Not to be outdone by yesterdays announcement by Nintendo that it had sold six million wii's in Japan, Microsoft announced it has reached (and surely passing as you read this), the 10 million mark here in the United States.
My initial reaction is that it was about damn time someone hit the ten million mark and I'm glad it isn't the wii. Why ? Well while the Wii has the casual game market down pat, if it had reached the ten million mark first then other console manufacturers would drink the kool-aid as though the four hundred pound jug of juice himself were stricken with hemophilia.
The "casual", gamer demographic while several times larger then the hardcore gamer demographic, is mostly made up of people who will purchase the wii or DS to play WiiSports (the game the wii comes with), or BrainAge for those moments on the bus or sitting at home when boredom threatens to take over a puzzle solving exercise or list of childish math problems is preferred.
The "Hard core" demographic by contrast to there casual counterparts glacial pace of game purchases, scoops em up like they are treasured commodities. The hardcore gamer will purchase 3-5 games a year if they are strapped for cash and rent out a couple dozen in the same period. The best case of both fusing to together in matrimony seems to be Gamefly, which is quickly becoming the Netflix of games. That's another story though.
Looking at the other numbers microsoft is no doube happy to flaunt in the face of Nintendo, its online service now could make for an impressive commercial reminiscent of the ones Blizzard used to make for World Of Warcraft. With 12 million online, how can you go wrong with xboxlive ?
Well considering Microsoft isn't differentiating between the gold members (who pay around 60 US dollars or the cost of one 360 game a year), or Silver members (who pay nothing and can't play multi player games online), the actual value of that number is up for dispute.
Microsoft to date has sold 19 million Xbox 360 consoles worldwide.
Sony meanwhile predicts it will sell 10 million PlayStation 3's this year, a million more then it sold last year and easily equaling Microsoft Worldwide sales. Remember that Sony currently retains the position for having the biggest console (anyone need a George Foreman grill impersonator?), and boasts the ability to play blue-ray (Sony's now victorious high end media platform).
For all the crap I tend to give Sony about Home (which Sony now admits was vaporware in its original second Life type form), or its game selection (which should be helped by Metal Gear Solid 4 coming out this year....finally), it could well become highly competitive platform at least as far as publishers are concerned.
Though Microsoft doesn't see it that way. "History has shown us that the first company to reach 10 million in console sales wins the generation battle. We are uniquely positioned to set a new benchmark for the industry," said Don Mattrick, Microsoft's senior vice president of Interactive Entertainment Business.
Can't we all just get along ?
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