back to article US PS3 sales rocket after 40GB console debut

Sony's PS3 sales jumped up by almost 300 per cent last week, the company has claimed, attributing the sudden increase in demand to the introduction of the 40GB console. According to an Associated Press report, Sony sold 100,000 PS3s in the US in the week ending 11 November, up from around 30,000 to 40,000 consoles a week in …

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  1. Darren

    PS3 Sales Sky Rocket because...

    could this also be down to the fact that Nintendo are suffering with stock at the moment, and you can't get one without remortgaging your home???

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    re: PS3 Sales Sky Rocket because...

    It could be down to the Wii being out of stock as a previous commenter said, but personally I've never gone into a shop to buy a £180 electrical item and ended up leaving with a different £300 electrical item!

    I just can't see people going "No Wii? Never mind, I'll buy a PS3". On price, surely the next option would be an Xbox 360?

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    ..Um..

    Not sure about the stock problem. I keep seeing them available in tescos and asdas around manchester. Only this lunchtime I saw one in Game (Don't know you who spoke to El' Reg, because they lied to you!)

    interesting that Sony have sold 5M in half the time that Microsoft sold 11M.. so not too aware from the norm then. Nintendo, on the other hand are storming ahead - but I'm still extremely dubious with all this " we can only sell them as fast as we make them" crap... MASSIVE ploy to stir up increased demand (more than they already have).

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Might be related to Wii - but not stock shortages

    Pretty much everyone I know who has a Wii has stopped using it. It took off as a novelty, but a trickle of piss-poor games has turned Nintendo's little white box into a dust catcher. Wii-owners are looking for something new to entertain them and a cheaper PS3 is very tempting.

  5. Albert

    To be expected

    The Wii and Xbox360 have already had their frenzied buyers.

    The PS3 because of it’s price and lack of compelling games did not get the frenzy expected with a new console.

    Also, Sony is now starting to put budgets into increased marketing. I think it has been Sony’s strategy to get the PS3 out in the market to show it’s competing but with little expectation of selling in volume due to the very high cost of manufacturing and no real compelling games. Now that they have reduced the cost of manufacturing and the compelling games are being launched it actually makes sense for Sony to sell the PS3 in volume as they get additional revenue from the licensing of the games.

    Let the games begin.

  6. Joerg

    The PS3 is already selling better than the XBox360...

    ... and it's only going to shift to a real mass market adoption.

    The XBox360 it's nearing the 3 years on the market since its release while the PS3 has been on the market for just a bit more than 1 year and it managed to sell half as many XBox360 at its previous high price point. Now with the PS3 40GB at a lower price point things are only going to improve for Sony. More and more people will consider buying the PS3 for X-Mas...

  7. Dirk Vandenheuvel
    Gates Horns

    Title

    >The XBox360 it's nearing the 3 years

    Err?? 2 would be ok I guess.

    Fact is that PS3 has only outsold the 360 1 or 2 months the last year. It has not been catching up... it has been falling behind. Even with these 300% increase the PS3 will barely manage to touch the Wii and 360 on a monthly basis. Sony needs a 5x increase to play along.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @ Mike Richards

    "Pretty much everyone I know who has a Wii has stopped using it. It took off as a novelty, but a trickle of piss-poor games has turned Nintendo's little white box into a dust catcher. Wii-owners are looking for something new to entertain them and a cheaper PS3 is very tempting."

    Yes, because obviously the PS3 is awash with quality titles...

    By your logic the Xbox360 should be seeing the sales surge, not the PS3.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Answer, all of the above

    People want a cheap BluRay player and PS3 is a cheap BluRay player. Who cares if it has 40Gb or 80Gb if you want it for BluRay?

    Plus I want a media device, something to play BluRay, Divx, Mpeg etc. and they just announced we'd get Divx via a firmware upgrade, so suddenly the PS3 looks far more attractive now for that use.

    I couldn't justify the purchase just for games (I have a Wii already for that) but if we're talking something more, then the PS3 looks much more attractive now.

    So my guess is that the 40Gb model helped, the price cut helped more, the Divx announcement helped even more and the 100k a week is a result of all of the above.

  10. bobbles31
    Dead Vulture

    @Albert

    "Now that they have reduced the cost of manufacturing and the compelling games are being launched"

    Erm which compelling games would those be then? Heavenly Sword? The PS3 is flopping "relatively speaking".

    Here and other news sources have gladly put out this Sony press release, only on El Reg though have I seen the real figures. Sales up 300% sounds impressive until you realise that that still puts them at 20% of the sales of the Wii.

