Wowie! Sony (SNE) is out there bragging about the PS3’s attach rates for blockbuster titles relative to the opposing Microsoft (MSFT) Xbox 360:
According to Sony, as of the beginning of March 2009, the Xbox 360 SKU of Street Fighter IV has only outsold the PS3 version by about 44,000 units thus far — "that’s closer to a 1:1 ratio than a 2:1 ratio," Sony says.
In fact, Sony says its U.S. attach rate for Capcom’s blockbuster sequel is better overall: with 402,919 software units sold life to date on the PS3, its attach rate is 5.5 percent, whereas with 446,435 units, the Xbox 360’s rate would be only 3.1 percent.
The picture looks even better for PlayStation 3 with Tomb Raider: Underworld, which actually sold more units thus far in the U.S. (136,245) on PS3 than Xbox 360 (108,784) — spelling an attach rate of 1.9 versus .7 percent, respectively.
The gap wasn’t too wide with Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia, either, where only 36,000 units separated the Xbox 360 and PS3 in America. The game sold 304,851 units on the Xbox 360 (2.1 percent attach rate) and 268,935 units on the PS3 (3.7 percent).
As for Grand Theft Auto IV, Sony cited the franchise’s "rich legacy with the PlayStation brand" to explain its 26.9 percent attach rate versus Xbox 360’s 23 percent. However, the Xbox 360 version has still sold 3,362,196 units to date in the U.S., compared to 1,959,798 units for PlayStation 3, according to stats provided to Gamasutra by Sony.
Does any of this matter?
Not really. Here’s why:
1) The Xbox 360’s Lower Price Attracts More Casual Gamers
The PS3’s high price clearly makes it a hardcore-gaming machine. The Xbox 360 crowd isn’t nearly as casual as the Nintendo Wii’s, but its lower price makes it attractive to those who just want to play Madden a couple times a week. Hardcore gamers buy far more games than casual ones, thus the attach rate for the PS3 should be inherently higher simply because of the nature of its audience.
2) Sony is Cherry-Picking
Sony is obviously cherry-picking in selecting its data. I mean, why bring up a random game like Tomb Raider: Underworld, which wasn’t exactly a blockbuster hit. Sub-2% attach rates are nothing to brag about. Sony’s PR department is not a reliable source for objective data analysis.
3) NPD Data is Not Gospel
NPD data is helpful when it comes to analyzing sales trends, but it is not even close to being 100% accurate. If it was, analysts would have a much easier job and wouldn’t be wrong so often. For example, it doesn’t include Wal-Mart (WMT), which is an even bigger party of the retail pie now that Circuit City has disintegrated.
Console-makers are territorial and insecure, so they always want to spin the data to make themselves look better to the relative competition. Besides, there’s a much better way to judge the PS3’s performance. Like a stock chart with Sony, Microsoft, and the Morgan Stanley High Technology Index since the PS3’s Japanese launch on November 11, 2006. (Note that this chart starts from Monday the 13th, the first day of trading after the PS3’s launch)
I’ll admit this isn’t the clearest-looking chart in the world, but as you can see, Sony returned –38% vs –36% for Microsoft and –31% for the Morgan Stanley High Technology Index. The PS3 hasn’t done anything special for shareholders, so Sony really doesn’t have much to brag about, especially with Microsoft successfully capturing millions more in unit sales.
Sales of functioning units, well, that’s a story for another day…
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