Sony made its announcement first, that while the PlayStation 3 came in third behind the Xbox 360 and Wii in worldwide sales in 2011, Sony’s console led sales in Australia. In total, the PS3 has reached an install base of almost 1.5M in the country.
According to sales figures, software and peripherals accounted for 25% of units sold and 31% of value at Australian retail; this represented the largest margin of any platform. For example, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 PS3 outsold every other platform release of the shooter.
“The uplift on PS3 sales was no small feat, in fact, our percentage year-on-year unit growth was triple that of our nearest competitor,” said SCE Australia boss Michael Ephraim, who added that the console had a 24% in year-to-year sales.
As for PlayStation Network digital software sales, Ephraim downplayed its performance, only stating that the online revenues grew across the service since last year.
While Microsoft made no claims for total sales in 2011, the company announced not long after Sony’s report that the Xbox 360 outsold all consoles during the holiday season.
Microsoft Consumer Channels Group director David McLean stated, “We won at the telling Christmas period, we are standalone in our growth this year and looking at the past five years our consistency is unprecedented,” and added that the Xbox 360 was “the only platform to show growth” during calendar 2011.
The NPD Group Australia was used as the source of both Sony’s and Microsoft’s sales figures.