back to article Sony claims price-driven PS3 sales hike

Sony has claimed that PS3 sales in North America have jumped 135 per cent since it brought the price of the 60GB console down to $499 two weeks ago. The increase comes from sales of the console through Sony's five biggest retail customers, though it doesn't appear to have said whether or not there was a proportionate fall in …

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  1. Peter Amling

    5 week Month

    They claim sales are up 21% in June versus May BUT June was a 5 week month and May was a 4 week month. So on a weekly basis sales were actually down in June.

    They sold 81,604 PS3s in May. That's 20,401 per week.

    They sold 99,220 PS3s in June. That's 19,844 per week.

  2. Dan

    Maths at school

    Last time I did percentages, you included the previous value, so a jump of 135 percent would only go from selling 10 units to 13.5 units.

    Anyway, which nitwit bought half a PS3?!

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Bad Xbox news helped

    Considering all of the bad news about the reliability of the Xbox360, it's not surprising to see a jump in PS3 sales.

  4. Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware (Written by Reg staff)

    Re. Maths

    If the new value is 135 per cent of the old value, that's an *increase* of 35 per cent, Dan.

    Sony said the *increase* is 135 per cent, ie. the new value is 235 per cent of the old value - 100% of x plus 135% of x.

  5. Daniel Ballado-Torres

    Price cuts == purchases

    I don't doubt it. The PS3 is the best of the three, but was far more expensive than the others; $600 was way too expensive for most of us.

    Now that it's $500, I might actually buy the thing as soon as I pay up my credit card. The nice thing is that the timing is right, as the Xbox360 failings are taking a toll on M$, while the PS3 has good upcoming games nearing their release date.

    I doubt PS3 sales are at the expense of the Wii though, that one doesn't seem to have any faults.

  6. Jon

    Strange maths Dan

    Dan said "Last time I did percentages, you included the previous value, so a jump of 135 percent would only go from selling 10 units to 13.5 units."

    So according to you Dan a rise in sales of 100% would mean no rise at all?

    I suggest you go back to school.

    Peter there were 30 days in May and 31 in June. That means sales rose 21% with just an extra day NOT as you say an extra week. It works they were selling an average of about 2600 a day in May and then 3200 per day in June.

  7. John Young

    Re: Maths at school

    No, going from 10 to 13.5 is a rise of 35%

    The article was right.

  8. Spider

    so price cuts work?

    Duhhhhhh!?!

    So when can us Brits expect to stop getting fleeced and get price parity?

  9. Neil

    UK Sales?

    So why not try this price-cutting lark in the UK, too?

  10. Michael

    @ Spider

    You only get fleeced if you're willing to pay the disparate price... However, to answer your question, you'll probably get price parity around the same time that corporations get denied the right to price their product at whatever amount they wish...

    If you you think it's too expensive, don't buy it. If enough people don't buy it, market forces will drive down the price. Unless of course, the company doesn't give a crap about selling to you becasue the country you live in has 1/5 the population of the US... Then you're hosed.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    RE: UK Sales?

    By keeping the prices high in the UK, we fund the price cut in USA.

  12. David S

    weeks vs days

    Actually, it's fairly common practice to slice quarters (three months, thirteen weeks) into three months with 4, 5 and 4 weeks in each.

    Whether these sales figures use a weekly or a monthly slicing assumption isn't specified. Cuold be either. "Lies, damned lies and statistics", remember?

  13. Rob

    @ Michael

    Those statements would be fine if we were also allowed to just buy at market prices in the supposed 'global ecomomy'. If I was to import a PS3 from the US, I could pay roughly £200 for it instead of about £550. But apparently i'm not allowed to do that because of the 'grey market' which basically means Sony want to make as much money from me as I can for no other reason than they think they can get away with it.

    I agree with your other statements though - if you think it's too much to pay then don't pay it. Which is why myself and a lot of my mates who want one are willing to wait.

    It's a ridiculous situation, as I hear the same story every where I go. If Sony simply knocked £100 of the price for a couple of weeks (a sale or bargin week, just to shift units!) I'm certain that their sales in Euroland would sky-rocket.

  14. Eric Van Haesendonck

    Will it last?

    I have also read that the first week the PS3 was selling at the new $499 prices it shifted more than double the units of the previous week in the US, so that is very plausible. This makes the PS3 weekly sales on par with the Xbox360 but still way below Wii and PS2 sales. It also remain to be seen if the effect will last in time beyond a few weeks, as I think $400 is the price point most peoples are waiting for.

    For the price cut in europe, what I find puzzling is that when you look at the monthly HW summaries on vgchartz it looks as if the UK is one of the european countries where the PS3 is doing the best despite being more expensive than anywhere else. I think sony will lower the euro price when they run out of rich "price doesn't matter" londoners to sell to and they will actually have to sell to the rest of Europe and the UK.

  15. Jon

    Re: Neil

    Neil I imagine we will get a price cut at the same point after launch as the US did. It has been out in the US for around 4 months longer so I would bet on an EU price cut near the end of October.

    Michael if you remove VAT (£75 which has nothing to do with Sony) our launch price is only about £50 more than the US one. BOO HOO HOO.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    RE: so price cuts work?

    >So when can us Brits expect to stop getting fleeced and get price parity?

    when years will be 336 day long.

    is that due to global warming ?

  17. Trevor Whitmore

    cost of a ps3 vs xbox 360...

    I love how people believe that the ps3 is so much more expensive then the xbox 360. In reality the 360 has turned out to be WAY more expensive then the ps3, even at the old price point.

    Lets look at the costs of the two before the price cut, the ps3 in Canada was being sold for 699$. What did you get with that? A 60GB HDD, 1 controler and a blue ray drive along with a head unit that could give you 1080p. Now with the xbox 360 what do you pay for, the elite unit is $549, what do you get with? You get a controller, and a 120GB HDD and HDMI connection, but wait no HD drive??? ok the HD drive costs you an additional 199$, so now your total is 748$? How did the xbox become the cheaper of the two? Oh maybe HDD space, that would make up for the extra 49$. Still though doesn't it look like they are equally priced?

    Well lets go back to the people that rushed out to get there xbox 360 when it was first released, anyone remember what they payed? Lets be nice and say they payed what the premium core system is worth today, 499$. What do they get, 20GB HDD, one controller, sweet. However now the PS3 comes out and it has a 60GB HDD, so you can buy the 120GB HDD for the older xbox for 200$, oh and lets not forget the 199$ hd-drive, so now we are up to what about 800$? Oh wait this person can't get true 1080p, so lets see what would it take him to get that....oh yea he has to scrap his xbox and buy an elite for 549$, but they don't need that 120GB hdd now because it comes with the elite. So take off the 200$. So this persons full cost is 499+549+199=1247$. Hmmm looks like the ps3 was cheaper all along, and microshaft is living up to there name, and they shaft people left right and center without them knowing it.

  18. Spider

    free market my arse

    @Michael

    nice justification of the free market. I agree corps should be allowed to price as they like. I should also be allowed to buy where I like. The corps love protectionism when its in their favour otherwise why can't i buy and use a PS3 from the US? i could buy it there, pay the import duty and still save a fortune. So if you can see over the mountain-mega-mcburger thats apparently narrowing your vision, people aren't complaining about a fair price, its the distorted artificial practises that stop us getting one...

    and it's not just the UK. and if you think the whole world has penis envy about the states doesn't that in fact make the states a giant prick?

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