Neither of you can be serious. The stance that the PS3 is ahead of Xbox 360 is impossible to hold because never, not one day, did any data prove the PS3 ever passed the Xbox 360. You are assuming it did at some point and there is zero reason to assume that in an honest way. Using a 2017 figure against a 2014 figure is disingenuous.
I don't actually have to provide anything about the Xbox 360 because the last time its number was reported, it was ahead the PS3. Base assumption is that it stayed ahead because nothing shows why it would fall behind. I have provided actual data showing that the 360 would be ahead of the PS3. Nothing exists that shows the PS3 outsold the 360 in the end and you can't ignore the 360 sold more units after the 84M announcement.
Also no jacotol, Xbox as whole stopped reporting hardware shipments at that point and had been since 2015. Also, logic dictates they did that because of the Xbox One, not Xbox 360.
Occam's razor: The principle that in explaining a thing no more assumptions should be made than are necessary.
What do we know is fact? Xbox 360 was the first to hit 80M in October 2013. Xbox 360 out shipped PS3 in the following 2 quarters (Q4 2013 and Q1 2014). Xbox 360 announces 84M in June 2014. PS3 sold 87.4M in March 2017.
Tell me where in those facts show the PS3 outsold the 360. You are assuming the PS3 did. You would then be further assuming that Microsoft is hiding the final Xbox 360 number because they are below PS3. The side that has PS3 over Xbox 360 only has assumptions.
@Himura Kenshin You can't wiggle out of this. You believe the PS3 MUST be ahead of Xbox 360 because the 2017 number is higher than a reported 2014 figure. This is the worst argument I've heard. Prove to me that the PS3 in 2017 has a higher number than the 360 in 2017.
@jacotol I'll never use estimated shipments for arguments. Microsoft stopped reporting hard numbers for individual consoles in Q2 2014. Here's the source for those 360 shipments straight from Microsoft.
Xbox 360 shipments in Q4 2013: 3.5M
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investor/earnings/FY-2014-Q2/press-release-webcast
Xbox 360 shipments in Q1 2014: 0.8M
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investor/earnings/FY-2014-Q3/press-release-webcast
After the two quarters that you say (wich in fact are not estimated, so i apologize, i really thought playstation numbers were estimated, in my memory sony only gave combined numbers but I have searched and I have seen that in addition to combining them they also said separated numbers for ps3 and ps4 for some time) i found some more info for next quarters:
1.APR-JUN 2014 1.1M xbox (one+360), 2.7M ps4 and 0.8M ps3
2.JUL-SEP 2014 2.4M xbox (with one launching in 28 markets), 3.3M ps4 and 0.8M ps3
3.OCT-DEC 2014 6.6M xbox, 6,4M ps4 and 1,1M ps3
4.JAN-MAR 2015 ? xbox, 2,4M ps4 and 0,8M ps3
If microsoft had stopped giving figures only because of xbox one, frankly, I think they would have stopped giving figures much earlier, because directly from the beginning of 2014 ps4 was selling much more than xbox one and even than xbox one and 360 combined (your Q1 2014 already is 2M total xbox 1.2M xbox one versus 3M just for ps4), however, there seems to be a trend even changing criteria to announce figures in the middle of the fiscal year, while sony maintains its criteria homogeneously throughout its fiscal year at least.
Obviously from the announcement of 84 million for 360 it's all speculation, because microsoft did not announce new figures, but most likely if ps3 was almost always ahead of 360 in sales when launch aligned, the "race" to 80 was almost neck to neck (1-2 months difference), probably the race to 84 million too, and ps3 was still in production 1 year after 360 was discontinued, it seems very possible that ps3 finished ahead of 360 in total numbers, nothing points to "completely impossible" or like Himura and me are completely blind or so, i can even say that is very possible that when microsoft announced the end of 360 production and didn´t say any final number it was because ps3 already surpassed it at that time.
When you've been practically a whole generation presuming that you were going ahead of the competition (even though it was only by the hair of a shrimp) and then you shut up, we have to be honest, the most simple and logic explanation is that the competition surpassed you at some point, and more coming from a company that even when it was taking a beating in the next generation with xbox one went to brag whenever they could to say that they had won, even though it was a pyrrhic victory, we are talking about microsoft, they love winning over playstation.
PS5 selling 20M is temporary, PS3 vs 360 LTD sales is forever
PS5 is selling everything that sony can ship. PS3 vs 360 LTD will always have a halo of mystery, since both theories can be supported at some point because microsoft stopped giving any kind of figure and I think it's something that can be debated as long as people don't insult each other or don't take it too personally. obviously we are talking about marginal differences since a priori both consoles are or should be close to 87-88 million.
In a court of law then sure, it's Microsoft's burden. But we are rational people who can combine multiple facts to determine what is likely.
Since Microsoft doesn't announce any numbers for Xbox Series, in a sense it is behind Game Boy Micro. But that sense is not a very useful one.
Implying that those who don't think like you maybe are crazy and then using an "argument" that is basically an attempted strawman fallacy is perhaps not the best intervention in the thread. As much as you want to have the unquestionable truth there are arguments and points to support all opinions, and in fact at the end of the day, there is no official final number indicating that 360 has sold more than ps3, so at least you should treat different opinions with a little more respect.