Sony reveals figures for December, chestd-thumping ensues

[Gamer From '78]

Looks like those of us who have played & enjoyed Uncharted have something in common with around 1 million other people. So says Sony that said game has sold over 1 million units worldwide as of the end of December 2007. Way to go Naughty Dog!

December 2007 was the biggest month for PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) since launch, with 798K hardware units sold; this represents an increase of 60% over December of last year.

Six of Eight Major Hollywood Studios Are Now Blu-ray Exclusive: This month, Warner Bros., Hollywood’s biggest seller of DVDs, representing about 18 to 20% of sales in the United States, announced that they will now support Blu-ray exclusively.

Info courtesy of N4g.com. There is of course more, but the other stuff deals mostly with the PSP and PS2. Of note however is that revenue generated from the Playstation brand (PS3, PS2 and PSP) was more than Nintendo and Microsoft combined.

Looks like the price drops, bundles and GOOD GAMES has had an impressive impact on sales. It will be interesting to see what Sony does for the '08 holidays. A price drop will be very effective in getting more units out the door.

On a side note, my local Wally World now has a display up with a Toshiba HD-DVD player and Sony Blu-Ray player running. It alternates between playing Shrek 3 on the HD player and some animated movie as well on the Blu-Ray machine. Madagascar maybe? I dunno. What I found interesting though is that the Sony system is $368.97. The PS3 is only $31 more!

So on the HD-DVD versus Blu-Ray scene, what are the two holdouts in HD-DVD's corner? Paramount and Universal? The move by Warner will have a huge impact on this. HD-DVD is done and buried now. The Paramount deal is only for a year, right? And Universal will certainly opt-out now.

[Mochan]

Unbelievable!

[silversparrow]

Those sales numbers aren't bad, but still no where near full potential. It's clear the price cut to $400 has improved PS3's sales dramatically, but not enough to equal 360 sales in the US. Sony's definitely going to have cut the price further this year. A price drop to $300 would go a long way to convince a lot more PS2 owners to hop on board.

In Europe, the PS3 is doing a lot better. If current sales trends continue, the PS3 install base will surpass (http://www.psu.com/PS3-Euro-sales-to-surpass-360s-by-summer,-says-Reeves-News--a0002526-p0.php) that of the 360 in that region by Summer '08.

[theWacoKid]

Paramount is kind of useless, they released only 40 odd movies in a year and a half, about 1/3 the output of Universal and WB. Paramount has no hd dvd release until the end of february, With a friend like Paramount, you don't need an enemy.

The big problem with universal is that all new day and date releases are the expensive combo discs which most people hate. Bad enough paying higher prices for the high def version of a film, they also force you to buy the sd version as well. What jerks.

Toshiba has slashed prices here in Canada as well, and the units aren't moving much at all. I'm still debating picking up an A3, you get two free movies, 5 more thru mail in, I have about 15 hd dvd movies and my current dvd players are old and don't upscale.

December sales for the ps3, imo, are not as good as expected. Typically, december is twice november, so december should've been around 900k.

Rumor mill has sony phasing out the 80gig model, introducing a ceramic white ps3 and the most outrageous rumor has them dumping the price of the ps3 to $299 end of the month. I wouldn't expect a price drop announcement until may at E3, but you never know. Supposedly, sony is at break even point with the ps3 with respect to production costs. So, they could cut price without bleeding the company to death.

A $299 ps3 would make third party publishers very happy.

[Gamer From '78]

Those sales numbers aren't bad, but still no where near full potential. It's clear the price cut to $400 has improved PS3's sales dramatically, but not enough to equal 360 sales in the US. Sony's definitely going to have cut the price further this year. A price drop to $300 would go a long way to convince a lot more PS2 owners to hop on board.

In Europe, the PS3 is doing a lot better. If current sales trends continue, the PS3 install base will surpass (http://www.psu.com/PS3-Euro-sales-to-surpass-360s-by-summer,-says-Reeves-News--a0002526-p0.php) that of the 360 in that region by Summer '08.

I would say that by holidays 08, the PS3 will be priced at $350 and $450 for the two SKUs. But the real deal-breaker for the PS3 won't be a price-drop this time around, it will be the game selection available for the system. New, upcoming titles like GT5 Prologue, Final Fantasy XIII, Resistance 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4 will let gamers know that the PS3 has more legs to it than as a Blu-Ray player.

