PS3 sales reach 1 million in UK

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Feb 13th 2008 at 2:25PM }

GamesIndustry.Biz reports that the PlayStation 3 has now sold over one million units in the UK, a milestone reportedly reached several weeks before the PlayStation 2 did back in its embarrassingly low-polygon day. Sony's black behemoth was launched in the region on March 23 2007 -- roughly 47 weeks ago -- and thus reached the million mark in (slightly) less time than the 50 weeks taken by its predecessor.

Considering the PS3's steeper price and the considerable competition it faces compared to the PS2, the news bodes well for Sony's future in the territory, especially when coupled with EA's pro-Station prediction for 2008. Things would be looking quite rosy if it wasn't for that darn Wii contraption.

Tags: EuroPS3, Sales, UK

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

copa @ Feb 13th 2008 2:30PM

What exactly is the PS3 doing do that poor tree?

maverick_saturn_626 @ Feb 13th 2008 2:32PM

Its getting it on with the Wii :)

copa @ Feb 13th 2008 2:34PM

Unlikely. I've seen the Nintendo sales figures. If the Wii were involved here, then the PS3 would certainly be receiving it from behind.

maverick_saturn_626 @ Feb 13th 2008 2:37PM

Lol, maybe it is :) Maybe PS3 is leading up against the tree with its harddrive port open. :P

Either way, its all good for the UK :)

Noshino @ Feb 13th 2008 2:38PM

well copa, the PS3 has the cells to do it...

maverick_saturn_626 @ Feb 13th 2008 2:43PM

Babies?

samfish @ Feb 13th 2008 3:42PM

Whatever it's doing, it sure ain't Wii'ing on it, because there doesn't seem to be any money growing on that tree.

umm....hello??? @ Feb 13th 2008 4:26PM

samfish-

that's because the Nintendo DS just prints money nowadays....no need to grow it on trees anymore!

maverick_saturn_626 @ Feb 13th 2008 2:31PM

Thats superb, the only thing to beat that in the same timespan that I know of is Wii. Well done, I guess.

Lone Starr @ Feb 13th 2008 2:34PM

I still believe the PS3 was discounted (not price-wise) too early in the race by people who pretended they knew what they were talking about. The PS3 will come back strong.

Hyams @ Feb 13th 2008 2:38PM

Although the PS3 just about outsold the 360 in the UK for the past few weeks, it's still getting raped by Microsoft's machine overall (which has around three times the install base).

PS3 is beating the 360 in the rest of Europe though.

maverick_saturn_626 @ Feb 13th 2008 2:41PM

The problem lies with the fact 360 released a year before PS3, while this is so, PS3 has sold more in the same time span and is catching up to 360 overall. Good news for Sony I guess. Not that its any issue with 360, 360 is still selling healthily here in Europe, Microsoft just needs to pick up the pace in Japan, not so much here.

Hyams @ Feb 13th 2008 2:44PM

Not in the UK it hasn't. World-wide, yes, but if we look at just the UK (as we're doing) you'll find that the average monthly hardware sales for the 360 is greater than for the PS3.

Fernando Rocker @ Feb 13th 2008 2:55PM

360 and PS3 fighting... meanwhile, the Wii, quietly, sneaks in the first position, with over 20 millions Wii's in a year =)

Hyams @ Feb 13th 2008 2:59PM

Quietly? The noise is deafening: everyone talks about it, and everyone wants one.

Whenever a vistor comes around my house, it's never "Let's play on the PS3" or "Let's go on the 360", it's always the Wii they want to try out.

I think we've reached the point where no one expects either the PS3 or the 360 to ever overtake the Wii.

maverick_saturn_626 @ Feb 13th 2008 2:59PM

Yes Fernando, but how long will the Novelty last, there are many who have bought but only use it when family or friends are over, its not the sort of console I'd like to play alone, it gets boring fast on my own.

Kudos to those who use it all the time.

