It looks like it was all worth it in the end – thanks to a $100 price cut to the 80GB version, and the introduction of a reasonably priced 40GB version, the Playstation 3’s weekly sales have more than doubled in the US.
According to Sony, more than 100,000 units sold during the week ending November 11 in the US, a huge jump from the 30-40,000 units it was doing regularly in October. Even more impressive are Japan’s figures; sales were 80,000 during the same week. In mid-October, they were moving about 20,000 units per week.
That all sounds great for Sony, who are hemorrhaging money now, but the reality is that they are still a long way from reaching sales figures of the Wii and 360, who saw even bigger sales increases as the holiday spending season started (both had about 300,000 units sold during Sony’s big week, and were in the 200,000 range in mid-October).
Naturally, Sony will spin this as being a great move, and the results were to expected. But they still have the major issues of there simply being very few exclusive titles for the console, and non-exclusives playing better on the XBOX 360 for the most part.
[...] and take a look at each console. Let’s see if the PS3 has made strides! It’s certainly selling better [...]
Some people who read your site can do math.
You say both Wii and Xbox 360 did 300,000 each during Sony’s big week, but also say they were selling 200,000 per week in mid-October. These numbers would put both well over 700,000 for the month, which neither achieved (based on the Sales figures for October published on your site). I know you used the numbers for maximum effect, but Sony is doing badly enough that you don’t need to fudge the numbers. Love your site!
It’s reviews like this that really shape this massive debate and offer fair grounds for both the consoles.
I am, I dare say, a sony fanboy and will be sticking with the company in the hope of glimmering future.
Huh?
I think the only ones ‘fudging’ numbers is Sony. Looking back, their US totals for that week was actually in the 60K range, not 100K as they stated.
It looks like the others overstated their numbers as well; US totals for Wii and 360 that week are in the 150K range, with PS3 at 60K
Worldwide, the Wii did 266K, and the 360 and PS3 were actually tied at 200K, thanks to strong sales in Europe for PS3 and a spike in sales in Japan.
So yeah, sony is doing badly, and their ‘fudged’ numbers make it diffuclt to report on such things. Once the holidays are over, I’ll look back at how well everyone did, in each region.