360 and PS3 rocket during bumper Easter

The race between Xbox 360 and PS3 shifted up a notch this past week as both consoles saw huge leaps in hardware sales, thanks to the Easter break.

Though PS3 is still outselling 360 regularly week-on-week and in terms of year-to-date sales, the Sony and Microsoft platforms both saw a 73 and 78 per cent rise in hardware sales respectively this week.

Nintendo’s mega-selling Wii and DS also saw significant rises, despite stock concerns.

ChartTrack data obtained by MCV suggests that the Easter break also saw a significant boost for software sales as parents and school kids rushed to the High Street to snap up the latest releases.

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.”

Retailer activity, particularly from Dixons and Argos, have boosted already strong PS3 sales – and there’s more to come, said Bloch.

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.”

But it’s not over yet – a split Easter period means that the sales bonanza will continue into next week, added Bloch. Some schools are on holiday so next week will be similar, as there are a lot of product slated for March 28th. We’ve seen bumper sales this week and we can expect the same for next week.”

WEEK-ON-WEEK HARDWARE SALES

360 – Up 78 per cent
PS3 – Up 73 per cent
Wii – Up 37 per cent
DS – Up 32 per cent
PSP – Up 10 per cent