MS attach rate isn't all that, says Sony

Sony has argued that Microsoft's supposedly amazing attach rate isn't all that brilliant when you consider how long it's been in shops and how many it's sold.

Speaking to Gamasutra, the platform holder claimed that US sales of Tomb Raider: Underworld were actually superior on PS3, while the margin in favour of 360 on games like Street Fighter IV (44,000) and Prince of Persia (36,000) is actually rather small.

Sony even tried to spin the massive 360 sales of Grand Theft Auto IV in its favour, pointing out that while Rockstar's game sold 3.3 million units to US 360 owners and 1.95m on PS3, that means only 23 per cent of 360 owners bought it, compared to nearly 27 per cent of PS3 owners.

Publishing sources told Eurogamer today that the competition is also close in the UK, where Street Fighter IV has sold marginally more units on PS3 than 360, although Tomb Raider and GTAIV are still well in Microsoft's favour.

"If you factor in Xbox 360's longer time in the marketplace and larger install base, Xbox 360 should be selling twice as many software units as PS3 if attach rates were equal - and that is just not what we are seeing at retail with many multiplatform titles," Sony told Gamasutra.

Microsoft claims an attach rate of over eight games per console for Xbox 360, and while Sony's decision to emphasise the number of game sales relative to console sales might seem like an unusual one, this sort of s*** is catnip for publishing executives.

Look out for Microsoft's inevitable reaction soon.