BBC: Sony sold 600K PlayStation 3s during Euro launch

by Christopher Grant { Mar 27th 2007 at 4:11PM }

Before going off on a wild tangent about PS3 chips being used in arcade machines, a short BBC news blurb claims, "More than a million [PlayStation 3] consoles were shipped across Europe on launch day last week with 600,000 sold." Of course, this figure includes the UK's record-breaking 165K unit debut. So, unlike what some folks think, there seems to be a benefit to keeping stock on store shelves. Wikipedia reports 930K units sold in North America to date, and 720K units sold in Japan; if you add in the BBC's unconfirmed 600K figure, Europe has purchased nearly one quarter of all PS3s sold to date. Not bad for a weekend.

Tags: BBC, euroPS3

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Jason @ Mar 27th 2007 4:16PM

How does they get these figures so quickly? It seems to take 3 weeks for NPD numbers to go public here...
Oh well, I wonder how many will be returned after Ebay goes nowhere?

jsn @ Mar 27th 2007 4:16PM

jesus, the PS3 hasn't broke a million units sold in NA or Japan yet??? It's worse than I thought! WOW...

It's just a matter of time before we learn that 600k really meant 400k, which really meant 280k SOLD.

Jason @ Mar 27th 2007 4:17PM

Ah, in my haste to post first, I spoke a bit of jive... "How do they" is what I be meanten to say!

hvnlysoldr @ Mar 27th 2007 4:18PM

Will it last though? In Japan every big PSP and PS3 game that comes out spikes their consoles' sales but they drift down again. Xbox 360 has started drifting back down again after Blue Dragon and IdolM@ster. DS Lite and Wii continue at a blistering pace.

Kye @ Mar 27th 2007 4:23PM

I'm pretty sure the BBC confirm their sources' accuracy before reporting a story.

I could very well be wrong though.

andres @ Mar 27th 2007 4:24PM

i never trust wikipedia. Simply on the premise that i personally can change the numbers to say " sony's playstion 3 only sold 1 unit in North America

Metalmurphy @ Mar 27th 2007 4:27PM

I dunno whats funnier, the PS3 selling well in Europe as expected or the ridiculous fanboys trying to twist this lol.

Btw jsn, acording to NPD the PS3 sold 1.061 million in the US and, just in case your forgot, the PS3 is selling more during the same time frame back when the 360 launched.

ill trooper @ Mar 27th 2007 4:30PM

Yeah, since when is 'Wikipedia' a good source for things like this? Should I go change it now by myself? I could make it a higher number if you want, would that make a better story?

Be right back...

sheppy @ Mar 27th 2007 4:31PM

It's all a conspiracy! Sony can't POSSIBLY be doing well! Joystiq is Tobias... and Tobias works and Midway... and Midway makes 360 and Wii games! I smell a rat!

Matt B @ Mar 27th 2007 4:31PM

2.25M sold in 4 months. So much for the failed launch scenario. GG fanboys. The numbers have spoken and now you look like a dumbass. Keep flaming, it is just hot air.

mepaco @ Mar 27th 2007 4:31PM

Why can't we all give this some time to play out. Sony didn't sell out but that doesn't mean they are doomed. Sony sold a lot of units but that doesn't mean they will win. It was a respectable launch but nobody can say anything until at least a couple of weeks have gone by so we can see what the post-launch sales will look like.

-Paco

GJM @ Mar 27th 2007 4:32PM

"just in case your forgot, the PS3 is selling more during the same time frame back when the 360 launched."

I would hope so. There are more PS3s available. The 360 wasn't readily available until late March whereas the PS3 has been readily available since mid January.

Metalmurphy @ Mar 27th 2007 4:34PM

If that was the problem then the sales would have spiked, at least a bit, in March. They didn't, they droped :p

Not saying the shortage didn't happen, i'm just saying it wouldn't have helped alot if it hadn't happened, they would be on the same situation as Sony, meaning, consoles on shelves.

