Aaron Greenberg, Xbox 360 product management director, in reaction to the February NPD sales figures recently commented on the successes of Xbox Live, the number of quality titles available on the system, and how the PlayStation 3 is “hemorrhaging at retail.”‚ Ouch.
Greenberg, in an interview with GamaSutra points out that “We have over 130 titles rated over 80 on Metacritic; no other platform even has 100 at that level, as well as a per-system average software attach rate of 8.2, along with exclusive online content.”
Exclusive online content you say?‚ Greenberg went on to reveal that the exclusive Lost and Damned expansion to Grand Theft Auto 4 was “the most successful game add-on content we’ve ever launched.”
Greenberg claims that if the Lost and Damned were sold at retail it “would have outsold Killzone 2,” and while he did not spit out specific sales figures regarding digital purchases, we know that Killzone 2 sold 323,000 units in February meaning the GTA expansion sold even more.
Greenberg not only praised his company’s efforts, he trashed-talked the competition, namely Sony when he describes their business model as “hemorrhaging” with PS2 owners upgrading to the value-minded Xbox 360 instead of the bank-buster PS3.
“You can’t underestimate that we’re half the price of the PS3 at a time when consumers were looking for great value,” he said. “The PS3 was down in February two percent even with the launch of Killzone 2 — that’s months of year-over-year declines. Xbox continues to head north while the PS3 is heading south. We’re gaining share.”
With both industry analysts and would-be PS3 owners calling for a price cut, will Sony finally give in, or weather the storm hoping for the best?
Read the full interview over at GamaSutra