Hardware Sales Spike Over Easter, PS3 Leads 360 In 2008

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Bunny rabbits, colorful eggs and candy is often associated with Easter, but let's not forget about video games. According to MCV, the Easter break sparked a major upswing in hardware sales for all three competing platforms...but perhaps most significantly, the PS3 continues to outsell the 360 on a regular week-to-week basis. That simply wasn't possible this time last year.

Anyway, over the long weekend, the PlayStation 3 enjoyed a 73% increase in sales while the Xbox 360 did slightly better with a 78% increase. The Wii also went up, although by a lesser margin at 37%. MCV cites CartTrack when claiming software sales also got a "significant boost" over the holiday.

“Week 12 fell during Easter so we saw software and hardware up across the board,” ChartTrack director Dorian Bloch told MCV. “PS3 and Xbox 360 are pretty much neck and neck at the moment, with PS3 slightly ahead. Software was up, and the formats that Rainbow Six Vegas 2 appeared on did especially well.”

Bloch also elaborated more on the current state of the console war, which is definitely heating up. It's a 3-horse race now, that's for damn sure.

“The release of GT5 Prologue and its bundle will see a further rise on PS3 after its release. PS3 has been outselling Xbox 360 for some time, but last week they were pretty close. In terms of sales so far this year, PS3 is ahead.”

This is good news for the industry, as it's clear that a lagging economy isn't having an adverse affect on video games. In fact, it seems to be helping it along, in some ways. Either way, we'll always support our favorite hobby with much enthusiasm and vigor, right? Of course we will.

3/28/2008 Ben Dutka

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