Sony boasts PlayStation holiday sales numbers
by Christopher Grant 
{ Jan 6th 2008 at 6:15PM }
Without comparable numbers from the other two console manufacturers, you'll have to consider these numbers from Sony in a vacuum of sorts. Nevertheless, regardless of the console horse race, Sony's got plenty to be proud of: 1.2m PS3 consoles sold since Black Friday; 1.4m PSP systems (unsurprising to anyone who had difficulty tracking one down this holiday); and 1.3m PS2 systems. That's a total of 3.9m PlayStation consoles sold in less than two months and, with the recent Blu-ray news, we suspect PS3 sales may trend upwards. While Microsoft touted their total Xbox 360 sales numbers last week, we'll have to wait another week and a half before we get specific NPD numbers for December. But sales like these, regardless of the relative strength of the competition, means at least one thing: there's 3.9m game consoles living in happy homes and that's good news for everyone.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
teenagertc @ Jan 6th 2008 6:20PM
Everything is relative, but congrats to Sony! I'd love to see where the Xbox 360 and the Wii stand.
Chris @ Jan 6th 2008 6:43PM
on top of the ps3 still ???
sony can boast as much as tehy want in the end its the games that count, teh should be boasting about exclusives.
Vol @ Jan 6th 2008 6:43PM
Well, Sony gets its news out first so that it looks positive. They will get crushed when the NPD #'s come out: when comparing the new consoles.
Spartacus @ Jan 6th 2008 7:03PM
They're kicking the PS3's trash...
The 360 sold 770,000 consoles in November alone, so even if it sold the same amount in December (which is highly unlikely) it would put the 360 at over 1.5 million consoles sold in this same time frame. My guesstimate, using past NPD numbers as a gauge, would put 360 numbers around 1.8m sold during this time frame, which is about 500,000-600,000 more than the PS3.
The Wii? I don't know. Ask how many Nintendo was able to crank out of their factory up at Santa's workshop this season and there would be your sales figures...
Spiza @ Jan 6th 2008 7:43PM
This says after black friday, so it would only be one week of november and december. I wonder if they are counting the weekend in which Wal-Mart sold the PS3 with 10 free blu-rays.
VG chartz doesn't have anywhere near those PS3 numbers though, even if you include the week of black friday. They do have the 360 selling about 1.8 million over that period though.
Cash @ Jan 7th 2008 5:19AM
Wait, I'm confused... people actually had a hard time finding PS3's during the holidays? My local BestBuy had at least a hundred of them in different capacities stacked up against the back wall next to customer service in the overflow section, and no less then two palets spread out in the middle of the aisles next to the tv's and video games. Both Walmarts in my area never had less then ten of the newer 40gig models, and to my knowledge, the only time I heard someone mention them being hard to find was in regards to the launch versions that still featured backwards compatibility.
Seeing how I live in Alaska, which happens to be the ass end of the freight chain for all of North America, if we were overflowing with the damn things, I find it hard to believe that the rest of the country was left wanting.
playwhutyalike @ Jan 6th 2008 6:26PM
Living in happy homes, eh?
My PS3 got daddy to stop having sex with random men, most of whom were strangers, and mommy put down the painkillers! (Actual home experience may vary.)
Jerk Face @ Jan 6th 2008 7:39PM
I will never believe anything you say, you bastard alien life-force-sucker.
megapenguinx @ Jan 6th 2008 8:14PM
Damn you metroid!
hvnlysoldr @ Jan 6th 2008 8:47PM
Quick put him back into captivity for galactic peace!
LaughingTarget @ Jan 6th 2008 6:26PM
Now to get a few more games to sit next to Ratchet and Clank and Uncharted...my PS3 is getting lonely.
Mr Khan @ Jan 6th 2008 6:32PM
You should give Folklore a shot, i've heard good things
OTAM @ Jan 6th 2008 6:38PM
Folklore is the most underrated game on the PS3.
Spiza @ Jan 6th 2008 7:46PM
I've only used mine for movies so far :/ I've got to unwrap motor storm (is that even the title?) sometime. I've spent too much time with the Orange Box on the PC, and have Bioshock to go through after that though. Damn, wish I was still in school sometimes, but then I wouldn't have an HDTV though.
Einhanderkiller @ Jan 6th 2008 8:14PM
Check out Everyday Shooter and Super Stardust HD.
Hyams @ Jan 6th 2008 8:33PM
Heavenly Sword is awesome game - I mean, I rented it, completed it, bought it, and then completed it another two times. I'm planning on playing through it a few more times again, too.
At the very least give it a rent.
i_hate_mtv @ Jan 6th 2008 10:17PM
I don't have a PS3, but I played Folklore at a buddy's house and thought it was quite fun.
MaulerX @ Jan 6th 2008 6:31PM
So they are combining the all important sales for the end of November with the ones in December?? Nice way to make the #'s look
rosier.
motang @ Jan 6th 2008 6:34PM
Wow those are some good sales figures. Looks like it was a merry season for Sony. I would like to see how many 360, DS Lite, and Wii were sold during the holiday season as well.
Trent @ Jan 6th 2008 6:37PM
Wow. The PS2 still outsells the PS3.
Just can't beat the classics I guess.
mr nimblewick @ Jan 6th 2008 7:11PM
I noticed at Best Buy today that they put the white PS2's under the Wii kiosk. I wonder how many people mistook them for Wiis. They do look similar (white vertical console).
Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Jan 6th 2008 9:09PM
all part of the plan?
XanthouS @ Jan 6th 2008 6:42PM
Regardless of how many other systems sold, it's helping grow the install base of all three Sony systems.
RoboChamp @ Jan 6th 2008 6:46PM
The Playstation brand is still powerful.
Jeff @ Jan 6th 2008 6:49PM
If blu-ray becomes the de facto standard... turns out Sony did do the smart thing in bundling a costly, useless (in terms of games, generally) DVD replacement. Bastards.
tmacairjordan87 @ Jan 6th 2008 6:53PM
well i would have had a psp after christmas, since i got about 200 bucks, but i ended up choosing rock band for a reason i'm still looking for. Sure it's really fun, but psp has a much bigger lifespan for me and the ability to play ff7 anywhere with wifi....why did i buy rock band
Sircolby45 @ Jan 6th 2008 8:42PM
Personally I think Rock Band is HIGHLY overrated.
Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Jan 7th 2008 10:47AM
Personally, I think PSP is highly overrated.
d3rr1ck64 @ Jan 6th 2008 6:59PM
These numbers are just for the US, right?
muppetmeth @ Jan 6th 2008 7:09PM
Hoorayz 4 teh underdogz
Jerk Face @ Jan 6th 2008 7:52PM
Underdogs!?
It's Sony. Fucking SONY. A huge, dirty-rich uber-corporation.
That's like saying, "Hooray! McDonalds made more money!" or "I'm sure glad Halliburton is in the black again this year!"
samfish @ Jan 6th 2008 8:01PM
Yeah, Nintendo will remain the underdog until at least the end of this generation.
Sony will remain the evil tyrant (rightfully so).
And MS could swing either way...but they're kind of trending towards the tyrant side, lately.
skyrous @ Jan 6th 2008 8:25PM
MICROSOFT HAS BEEN TRENDING TOWARD TYRANT FOR 20 FREAKING YEARS!
anybody whose watch Microsoft spin an Windows security hole as a "feature" wasn't the slightest bit surprised by their XBL spin the last 2 weeks
matthew_neitzer @ Jan 6th 2008 8:30PM
The PS3 may be an underdog now in the console realm, but Sony is not an underdog. Who would they really even be competing with. They have their hands in way too many fields of electronics. (MM, it is okay if you were being sarcastic)
i_hate_mtv @ Jan 6th 2008 10:20PM
I don't think Sony should be labelled the evil tyrants anymore. Once they saw how bad the PS3 was doing sales wise, they (sans Tretton of course) humbled up pretty quickly.
Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Jan 7th 2008 10:50AM
Tretton's job is to tow the corporate line.
There's still nothing humble about Sony, except their sales figures.
Kris @ Jan 6th 2008 7:30PM
Yes, these numbers are for the United States.
B1gC72 @ Jan 6th 2008 9:29PM
best. avatar. ever.
HOW BOUT THEM COWBOYS!?
but back to the topic lol, if these are just US numbers then that is pretty impressive considering the current trends of the other foreign markets. Sony is really turning this thing around.
Lucky @ Jan 6th 2008 7:36PM
In all the eletronic stores in my town there are...
Zero Wii's
One 360
More then 30 PS3's.
Sorry to say. But this just wasn't the PS3's year.
lol
gfunk @ Jan 6th 2008 7:44PM
In my store we only receive 2 wii's, 4 360's and 3 ps3's... funny, since christmas the ps3 is the only one out of stock all the time.
Sorry to say, but you weren't funny.
Lekko @ Jan 6th 2008 8:34PM
I know, I hate it when I can actually find and buy the things I want.
B1gC72 @ Jan 6th 2008 9:35PM
lol we all know PS3 didnt have the year Sony hoped for but that certainly didnt occur because the electronic stores in YOUR town arent selling any PS3's. for example, in my town, there are less PS3's than 360's and no Wii's to be had at all. so what's your point?
Monkey65 @ Jan 6th 2008 7:47PM
"there's 3.9m game consoles living in happy homes and that's good news for everyone."
Except it wouldn't surprise me if people bought the thing just for Blu-Ray and not games. I'm just glad I didn't buy into any of this HD-DVD/Blu-Ray bullshit and stuck to DVDs.
OTAM @ Jan 6th 2008 8:28PM
When people get a PS3 only for blu ray movies,it's bad.
When people buy a Wii just for Wii Sports and nothing else,that's good???
David @ Jan 6th 2008 11:31PM
Well, Nintendo makes money when they sell a Wii, but I guess Sony would be getting some of the money (all for their own releases) on movie sales. I'm not sure about that though, and besides that, I don't know how it looks when the movie division is supporting the game division like that.
FidliousWong @ Jan 7th 2008 9:33AM
Yet there were years where the game division was supporting the entire of Sony. In any given year, you have several sections of Sony losing money and other sections making up for it. So while people love bashing Sony for the money the PSX division is losing in recent years, for 5+, Playstation was keeping Sony profitable. Now the TV, Phone, Camera, and Appliance section is turning profitable to support the Playstation and movie divisions.
gregory mitchell @ Jan 6th 2008 7:47PM
well Im one of the 1.4m it looks real nice next to my elite. Only problem is no games. I beat resistance already. the heavonly sword demo looks ok but the demo turned me away a lil bit with how mony times i had to hit the enemy to kill them. I was hating on sony before, but after messing with it It has some great potential
Finityman @ Jan 6th 2008 7:58PM
uncharted
Jeff @ Jan 6th 2008 8:49PM
Unreal Tournament 3.
Figboy @ Jan 6th 2008 9:02PM
a few more recommendations:
Ratchet and Clank
Folklore
Heavenly Sword
Ninja Gaiden Sigma
Motorstorm
Resistance
Warhawk
all worth a look along with Uncharted and Unreal Tournament 3.
don't believe everything the media says about games like Heavenly Sword and Resistance. they are truly quality.