Which Made More Money: Xbox 360 or PS3? Revenue vs. Units Sold

Xbox 360 generated more total revenue; PS3 sold more hardware units.

Hardware Sales (Lifetime)

Revenue Drivers

• Xbox 360: Earlier launch (1 yr head start), Xbox Live Gold subscriptions (paid online, ~50M subs peak), Kinect (24M units, $150 each), strong attach rate (9.9 games/console), DLC marketplace.
• PS3: Higher launch price (loss leader), Blu-ray adoption driver, free PSN (no sub revenue until PS+ 2010), slower start, caught up late generation.

Financial Outcomes

• Microsoft (Entertainment & Devices Division): Reported first annual profit FY2008; cumulative profit by 2014. Xbox 360 + Live + Kinect = significant revenue.
• Sony (Game Division): PS3 lost ~$5B in first 3 years (hardware subsidy). Turned profitable ~2010. Lifetime profit positive but lower margin than Xbox 360 era.

Software Revenue

• Xbox 360: Higher per-console software spend (paid online, earlier digital marketplace maturity).
• PS3: Strong 1st party (Uncharted, GoW, TLOU, GT5) but lower 3rd party attach early on.

Nuance

"Made more money" depends on scope: Hardware revenue → PS3 (higher ASP). Platform profit (HW+SW+Services) → Xbox 360 widely analyzed as more profitable for Microsoft than PS3 was for Sony during gen 7.

Both were succeeded by profitable generations (PS4, Xbox One → Series/PS5).