Fernando Rocker @ Feb 13th 2008 3:02PM

maverick

So, if nobody is playing with the Wii... why is selling more software than the PS3 and the 360????

maverick_saturn_626 @ Feb 13th 2008 3:09PM

It is, lol

But then, the Karaoke machine sold software like nobodies business here in the UK, and yet, nobody uses it except for family does, we have karaoke machine, my mumsie went music mad and bought all these songs for it, but it just sits there.

I use my Auties Wii, she bought it for all the cousins to share, she has loads of games for it, but only bought it because she heard it was fun, yup, she had fun, but the concept of my auntie sitting there and playing it on her own is rather sad. lol

Fernando Rocker @ Feb 13th 2008 3:11PM

Last week in America:

http://www.vgchartz.com/aweekly.php

Last week in Japan:

http://www.vgchartz.com/japweekly.php

Last week in Europe:

http://vgchartz.com/eweekly.php

VGChartz maybe is not very accurate, but its an indicator... check the software totals:

Wii America: 1,273,897 vs 360 1,180,381

Wii Japan: 1,032,292 vs PS3 347,220

Wii Europe: 128,077 vs PS3 64,432

I don't know why people keeps saying that Wii doesnt sell software.

maverick_saturn_626 @ Feb 13th 2008 3:23PM

Did I say it didn't sell software? Lol, your putting words in my mouth.

John @ Feb 13th 2008 4:07PM

Hmm... 3 times the install base... So that would make the Xbox 360's sales figures around 27.6 million consoles right? Wow, you must have some pretty darn uber-top-secret sources! Where can I read them!? Share with me please...

The Wii doesn't really affect the sales of either Xbox 360 or Playstation 3, and I still don't get why people keeps comparing them.
Fernando, being the super-fanboy-knows-all kind of kid, maybe you can answer my question? Clear all my ignorant doubt?

Spartacus @ Feb 13th 2008 5:32PM

Fernando,

Usually I get a kick out of your antics, but this time your info is horribly skewed.

The Wii sells software for sure, but not as much as the 360. Attach rate of the 360 is over 7 while the attach rate of the Wii is over 4 while the PS3 trails around 3.

Total software sales don't mean anything without the context of console sales. The PS2 sells a lot of software too, but that's because it has over 100 million consoles out in the wild, not because PS2 owners are known for buying tons of software.

Fernando Rocker @ Feb 13th 2008 5:47PM

"Total software sales don't mean anything without the context of console sales."

WTF? It doesnt matter the attach rate... at the end, the most important thing is the final numbers... and the final numbers show that Wii is selling more software.

Spartacus @ Feb 13th 2008 5:59PM

Fernando,

Ok, let's think hypothetically here...

Let's say Console "X" sells 100 million units while Console "Y" sells 10. Console "X" manages to sell 500 million copies of software over the course of its lifetime while Console "Y" sells only 450 million.

Now, according to your arguement, total sales are all that matter, so Console "X" is the clear winner by a 50 million unit margin. But from a developer's perspective, with TONS of market competition, do you want to sell your product on a console that the average owner only buys 5 games TOTAL or a console that the average owner buys 45 games?

Obviously total sales aren't everything, other factors are taken into consideration before a SMART businessman jumps into any given market.

Catprog @ Feb 13th 2008 8:43PM

@Spartacus

Lets presume that they sell to 1% of the market (by games per console)

.05 games per console X
.45 games per console Y

5 Million on console X
4.5 Million on console Y

Spartacus @ Feb 13th 2008 10:04PM

True, and that would need to be taken into consideration as well. Obviously the PS2 is a good indication of this.

Spartacus @ Feb 13th 2008 10:17PM

On second thought, presuming usualy gets you in trouble ;-)

There is no guarantee that Game Z will sell as well on Console X as it will on Console Y. Look at many cross platform games. The 360 variants often sell much better than the PS3 versions, even in respect to the console's install base.

In an extreme (and slightly unfair) example, look at Halo 2. Around 30-40% attach rate to the Xbox, not NEARLY that on the PC. So assuming a game will sell to a certain percentage of the install base of any platform is a bit unrealistic. Again, there are lots of factors to take into consideration.

