system in Europe.”

And here’s Microsoft jumping at this like a hungry tiger to a drunk rabbit:

The latest numbers have been released by NPD, and we’re happy to announce that Xbox 360 continues to lead Sony’s PS3 in next-generation gaming console sales with 199K units sold in the month of March.

Xbox 360 also maintained its record-setting software attach rate for the eighth month in a row at 5.7 games sold per console for the month of March, thanks to the great titles available for the platform, including four of which were among the top 10 best-selling games across all consoles, including “Def Jam Icon” (EA). “Guitar Hero II” (RedOctane/Activision), “Major League Baseball 2K7” (2K Sports) and “Tom ClancyÂ’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2″ (Ubisoft).

WeÂ’re also excited about the success of “Guitar Hero II” (RedOctane/Activision), which exploded on to the Xbox 360 platform in April selling 291,000 units after only five days on the market; that means nearly 2,500 units per hour were rolling off the store shelves. This made it the number three top-selling game in this period across all consoles. Games like “Guitar Hero II” that were once PlayStation exclusives are now enabling consumers to have more choices when it comes to platform selection, while also broadening our portfolio of games that appeal to customers of all ages.

Of course while we have arguments with that “games that appeal to customers of all ages” (more games like Viva Piñata please!), you just have to appreciate the sheer acidity that came with that little “exclusives” jab of theirs.

Now if they can only figure out how Japan likes their stuff, hmm…

 

As if the floating French barge of Xbox 360 love and the world wide outpouring of what to do with spare money and an Xbox 360 (Why, buy beer of course!) weren’t enough, Microsoft marketing decides it needs to add some salt to open wounds. You see, Gamasutra reported that Sony felt like they needed to release an official response to the recently released NPD figures. The Gamasutra report says:

The statement quotes NPD data as showing “a 24 percent increase in retail dollars generated year-over-year for the PlayStation brand in North America with total sales of $447 million, due in part to the addition of the PS3 platform as well as the strong launch performance of God of War II for PS2 at retail.”

Despite the PlayStation 3 being outperformed not only by the Xbox 360 and Wii, but also the Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PSP and even Game Boy Advance, the statement goes on to assert that, “PS3 saw a month-over-month increase of 2 percent with sales of 129,638 units, we continued to find ourselves supply constrained in March due primarily to the shift in manufacturing focus to the PS3 PAL version to support the launch of the system in Europe.”

And here’s Microsoft jumping at this like a hungry tiger to a drunk rabbit:

The latest numbers have been released by NPD, and we’re happy to announce that Xbox 360 continues to lead Sony’s PS3 in next-generation gaming console sales with 199K units sold in the month of March.

Xbox 360 also maintained its record-setting software attach rate for the eighth month in a row at 5.7 games sold per console for the month of March, thanks to the great titles available for the platform, including four of which were among the top 10 best-selling games across all consoles, including “Def Jam Icon” (EA). “Guitar Hero II” (RedOctane/Activision), “Major League Baseball 2K7” (2K Sports) and “Tom ClancyÂ’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2″ (Ubisoft).

WeÂ’re also excited about the success of “Guitar Hero II” (RedOctane/Activision), which exploded on to the Xbox 360 platform in April selling 291,000 units after only five days on the market; that means nearly 2,500 units per hour were rolling off the store shelves. This made it the number three top-selling game in this period across all consoles. Games like “Guitar Hero II” that were once PlayStation exclusives are now enabling consumers to have more choices when it comes to platform selection, while also broadening our portfolio of games that appeal to customers of all ages.

Of course while we have arguments with that “games that appeal to customers of all ages” (more games like Viva Piñata please!), you just have to appreciate the sheer acidity that came with that little “exclusives” jab of theirs.

Now if they can only figure out how Japan likes their stuff, hmm…