Analyst: Playstation 3 Stealing Away XBOX 360’s Global Share

A latest report from Strategy Analysts has revealed that Sony's PlayStation 3 is increasing its global market share at the expense of Microsoft's Xbox 360.

For the first quarter of 2010, the PS3's global share shot up to 31% - a combination of the price cut,'Slim' console and AAA software such as God of War III and Uncharted 2 had been cited as catalysts for the increase. Strategy Analysts' report forecasts that Sony's platform will reach 14 million global sales, compared to 17.5 million Wiis and 10.5 million Xbox 360s.

"Our analysis shows that while Wii sales fell relative to Q109, its share in fact remained constant relative to Q409. The main movement in Q1 2010 was the growing share for Sony’s PS3, at the expense of Microsoft’s Xbox 360," said David Mercer, Principal Analyst at Strategy Analytics.

"The PS3 continues to benefit from the price cut last September. This should help the PS3 maintain growth momentum throughout 2010," Mercer added, while noting that "the introduction of the Natal technology should also help re-energize Microsoft’s Xbox 360 platform in the second half of the year."

The research firm claims that the global games market is facing "major uncertainties" for the rest of this year noting the "extent and pace of the Wii’s decline," and not knowing what kind of impact the upcoming release of the motion controls will have on consumers for both Sony and Microsoft. Strategy Analytics also believes that global video game console sales will fall by 9% by the end of this year.