In a recent interview with IndustryGamers, Sony Computer Entertainment America’s SVP of Publisher Relations, Rob Dyer admited that the Xbox 360 has a “massive lead” in hardware sales. The index ratio is 1.6, meaning there is 1 PS3 sold for every 1.6 Xbox 360 units sold.
Dyer explained that Sony’s main focus is index ratio, which he says gives Sony an idea of how a game fares relative to the installed base. “So if you look at the index ratio and see that where they might have this massive lead on the hardware side, the people that are buying software, when the software growth is happening, it’s happening on the PS3,” he said.
IndustryGamers report that Dyer explained that where on multiplatform releases, the PS3 SKU performed better than the Xbox 360 SKU when comparing the numbers to the respective installed bases for the two high-definition platforms.
“In spite of all the millions that Microsoft has spent on that relationship with Activision, people aren’t voting to buy a 360 version of [Call of Duty] over and above a PS3 version, given the installed base.
“If you have a choice between buying a PS3 version and an Xbox version of Mortal Kombat, which one are you buying? You’re buying the PS3 version because you can play as Kratos. Although Microsoft has a 1.6 to 1 index ratio against us [on hardware], we outsold them on Mortal Kombat nearly at a 1 to 1,” explained Dyer.
Dyer says a large contribution to this factor is due to the exclusive content that you’re getting on disc, suggesting that Sony were more forthcoming with exclusive DLC.
