PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 worldwide sales equal in 2008

Following Sony's announcement of Q3 hardware sales, we thought we'd compare the lot. It looks like the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 basically sold the same amount in 2008.

Sony's PlayStation 3 sold less in the third quarter of 2008 (ie. the Oct-Dec holiday season) than in 2007, but the strength of the console's earlier sales did it proud, shipping* 10.77 million in 2008 (up from 2007's 8.85 million).

In contrast, Microsoft's Xbox 360 had a huge holiday season, shipping around 6 million consoles worldwide (a record for the Xbox), but had a weaker sales period earlier in the year: the playing field has been levelled.

The PlayStation 3 shipped around 10.77 million and the Xbox 360 also shipped 10.8 million: a dead heat. As for life-time sales, the Xbox 360 is at 28.45 million and the PlayStation 3 at 21.35 million - a slightly tighter gap than Microsoft's announced 8 million.

On average the PlayStation 3 has sold 2.37 million units per quarter, in comparison to the Xbox 360's 2.18 million. Still without a PS3 price cut, Microsoft's console will surely pull away in 2009.

As for Nintendo's Wii, it's solidified first place by selling an outstanding 4.99 million units per quarter. Find the numbers below.

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SHIPPED Q3 2008 (Oct-Dec 2008)

PlayStation 3: 4.46m

Wii: 10.42m

Xbox 360: 6.0m

PlayStation 2: 2.52m

NDS: 11.89m

PSP: 5.08m

SHIPPED 2008

PlayStation 3: 10.77m

Wii: 24.84m

Xbox 360: 10.8m

PlayStation 2: 8.88m

NDS: 31.43m

PSP: 15.39m

SHIPPED LIFETIME TO DATE

PlayStation 3: 21.35m

Wii: 44.97m

Xbox 360: 28.45m

PlayStation 2: 138.15m

NDS: 96.22m

PSP: 51.26m

Source: Official company reports

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*Sony reports that beginning with the quarter ending June 30th 2007, the method of reporting hardware and software unit sales has been changed from production shipments to recorded sales: however, we're not so sure, so we'll leave these numbers as shipped, not sold.