    This gen still has to play out, but Sony have no exclusives and are begining to lose the 3rd parties to both MS and Nintendo who have both treated their consumers much better.

    I don't believe this rubbish about Nintendo keeping stock back to keep demand high. Frankly if I had strapped two gamecubes together and they were flying off the shelves in this fashion, I would ship them as quickly as possible in order to get as many out there before people noticed.

    It would take a company that was REALLY confident in its product to hold it back.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @ Albert

    " I think it has been Sony’s strategy to get the PS3 out in the market to show it’s competing but with little expectation of selling in volume due to the very high cost of manufacturing and no real compelling games. Now that they have reduced the cost of manufacturing and the compelling games are being launched it actually makes sense for Sony to sell the PS3 in volume as they get additional revenue from the licensing of the games."

    HAHAHAHAHAAA - that's the funniest thing I've read today.

    You think that getting their arse handed to them on a plate by Nintendo was a Sony strategy?!?

    Sony's handling of the PS3 has been nothing short of farcical.

  12. Liam

    hmmm

    im lucky enough to have a wii and ps3. the wii only gets used when drinking (tennis is good) & for zelda. the ps3 is on a lot (pro evo 2008 is amazing :))

    as i have said before you cannot compare them. the wii is just a gamecube with a fancy controller. in fact the ps3 sixaxis is bloody good at some games for it gyro control (heavenly sword for instance) and much easier to use, along with a BD player, a REALLY GOOD upscaling dvd player, loads of content via playstation store. imho the ps3 is worth more than double the price of a wii easily - its about a 4x better machine.

    i will admit without a HD TV the ps3 isnt that impressive - but ive just got myself a 42" toshiba 1080p TV and the quality of the ps3 is amazing. its still a damn site cheaper than buying a 'gaming pc' (i mean i spent 350£ on the gfx card alone for my pc)

    sorry for pigeon english but im tired today :)

    everyone i know with a wii is bored of it now.... the games are crap and look worse than a ps2 most of the time

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    WII out of stock again this christmas

    I think the rush for the PS3 was for the cheap bundles to get rid of the 60GB version.

    The 40GB is in stock all over the place,the XBox360 elite is hard to get, same with the WII

    Just because the shops have them in bundles, is not the same as saying they have them in stock!

  14. Paul Hanley
    Thumb Down

    Price!!

    Lets not loose sight of the fact that the Wii is considerably cheaper than the PS3 which is also going to be a factor in units sold.

    Wii is still a slightly graphically enhanced Gamecube with a great controller. 1st party games are generally good but 3rd party games have been generally quite poor. Sales of 3rd party games are nowhere near the level of 1st party titles which will put publishers off and then you'll have the same issue that the Gamecube had - no decent games that weren't from Nintendo (alright there will be the odd one).

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @ Paul Hanley

    "Sales of 3rd party games are nowhere near the level of 1st party titles which will put publishers off and then you'll have the same issue that the Gamecube had - no decent games that weren't from Nintendo (alright there will be the odd one)."

    Well, I'd think that publishers would be queuing up to release games for the Wii, for 2 very good reasons:

    1) It now has large user base (therefore a BIG potential market).

    2) Games are much cheaper to develop for the Wii, compared to the PS3 or 360 (so less risk if the game bombs in the shops).

    Another advantage of 2) is that publishers may be more willing to try something *innovative* - and of course the Wii's controller gives them EVERY opportunity to do so.

    With the massive costs of producing titles for the PS3 and 360, the 'suits' will dictate that developers only churn out versions of stuff that they know will sell (i.e. generic shooters, racers, and beat-em-ups). So, the SAME stuff as last gen., but now in HD. If that goes on, the whole games industry will begin to stagnate.

    Innovate or die!

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    Wii Dust? Not here.

    [quote]

    Pretty much everyone I know who has a Wii has stopped using it. It took off as a novelty, but a trickle of piss-poor games has turned Nintendo's little white box into a dust catcher.

    [/quote]

    Maybe in your house/office - in ours it's still the most popular choice.

  17. Sebastian Sutherland

    Well

    I dont get those who say the Wii is just a slightly enhanced gamecube with a new controller, as if it is a bad thing.

    What new innovative have the other 2 brought to the show? Faster processors, bigger hard disc space? Surely they are just enhanced an Xbox / PS2?

    I've got all 3, and sure, the Wii gets played as a party game, but its great for bringing family together to play games and its entertaining at that. No wonder they are selling out all over the place...