James @ Feb 13th 2008 2:40PM

Well that took long enough!

kbomb1upc @ Feb 13th 2008 2:41PM

I don't know which one is more exciting...The Console race or the Presidential Race... They both have a black one and one that women like...

maverick_saturn_626 @ Feb 13th 2008 2:42PM

Are you saying Obama is in third place ¬_¬ With unneeded extra accessories and a blu-ray disk drive?

Hyams @ Feb 13th 2008 2:45PM

Obama FTW.

Noshino @ Feb 13th 2008 2:50PM

"Are you saying Obama is in third place"

1st McCain
2nd Clinton
3rd Obama...

So technically, he still 3rd...

"With unneeded extra accessories"

-Lame jokes
-Oprah

"and a blu-ray disk drive?"

...ask his wife....

PS: I'm voting for the less worse, in this case, Obama...

Lone Starr @ Feb 13th 2008 2:52PM

Obama is half black and half white. Why does that make him black?

maverick_saturn_626 @ Feb 13th 2008 3:01PM

Obama ftw :P

xGeneral DEATHx @ Feb 13th 2008 3:42PM

Lone Starr:

If you have a coffee cup and you pour in 1/2 cream and 1/2 coffee, what do you have?

A cup of coffee.

That really doesn't answer your question, but it runs along the same lines. :-)

XanthouS @ Feb 13th 2008 4:09PM

@jsn

And you can't honestly talk about Wii sales figures without talking about how many consoles are being used to solely play Wii Sports.

And you can't honestly talk about 360 sales figures without talking about how many consoles have been purchased to replace bricked systems.

Nice try, though.

Zoesch @ Feb 13th 2008 4:12PM

Lone Starr you iz hating him because he iz black? Booyakasha!

kbomb1upc @ Feb 13th 2008 4:42PM

@Noshino
I wouldn't say that Obama is actually in third place, not after the victories he got yesterday.

imec @ Feb 13th 2008 5:41PM

Of course Obama has all of the left-wing nuts (female "activists" that despise anything that remotely relates to the opposite gender, homosexuals, neo-socialist liberals) that will vote for him just to prove that they "aren't racist." This alone shows the intelligence of the Democratic party: when it comes to a black homosexual and a neo-socialist bisexual, you guys are split right down the middle. You better vote for Obama, less you be deemed racist Nazis KKK (enjoy your all white neighborhood while it lasts, pretty soon you will see why Conservatives don't think multiculturalism works).

Jouten @ Feb 13th 2008 6:13PM

imec,

"...pretty soon you will see why Conservatives don't think multiculturalism works..."

I want to see the documentation that makes you make that statement as a fact.

Korova @ Feb 13th 2008 6:24PM

imec, go jump in a lake.

Lone Starr @ Feb 13th 2008 6:28PM

@ General Death,

Last I checked, humans weren't a cup of coffee. :)

@ zoesch,

i c wut u did thar

kbomb1upc @ Feb 13th 2008 7:05PM

@imec
What??? Do you have any proof or ideal about what you are talking about? Or is this just some random rant because you are afraid of black people? Anyone who follows what you said are throwing away their vote. Vote for who you think is the best person, not skin color. Trust me, I'm not voting for Obama just because he is black, I've done my research. Now back to talking about games...

64bprophet @ Feb 13th 2008 2:43PM

I call "Boo" on these numbers! When the winning HD video format also happens to come with the PS3 and also happens to be the CHEAPEST Blu-Ray player available, where do you think people are going to go to buy a player? Oh I don't know, why don't we save 100 bucks and buy ourselves a PS3 instead of shelling out all sorts of crazy cash for a simple Blue-Ray player. PS3 sales will continue to climb as long as it is the cheapest BR player on the market. Simple as that. Not like people are actually playing games on it! Heh... I mean what is there to play? (How many times can you play Rachet and Clank?)