Jeff @ Mar 27th 2007 4:38PM

Wikipedia's numbers are either old or just way off. The NPD puts them at over 1.3 million in NA.

m ike @ Mar 27th 2007 4:41PM

Metalmurphy

in case you forgot the gba outsold the ps3 in feb in the us. you know the gba. call me when any other next gen console sells 127,000 or less.

and the ps3 is only outselling the 360 launch to ;launch because of december launch sales. the 360 was out of stock and only sold 300,000. the ps3 sold 530,000. every other month the 360 outsold the ps3. so if you wnat to remebr anything i suggest you remebr the shortages the xbox 360 had. i had to get mine off of ebay in march of 2006. but i guess i was just lazy calling every store 2 hrs up and down 95 for 3 weeks waiting for shippmetns. yeah right.

take away decemebr sales the 360 is crushing the ps3. so i would not mention the oh the ps3 is outselling the 360 during same time frame bs.

and to the 2.2 million guy its actually 2.80 million but thats nothign to talk about when the wii sold almost 7 million and the 360 has outsold the ps3 every month its been on the amrket and has a 7 million lead. ps the 360 sold over 2 million worlwide in dec alone. funny huh

http://www.vgcharts.org/ngwars.php

Revolution @ Mar 27th 2007 4:43PM

Rawlz @ Sheppy.

"Tobias". That's funny.

hahaha!

djmg82 @ Mar 27th 2007 4:46PM

lol Matt B

But Wii sold more than 2x that!!!

*roll eyes*

This doesn't mean shit until we see post-launch weekend weekly/monthly sales figures. Not that I care if the PS3 is a success. All I care about is that the systems I own have a decent library of games.

Squints @ Mar 27th 2007 4:50PM

Uh, guys/girls - shipped does not equal sold. Unless every PS3 was shipped directly to a buying consumer.

Again, shipped != sold.

sheppy @ Mar 27th 2007 4:50PM

Jesus Christ! You people fight about the most unimportant shit!

Look, we can all agree on one thing, 600K sold in Europe during it's initial release is NOT a bad thing. Hell, even if it only did half of that, it's STILL not a bad thing. And considering how many PS3 games made the charts, this indicates a stronger initial attach rate than the US and Japanese release.

Will it beat 360? Right now, who knows? Is it a failure for not selling out it's initial shipment? 600K sold isn't a bad thing. Not as good as 1 million when when has a console EVER launched with 1 million? So saying 360 and Wii would have done it is bullshit.

PS3 is selling well. Period. This means strong software sales and better developer support. This is not a bad thing. This provides 360 with competition and that's always needed.

m ike @ Mar 27th 2007 4:50PM

and heres some more info

http://www.vgcharts.org/aconscomps.php?name1=XB&name2=PS2&type=0&align=0

the xbox outsold the ps2 launch to launch. by almost over a million units. why the ps2 was wa snot instock durring its launch. thats why these comaprisons are not good at all. you look at date to date sales.

the ps2 went onto have a good second holiday same as the xbox 360 did. just some info to thsoe who wnat to point out the ps3 outsold the 360 durring the launch period. its faulty logic

this is good news for the ps3 as it should sell well in europe as they love their playstation. we need to see if it continues but its atleast good start. i just get tired of the bs spin over this and that. when the data comes out i don't comapre it to sales a year ago i compare it to what a comnsole does the same month. just my 2 cents

once again congrats on a good pal launch for the ps3

Metalmurphy @ Mar 27th 2007 4:51PM

m ike, i'll say this again, if the problem was shortages, the sales would have spiked after the shortages ended. They didn't.

And whats the point on the GBA? The PS2 outsells the 360 every month since it was released. So... your point?

And why the hell should i take away the December sales? Cause it sold more it shouldn't exist? If more ppl had consoles on December then less ppl are getting it afterwards. Its only obvious isn't it? The total is what matters, and right now, PS3 sold more. If next month the total is in favor of the 360 THEN, only THEN, you have something to brag about, which seems to make you very happy

m ike @ Mar 27th 2007 4:55PM

sheppy

now you done hit your head. selling 600,000 consoles will not change anything yet. the ps3 is still 3rd in user base. now if the ps3 catches on and outsells both the 360 and the wii, mainly the 360, than devs will likley be willing to take risks by throwing in more support. the new dev tools from sony don't hurt but the fact is nothing much has changed yet. just like one month doesn't spell doom , the launch of hardware ina regions and its success or failure does not spell winning or losing. now in 4 or 5 months we should get a better picture but if you wnat to scream cause the ps3 sold 600,000 units in its pal launch and claim victory your just as bad as the media and fanboys claiming sony am lozers. it sold well at launch. has not been selling well in north america. lets see if the pal launch is the turn around.

but saying its selling well is a huge leap from good launch to selling well. being outsold by the gab last month in the us and being outsold 2 :1 by the 360 in canada do not bode as selling well.

all this can change but time will tell and as i said its a good step to have a solid launch but thats all. remebr the psp had a great launch. thats all i will say

Gavin @ Mar 27th 2007 4:56PM

Here's the other side of the equation. The PS2 is still the only system out of the last gen that is still selling like gangbusters. Sony is still doing big business overall when it comes to home console systems, yet nobody wants to recognize that fact. I've been around long enough to know that blind faith in any corporate entity is just plain stupid, so I'm not blinded by any spin or factoids. Look at the numbers of total home consoles sold and you'll see that Sony is doing the same exact thing they did in the last transisition period.

