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Microsoft may be desperate to position the Xbox 360 as the living room’s multimedia hub, but new stats suggest it lags behind its rival in key areas.
A report from Nielsen says that just 13 per cent of the time US users spent with their Xbox 360 in 2012 was spent watching video-on-demand. And that’s down from the 14 per cent VOD claimed in 2011.
By contrast, PS3’s VOD time stood at 24 per cent (up from 15 per cent) while Wii was 32 per cent (down from 33 per cent).
PS3 was also far ahead of Xbox 360 when it came to watching disc media (18 per cent versus nine per cent), although of course PS3’s integrated Blu-ray player would have played a part in this.
Usage called as other” such as browsing the web and listening to music saw Wii lead with a 17 per cent share compared to PS3’s eight per cent and Xbox 360’s six per cent.
Where Xbox 360 does excel, however, is online gaming, which claimed 33 per cent of users’ total usage. PS3 was 28 per cent (down from 38 per cent) and Wii 40 per cent (down from 55 per cent).
The findings are interesting at a time when Sony has positioned PS4 very much as a system made by gamers for gamers while Microsoft is expected to further push its living room entertainment philosophy with the new Xbox, which will be revealed next month.
Here are all the stats:
