PS3 could catch Xbox 360 in two years

The worldwide install base of PS3 is now just 5.4m units behind that of Xbox 360, according to the latest numbers from Sony and Microsoft.

Eurogamer reports that total PS3 console sales now stand at 39.2m units. Xbox 360 retains a narrow lead for the time being with sales of 44.6m units.

However, in the most recent quarter it was the PS3 that enjoyed the better sales, shifting 3.5m machines. In contrast Microsoft sold 2.8m units. If those sales rates were to remain consistent then the PS3 would overtake the Xbox 360 by this time in 2012.

The big if here, though, is the possible impact of the recently released PS3 Move motion controller and the upcoming launch of Xbox 360 Kinect.

Kinect is proving to be a pre-sales hit, and a number of surveys have predicted that the camera peripheral will outperform Move in the market.

And as Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg argues, Kinect has been designed to expand the market reach of Xbox 360 whereas, as the Microsoft exec argues at least, Move has been designed to sell to the existing userbase.

UPDATE: As pointed out by one of our readers, Sony's numbers seem to suggest that the total number of PS3s sold currently stands at 41.6m This would mean at current sales rates PS3 would catch Xbox 360 by the end of 2011.