Like they say, it isn't a sprint. Early adaption is always a sucker's game and the next two years will really be when we find out who wins and loses. Everyone crows about the Wii's ability to sell at this point, but it still has plenty of time to be another Gamecube, or even worse...another Dreamcast.

The 360 has a hefty lead, but doesn't have the wide range market appeal that Sony has when it comes to foreign gamers. Right now, if I were to buy one of the next-gen systems it would absoutely be a 360, but I still worry about the hardware reliability of it.

They all have their shortcomings, but to call it at this point is just moronic and short-sighted.

m ike @ Mar 27th 2007 5:00PM

Metalmurphy

they did spike. 218,00 in march to over 300,000 in april.

thats not a spike? and stayed close to 300,000 thru the summer?

http://www.vgcharts.org/aconscomps.php?name1=X360&name2=&type=0&align=0

i would not deny the ps2 had shortages just like i know first hand the 360 was in hsort supply till april or so. if your saying there was not shortages that late than fine than what about dec. was there not shortages right after launch thru the holidays for the 360?

the ps3 only is outselling the 360 in us thru launch dates because of dec. like i said 300,000 to 530,000. in jan they were pretty even and in feb the 360 sold way more than the ps3's 127,000

click the links look at the info

http://www.vgcharts.org/aconscomps.php?name1=X360&name2=PS3&type=0&align=0

Matt B @ Mar 27th 2007 5:03PM

@17

It should, it's half the price. For alot of people, it is easier to spend $250 than $600 psychologically. Especially on a gaming platform.
What has more value though? Nintendo makes around $70 on the wii. Sony loses over $200. So does it make sense to buy a $180 machine for $250 or a $800+ machine for $600?

m ike @ Mar 27th 2007 5:04PM

Metalmurphy

and on your ps2 comment as far as im am concerned the ps2 is one of the best consoles ever. with games like ffxII and god of war 2 just comming out ti should sell well. specially at a price point of 129.00. infact i 2 have purchased a new ps2 cause my last one was messing up this past year. the comment on the gba is because its the gba man lol.

Ryan @ Mar 27th 2007 5:05PM

Well I have to say congrats to Sony...

It blows my mind how well the PS3 is selling. I've owned a 360 since about a month after launch and have enjoyed it a great deal. A friend of mine picked up a PS3 dirt cheap recently and we spent a weekend playing it. I just wasn't impressed, from the unbelievably light controller that made you feel like you were playing a kids toy to wondering why the video looked like crap (we forgot to check the 720 and 1080 boxes, the video improved after that, but the lack of a video scaler just doesn't make sense) it just wasn't an impressive system. I have had everything the ps3 offered (short of the bluray which I have to say maybe we had bad luck with the movies we watched but they looked like good dvd transfers and weren't the mind blowing HD goodness I was expecting) for well over a year and was just in shock at how mediocre the PS3 was. Maybe if I had never played a 360 I would think the PS3 was a quality product but sadly I had played a 360 and was severely disappointed with the PS3.

This seems to be coming off like a flame, which its not intended to be, just my impressions of the PS3 since I had never played with one before. A few more issues... I really really wasn't impressed with resistance, I liked the initial back story, the graphics were decent but the analog sticks were too loose on the controller for me to enjoy the game and after a couple hours everything about the game felt really generic.

Oh and Live vs the PS Online isn't even funny. I mean I didn't expect much since its fairly new but wow they really should have spent more time on that before it was released... and whats with the speeds are they running off a bank of 56k modems... who knows maybe I was just unlucky when I connected.

So again I have to congratulate Sony on the number of PS3's they sold. I really can't understand who is buying these. Here's to the PS3 putting the So? back into Sony.

Scot Evel @ Mar 27th 2007 5:07PM

"in case you forgot the gba outsold the ps3 in feb in the us. you know the gba. call me when any other next gen console sells 127,000 or less."

in case YOU forgot, the ps2 has been outselling the 360 since the 360 launched

Metalmurphy @ Mar 27th 2007 5:11PM

Erm... i dunno if you noticed but the GBA outsold the Xbox 1 and 360 several months... i was just trying to point out how irrelevant that is.

And btw, the spike should have come in March, no the next month, April and beyond the 360 started having the steady sales it deserved due to its great games library, but the drop the PS3 had the 360 had it as well, and no, the shortages didn't have ALOT to do with it, it had very little.

Agathos @ Mar 27th 2007 5:13PM

BIG QUESTION!????

Do you guys get like seven virgins and a million bucks or something if your console of choice wins? You act like these console sales number affect you personally...

Has anyone considered that this gen will be win-win-win for all parties involved and foster better competition. Kinda like Intel vs AMD and ATI vs NVIDIA for years with the leader trading spots each generation and the consumer reaping the benefits of it all?

Maybe after the next 5 years the Wii will have been a success due to revenue from both software royalties as well as extensive console sales, and the PS3 a success because although they didn’t outsell the 360 by a wide margin they win the Blu-ray vs HD game and rake in additional royalties off of that aspect.

Does anyone really expect any of these companies to just flat out cease to exist because of their console…?

There are positives and negatives to all 3, but they’re all great consoles and not one can be considered a failure on any level.

JodyAnthony @ Mar 27th 2007 5:13PM

@25, Matt B

haha, dont go there man.

sheppy @ Mar 27th 2007 5:15PM

My god, m ike. You're absolutely fucking right!

Unless PS3 can sell 11 million it's first weekend, it's a failure. How could I be so blind and stupid. And to think I claimed victory for PS3. Wait, I'm not and I didn't.

Let me arrange the blocks before you in a manner that even you can put together a word as simple as CAT.

C. From going into the launch event hearing about PS3s failure on all the websites including this one just by a lack of lines (incidently, lines weren't forming for Wii a week ahead either) to hearing about how PS3 is doomed to failure in the PAL region to suddenly breaking sales records AND selling 600K in Europe... well, fucks sake. That's an accomplishment.

A. While PS3 will not even remotely be able to overtake either the Wii or 360, having a visible and sizable consumer base IS an asset. News flash, right now, there are 2+ million PS3 owners. Developers will notice this and more games will come over. Not many exclusives (well, outside of Japan), but multiplatform releases certainly. So while this state may seem damning to you, this establishes PS3 as a presence, just not a leader. This is farther than N-Gage, Gizmondo, GP2X, 3D0, CD-i, and even Jaguar got. And on a $500+ system no less. So the comparisons to those consoles can now officially quit.

T. 2+ Million. Show me any place where selling 2+ Million of a $500+ piece of equipment is a dooming prophecy. This establishes a userbase and suddenly companies like Namco, Nippon Ichi, ad SquareEnix aren't feeling so foolish for backing the console. EA is... but EA is pure shit anyway.

Killer @ Mar 27th 2007 5:15PM

LOL, anyone realize that they sold around 2 million units world wide, times that by the average of 200 dollar lost per console= A net lose of about 400 million dollars. ouch.

m ike @ Mar 27th 2007 5:16PM

Scot Evel

ffxII ,god of war 2, similar games as to what came out on the other consoles over the last year and priced at 129.00

it should outsell the other consoles. as i stated 2 comments up its probly the best console ever made. i bought a new on over the past year myself.

what does the gba have?

thats my point. its not funny to be outsold by the gba. right now i see no reason the ps2 will not conintue to sell the way it is for the rest of this year. its a great console.

m ike @ Mar 27th 2007 5:18PM

sheppy

rea dmy posts carefully. i congrats the ps3 on a good pal launch and state that if history has taught us anything ni one can claim victory or failure right now. at this point in time all the things people say about the ps3 could apply to the xbox or gamecube. it didn't matter in the end of things.

time will tell this is a good step forward but far from vistory as you make it out ot be was all i was saying

atleast read my posts first dang man

m ike @ Mar 27th 2007 5:20PM

have fun all. off to see if live is back and make some dinner

peace

Andi @ Mar 27th 2007 5:20PM

Being someone who lives in the UK, it seems Sony consoles traditionally do very well in Europe, and Nintendo tend to struggle. Nintendo have done extremely well with the Wii considering.

I wouldn't be surprised if Europe becomes the PS3's number 1 market.

Matt @ Mar 27th 2007 5:21PM

I agree that you can discuss these numbers all you want, but these launch numbers are deceiving in so many ways. I really think we need to continue to monitor numbers monthly throughout the year and ultimately wait until after the 2007 Christmas season before we really get a good picture. As long as Sony tries to sell a system for $700 ($599 + game + tax) with an average game library, they're going to struggle. My money is on Xbox 360. They're doing everything right and succeeding. I think the hardware numbers for February should give Sony fanboys grave concern.

Crono @ Mar 27th 2007 5:22PM

I dunno, Matt B. Since I didn't have 600 dollars to buy a game console, I went with the 250 dollar one, BECAUSE IT WAS AFFORDABLE! IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW MUCH THE COMPANY IS SUBSIDIZING THE PRODUCT IF THE PRODUCT'S COST IS STILL OUTSIDE THE BUDGET!!!!

Imagine someone is going to sell you a yacht for 10,000 dollars. but you only make 30k a year, and live no where near a lake or an ocean. Someone else is going to sell you a 3000 dollar car that runs ok, but only cost him 2000 dollars to acquire. All else being equal (car runs good, yacht is nice, etc) which will you buy? (you must buy one)

JodyAnthony @ Mar 27th 2007 5:28PM

Matt B:
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/09/14/an-honest-question-wouldnt-you-rather-companies-subsidize-your/

sheppy @ Mar 27th 2007 5:29PM

"I think the hardware numbers for February should give Sony fanboys grave concern"

Why? What was dropped in February? VF5. March had much better releases. 360 had Crackdown and the Halo 3 Beta pumping sales. VF5 vs. Crackdown/Halo 3..... hmm, wonder why PS3 lost out that round?

Anticrawl @ Mar 27th 2007 5:32PM

As soon as I read "Wikipedia reports" I stopped and had myself a good laugh.

Anticrawl

RedCrake @ Mar 27th 2007 5:38PM

Look....

I majored in math in college so I get the numbers aspect. However, I never took a business class so someone's gonna have to explain this to me:

How is selling 60% of your stock a good thing ?

Especially in consoles where selling out at launch is the accepted business model.

Todd @ Mar 27th 2007 5:42PM

Don't know how they can get these numbers so quickly. I wonder if these figures are inflated.

Kyle81 @ Mar 27th 2007 5:42PM

Sorry but those Wikipedia numbers for PS3 sales are bull@%@!^

In november PS3 sold 197k. In December they sold 490k, in January 249k, in Feb 127k.

Thats over 1 million sold already back in Feb in the US alone. All numbers supplied by NPD, actual factual data, and not Wikipedia nonsense.

Jebb @ Mar 27th 2007 5:43PM

hey look i changed the figure on wikipedia to 100 million sold in the US. omg it must be true.

Tony @ Mar 27th 2007 5:45PM

Heheheh...This is alot of people's nightmare around here, but I say kudos to Sony :D :D :D

JodyAnthony @ Mar 27th 2007 5:46PM

Its times like this I'm glad I'm not loyal to any one company.

multi-console owning for the win

Defenestrator2.0 @ Mar 27th 2007 5:55PM

You'd think that Europe would hate Sony after they essentially told them that they don't matter as much as NA or Japan.

Jake @ Mar 27th 2007 6:04PM

I am unsure quite how to look at this.

The Good Way: The PS3 sold 165k (record) in UK at launch and 600k across Europe.

The Bad Way: The PS3 is sitting on shelves with only 600k sold in Europe. They shipped a million and only sold 600k, with many units available on ebay. Even this isn't totally bad, though. The 360 was impossible to get for a couple of months in most of Europe, but I don't even know if they had shipped 600k by the time stock caught up. I can almost guarantee the Wii would have sold out in Europe if launched with a million.

Either way I really like how Sony handled the European launch. From now on, console makers need to just ship an adequate supply for their launches, even if it means manufacturing for an extra week or month. It stays more civilized and there isn't all that ebay madness where over half the consoles sell to somebody just looking for money and not actual gamers.

In the real world, though, Sony probably was only able to ship that many because the system is selling less than projected in the US and Japan. It would also be hard to do a worldwide launch where you ship, say, a million systems to each major region. 3 million stock floating around is logistically and economically a nightmare.

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