Report: Microsoft Consoles Grabbing Greater Share?

A new weblog report from Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter Todd Bishop has taken a look back at market share for Microsoft's consoles since the North American Xbox 360 launch in November 2005. The report's findings indicated that "Microsoft's consoles [are] attracting a growing percentage of video game sales", based on recent figures released by Electronic Arts, Activision, Midway, Ubisoft and THQ. According to Bishop, compared to the previous year, Xbox 360 and original Xbox software sales accounted for 36 percent of software sold, as compared to 29 percent for the Xbox alone the prior year. However, despite this trend for Microsoft, the report did concede that the the technology giant still has a lot of catching up to do if it hopes to meet or exceed Sony's retail accomplishments, particularly with regard to games sold for the PlayStation 2. Of those companies sampled, PlayStation 2 software sales still represented 56 percent of the combined revenue reported for the year - and the PlayStation 3's launch is likely to change market shares significantly again over the next 12 months. The report also points out that current Xbox software sales weigh heavily in favor of the Xbox 360, with the previous quarter's sales seeing 77 percent of Microsoft console games sold being Xbox 360 releases, while just 23 percent of sales were the result of titles released for the original Xbox.