  18. rachel windsor

    next gen

    I'm only a casual observer really, but I think that the 60GB PS3 really came out smelling of roses recently. A few months ago, EDGE Magazine listed the PS2 as the greatest game machine - a full PS3 has backwards compatibility and a host of other features. Compared to the price of a 360 with all its bits it was always reasonably priced. I heard about the 40GB and realised that I actually wanted the 60GB. The games world will have been a bit stumped - previous figures indicated that development funding was being spent largely in the same way as for the previous generation (50% Sony, 30% 360, 20% Nintendo). With the questions hanging over the PS3, many developers will have been reluctant to spend their good money on developing for the console - that is about to change. The WHOLE point of the Wii is world-domination on a new scale - it's important to understand Japanese culture when considering the Wii - I always think of the beginning of Fifth Element when Bruce Willis gets his cigarette delivered to him, that's the future and games/interactive entertainment are a vital part of that future. The rise in popularity of Flash gaming has shown us once again that games should be FUN! There are many games that punish gamers, and people don't necessarily want it. So the Wii is great. In answer to yer man above who claims that Nintendo would have to be superconfident to play stock tricks, I refer you to any Miyamoto (sp?) interview ever - the man is a visionary and knows it. If he wasn't so incredibly talented and sophisticated, his smugness would be very irritating indeed.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Different demographics

    I dont sit inside the Wii demographic - I don't need simple games with a new controller to convince me to part with my money for video games. Have been an avid gamer throughout the last 20 years.

    So for me it's a choice between the 360 or the PS3. I was leaning heavily towards the 360, but have recently changed my mind following a demo of the 60GB PS3. That thing looks amazing, it can do more than the 360, and Sony will be pumping money into it for years. I don't really care what other people think, that's the console for me.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    (untitled)

    The PS3 has tracked almost equivalently to the 360 in total sales in their respective first years. The PS3 has been competing with the Wii and 360 for that year, whereas the 360s first year it was the only next-gen console in the market. In fact the PS3 total sales pushed ahead of the 360s total sales (releases aligned) after the Euro launch and remained there (www.vgchartz.com).

    Of course the total sales for the 360 is higher, it has been in the market twice as long, and had market exclusivity for that extra time. The 360 has had two christmas boosts (significant console selling time), the PS3 one, and none yet for Europe.

    As far as games go, it has already passed the time where you can legitimately claim that games released in that first year, that have already been superceded by sequels, count as a lack of games for the newer platform. Unless you would count it as a valid argument that the PS3, 360 and Wii are a compete and utter waste of time, with no games available, because there are hundreds more games available on the PS2? Or does FIFA08 supercede FIFA07, FIFA04, FIFA01? If you count those as individual games, then PS2 wins hands down. Are 360 owners are still playing PGR3 and FIFA07 equivalently to PGR4 and FIFA08?

    Aside from platform exclusives, any decent 360 game has been ported to PS3, and new games are developed concurrently on both platforms. As far as exclusives go, the PS3 is just hitting stride, with Ratchet and Clank, Uncharted, Haze, Metal Gear Solid 4, Gran Turismo 5, Killzone 2, LittleBigPlanet, Home all released in the next 4-5 months. How does 360 look post Halo 3?

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Re: (untitled)

    "... Gran Turismo 5 ... released in the next 4-5 months ... "

    Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it.

    Gran Turismo for the PSP anyone?

  22. Adrian Jackson
    Go

    Re: Re: (untitled)

    It's Gran Turismo 5 Prologue that's due for release in the next 4-5 months (by the end of the year in Japan, as it happens) and pretty much anyone with a PS3 already has seen it, as the demo's available for download if you create a Japanese PSN account.

  23. Albert

    @ Albert - by Albert

    All I can say is watch this space.

    As an example of the Sony push they are exhibiting at the O2 until the 18th of December.

    Sony’s financial year end is March, so they will be putting a lot of effort in to getting as many PS3s and games sold by then.

    Interesting comment from Joerg that the PS3 is selling better in its first year than the XBOX360 did, even without being an exclusive and with only mildly interesting games.

    Let’s see how the Christmas season goes.

    It you check any of my older posts you will see I have always said it is Christmas 2007 and the beginning of 2008 that will define this generation of consoles.

    As an aside for the Wii –it’s a toy, a novelty, a bit of fun but nothing more. Millions bought cabbage patch dolls, but where are they now. I think the Wii is the same.

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