Ah, the console wars. A battle that rages on between console manufacturers — while simultaneously, fanboys dedicated to each respective console fight on their own front: the internet. Both the big 3 console makers and the fanboys themselves share a love for a particular form of artillery in this war… sales figures.
One side argues that the Xbox 360 has been, month over month, stomping upon the PS3 and the Wii in the US. The next group argues that the PS3 has now overtaken the 360 in worldwide sales. While the Wii supporters, though few and far between, drop the atomic bomb — the Wii is the best-selling console this generation.
Yet they all forget what really counts. And that's the games. Each of their system(s) of choice would be nothing without software to support it. But which console moves the most software?
In an in-depth analysis of attach rates over at Gamasutra, some light is shed on the current state of software sales for each console — and they're neck and neck. A perfect example of this, is the best-selling video game of all time, Call of Duty: Black Ops.
Black Ops has a higher attach rate on the PlayStation 3 here in the US, according to NPD Group statistics. But before any PS3 fanboys get on the megaphone, because of the much larger install base of the Xbox 360 here in the US, means that more copies of Black Ops have been sold on the Xbox 360, overall. In fact, as quoted from Gamasutra's analysis:
"A game would have to have an attach rate 1.66 times greater on the PS3 to have the same absolute sales as the same rate on the Xbox 360. That is, in terms of just absolute sales figures, an attach rate of 5 percent on the PS3 is equivalent to 3% on the Xbox 360."
The Gamasutra analysis gets more in-depth as to which games and genres sell better on each console, which you can view here.
The morale of this story is… just play the games you enjoy. Let go of these "console wars", nobody is a winner. Even if you really get into the sales figures, it's all a wash. Video games and consoles are more varied than ever, if you're only committed to one, you're missing out on a number of unique experiences.
