Microsoft is leading the US in active units, but the global market is a different thing altogether as the 360 has lost ground to Sony’s PS3 as of the end of 2010 according to a report from data firm Strategy Analytics.
The active install base is the number of units currently in use. This is different from total sold because some consoles have met their demise or fallen into disuse over the years.
The Wii still leads the pack with an install base of 75.5 million active units worldwide. The race between the two HD consoles is much narrower, with the Xbox 360 at 42.9 million units and the PS3 overpassing its rival with 43.4 million units. These are numbers at the close of 2010.
The reason for this is the global market. Even though the Xbox 360 has a 10 million unit lead over the PS3 in the US, it’s not having the same success globally. The firm states the 360’s relative weakness in the European and Asian markets acts as “a drag on its global performance.”
Strategy Analytics’ Digital Consumer Practice analyst, Jia Wu said that “while the Kinect peripheral has given a boost to Microsoft’s Xbox 360 strategy, the console’s performance outside of the U.S. continues to disappoint.”
The report also predicts that PS3 will expand its global sales to 15.7 million units by the end of the year, while the Xbox is estimated to grow by 13.7 million. The Wii, the current console king in units sold, is expected to continue declining in sales.
Wu further added that global demand for the PS3 has exceeded that of the 360 in each of the past two years and they expect that trend to continue over the coming years.
Source: Gamasutra
PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony, Analysts, Strategy Analyctics
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