There is ONLY ONE reason why 360 is selling better than PS3 in Pakistan, PIRACY. Nothing else.
All those bigger library, more exclusives, trend, online, culture, better multiplatform or ANY other reason given does not matter AT ALL. Just answer a simple question
"If PS3 had piracy while 360 didn't, would you have bought a 360 instead of PS3?"
I don't think even Usuf would have bought a 360 in that case
. He wouldn't have had much trouble saying goodbye to Halo :lol:
Considering how much piracy matters to us, it is really surprising how good PS3 is doing in Pakistan. Let's face it, NO console other than PS3 could have existed in Pakistan without piracy.
Calling it a failure is not justified in my opinion when even without piracy it is doing better than the best selling console in the world which does support piracy (for any brain dead person, I'm talking about Wii here).
As far as why 360 isn't as successful in Pakistan as PS2 is concerned, there are two reasons for that. One factor is brand recognition. And the other factor, which is even more important, is RROD.
People in Pakistan are just not as accustomed to 360 as they are to Playstations. After Playstation 1 and 2, Playstation has become another name for a game console (just like Saga used to be). Older people might get confused if you say console, but they would easily understand if you say Playstation. I know of instances when people had to be told that 360 is the Playstation from Microsoft :wink2:
When 360 was launched it started capturing the Pakistani market at a rapid pace, especially when PS3 wasn't pirated. But RROD gave it a really bad name. Almost every early 360 owner had to face RROD. No console before 360 had such a low durability rate. People want cheaper games, but they don't want to buy a new console every six months either. So in the period when 360 was supposed to gain popularity, it actually started gathering bad reputation as well.
Before launch of FALCON I visited many shops asking for 360 prices. Many of those shopkeepers told me that they have stopped selling 360s because it can fail within a month or even a week. Even the shopkeepers who had some in stock clearly said that they won't be responsible if it breaks.
I believe if 360 had launched with something as reliable as a Jasper it would have been a real success in Pakistan and it would have become a house hold name by now, just like a Playstation.