Popularity of GTA IV: The Lost & Damned over Killzone 2 Spells Trouble for PlayStation

Jason Wong • Mar 20, 2009 • Comments (0)

Xbox 360 product management director Aaron Greenberg let slip in an interview that Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost & Damned expansion pack (an Xbox exclusive) sold extremely well through LIVE, becoming "the most successful game addon content we've ever launched."

"If that content was sold at retail, it would be one of the best sellers across all platforms," boasted Greenberg. "It would have outsold Killzone 2."

Though the exact numbers have not been released, extrapolating from February's NPD sales figures, The Lost & Damned must have sold more than 323,000 units, which is the amount sold of the PS3 exclusive Killzone 2. One caveat to temper Greenberg's celebration: Killzone 2 was out for only a few days in February, whereas the The Lost & Damned had been selling for nearly two weeks during the month.

Greenberg attributes success of the expansion pack to LIVE's interface that inherently promotes attention-worthy content in the Spotlight channel . He believes through this promotional mechanism, they have influenced the purchase decisions of millions of people.

Greenberg was quick to add another jab to Sony by claiming that existing PS2 owners favor migrating to Xbox 360 rather than PS3 as their next-gen console. "You can't underestimate that we're half the price of the PS3 at a time when consumers were looking for great value," he rationalized.

"The PS3 was down in February [by] 2%, even with the launch of Killzone 2 -- that's months of year-over-year declines. Xbox continues to head north while the PS3 is heading south. We're gaining share," exclaimed Greenberg. "What we're finding in our research is that a large portion of the volume we're driving with Xbox 360 purchasers is actually PS2 owners choosing Xbox for the next generation. We're switching people from the PlayStation brand over to the Xbox brand."

With the Xbox 360 version of Street Fighter IV outselling the PS3 version in February, it seems a similar trend is emerging with Resident Evil 5. Greenberg suggested that a growing percentage of brands associated with PlayStation have become available on Xbox, and in some cases were the preferred version.

Is Greenberg justified in saying that PlayStation is a dying brand? Is the popularity of The Lost & Damned over Killzone 2 a sign of Sony's decline? So far, the numbers support him. The answer will become clearer as people continue to vote with their wallets.