Sony PlayStation 3 has sold 70 million in six years

by Mark Tyson on 16 November 2012, 15:37

Tags: PlayStation3

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Today Sony announced a significant milestone in the sales history of the PlayStation 3 (PS3). The console, launched in November 2006 in Japan and the US, has sold 70 million units* as of 4th November 2012. The Japanese electronics giant also announced that it had sold more than 15 million PlayStation Move controllers. At launch the PS3 had a lot to live up to; the PlayStation 2, it’s extremely popular predecessor, sold more than 100 million units during its reign as console king from 2000 to 2006.

The launch of the PS3 wasn’t very smooth as it was delayed by six months in many world regions including the UK/Europe. It faced immediate competition from the Nintendo Wii; a far cheaper console that was extremely popular in its first few years due to its imaginative motion controls and focusing on family friendly fun. Also the Xbox 360 got to market a year before the PS3 made it, aimed at a similar gaming audience.

Looking at the current console generation, Microsoft announced that the Xbox 360 had sold the same amount, 70 million units, as of September 2012. Nintendo’s Wii is at the front with over 97 million sold, also recorded this September. However Wii sales have been getting weaker and it is expected to dip further as Nintendo’s new Wii U console is launched very shortly.

For you to see the bigger picture I have uploaded two graphs. One shows the sales cycles of the current generation of consoles up until Christmas 2011, the second graph focuses on sales from that time up until June. You can clearly see that the Wii has been left by the wayside from Q2 2011 after dominating for so long. The PS3 leads the Xbox 360 according to the chart above, though it's close. Other recent announcements show Microsoft’s Xbox is quite an established sales leader in the US.

We have to wait and see the games console sales winner this Christmas; Sony, Nintendo or Microsoft. Looking at the wider market, Xmas pressie buyers may be spending on tablets instead...

*Sony’s 70 million figure represents the shipped number of PS3s, of which there will be quite a lot of stock at retailers.



HEXUS Forums :: 5 Comments

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Bluray has kept it alive IMO, I don't know any of my mates that game on it over the PC anymore. I keep it as it's a pretty decent bluray player.
I have all 3 consoles in the house, I use the PS3, the online gaming content is free to play, blu ray and graphics are good - when I purchased it, it had built in wifi and rechargeable controllers which the xbox never had (you could buy battery packs @ around £11 each and wireless G dongle was £50 iirc).

So the PS3 had the higher initial purchase price but blu ray and more features, but thanks to Microsofts unique way of establishing prices for it's accessories and subscription gaming online - the xbox is now something I use very occasionally.

DLC that you had to pay for killed most console gaming for me - because the price was too high, the content always felt like something that should of been included anyway and I come from an age where DLC on the PC used to come free (and you'd get more for zero cost).

Overall - consoles have been milked dry and beyond in terms of over-priced accessories, subscriptions, overpriced and over-hyped DLC that make these a roling cashcow for the length of use in owenership.

The next wave of consoles had better be more consumer friendly beyond buying the unit and the games.
I share the above sentiments, even though I play on my Wii more than PS3 (which is most of the time a Blu-Ray player). I can fire up MarioKart and play online whenever I want. If I don't play a PS3 game for couple of months I have to wait an hour for everything to update. Mate of mine has the same problem with his 360. I don't bother with DLC.

I hope Valve spurs a renaissance in the way we do gaming on consoles.
I too have a PS3 for just Bluray movies. The Xbox only gets used for Forza and i no longer bother with Cod! I went back to PC gaming about 16 months ago.

Next gen consoles can't come any quicker!
Im 1 of 70 million user of PS3