There has been
rumblings by some analysts that are making the statement
GTA IV will be the game that spurs the Playstation 3 to the lead of the next-gen console war with the Xbox 360 (stop me if you have heard THAT before). So I decided to pursue a little investigative journalism, and used a couple retail sources to delve into the pre-orders of the game for each console. The results I got back (of course it was a small sample) were the direction I expected, but were actually a much higher ratio than I thought. As of today, the Xbox 360 has an almost
3-1 advantage in total pre-order sales of Grand Theft Auto IV over the Playstation 3 from these two retail locations. The total sample size was around 400 pre-orders, with 301 for the Xbox 360 and 108 for the PS3. I had fully expected a 2-1 or 1.5-1 ratio in the 360's favor, but 3-1? Sure, the less installed console base of the PS3 may benefit with more console sales, but Call of Duty IV has shown (and potentially GTA IV) that the Xbox 360 has become the preferred option when it comes to sales of common titles.
Another tidbit that came from my source was that the Xbox 360 is on course to have 20 non-PS3 retail titles this year to only 14-non 360 titles for the Playstation 3. We all know titles slip and this could change, but it does show those that continue to argue that the PS3 has a much stronger exclusive lineup vs the Xbox 360 that things are not as far apart as they would like to believe.