Japan was lost to the 360 from day-one. European sales of the PS3 continue to outpace the 360. Sony's days of dominating the entire industry will not be repeated this generation and I really think that when the dust settles, all three consoles will have a (fairly) equal chunk of the next gen market. Which isn't a BAD thing since the market has been significantly expanding over the last several years. It's a win-win for everyone.

[DrunkenThumbmaster]

Does anyone have European Sales numbers including the UK. I keep hearing the PS3outpacing the 360 there but from every number I've seen that's not he case.

[silversparrow]

Does anyone have European Sales numbers including the UK. I keep hearing the PS3outpacing the 360 there but from every number I've seen that's not he case.

Install base by country (a few months out of date though):


U.S. (LTD) (NPD Group)

Wii: 4,955,400
360: 7,022,900
PS3: 2,105,500

Japan (Week ending September 30 / LTD) (Media Create)

Wii: 24,143 / 3,614,197
360: 5,215 / 415,491
PS3: 13,105 / 1,169,666

U.K. (LTD) (Screen Digest)

Wii: 1,190,000
360: 1,550,000
PS3: 450,000

Australia (Q3 / LTD) (GfK: Q1+Q2, Q3)

Wii: 61,027 / 167,565
360: 40,467 / 222,028
PS3: 27,533 / 82,261

Spain (LTD) (GfK)

Wii: 244,000
360: 149,000
PS3: 218,000

Germany (LTD) (GfK)

Wii: 361,000
360: 316,000
PS3: 135,000

Bonus: German numbers for October 2007

Wii: 28,000
360: 12,000
PS3: 37,000

Italy (LTD) (GfK)

Wii: 129,000
360: 267,000
PS3: 150,000


Source (http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/01/big-in-europe-p.html)

[DrunkenThumbmaster]

thanks sparrow read the article interesting how the Europe totals don't include the UK or Austraila. UK being the biggest European market is telling. Even where the PS3 is winning it's not a landslide it's neck and neck not enough to make up for the stomping they are recieving here in the states.

[theWacoKid]

From David Reeves, who heads operations from sony in europe.

Reeves: PS3 will overtake 360 by summer
Lisa Foster Today, 3:19pm

A million PS3s sold in PAL region in December; Gap closing quickly on 360
PlayStation 3 is set to overtake Xbox 360 in Europe by the summer of this year, despite launching well over a year after its rival.

That was the bullish claim of SCEE president and CEO David Reeves this week, who revealed that PS3 has already outsold 360 in certain territories such as France, Spain, Germany and Italy.

In an exclusive interview, Reeves told MCV that in December PS3, PSP and PS2 all sold over a million units each in the PAL region.

And although Sony Corporation is yet to announce full global sales figures, Reeves provided a snapshot of PS3’s PAL performance so far, whilst predicting the leap ahead of Xbox 360 within the next few months.

“In December we sold just over a million PlayStation 3s during the month,” he told MCV. “That’s across all PAL territories and that’s a sell-through figure.

About 20-22 per cent of that figure was sold in the UK alone. We’re very happy with the performance of PS3 in the UK.

“We don’t often mention the competition, but I will give you some interesting data: In terms of installed base in some of our major markets, such as France, Spain, Germany and Italy – plus some distributor territories in smaller markets like Switzerland – our current cumulative installed base is now higher than Xbox 360.

“It has not yet reached that in the UK. But the team here expect to overtake the installed base of Xbox 360 across all PAL territories in late summer. It’s also worth mentioning that last week we outsold Xbox 360 in PAL territories by a ratio of three to one.”

This was the key swing territory for MS and they're blowing it. They've also blown japan. In december of 06, the 360 courtesy of titles like Blue Dragon sold nearly 100k, this past december 07, they did well under half that for the month.

[T.Tashi]

Rumor mill has sony phasing out the 80gig model, introducing a ceramic white ps3 and the most outrageous rumor has them dumping the price of the ps3 to $299 end of the month. I wouldn't expect a price drop announcement until may at E3, but you never know. Supposedly, sony is at break even point with the ps3 with respect to production costs. So, they could cut price without bleeding the company to death.

A $299 ps3 would make third party publishers very happy.

I read somewhere (probably Gamasutra) that Sony had cut production costs for the PS3 in half. So a $299 PS3 is very likely.

Here's some additional Nintendo info for Europe.

Following the release of the company’s nine month financial results, officials from Nintendo of Europe have announced additional sales information for Europe and the UK, where the Wii now has four 1+ million sellers and Nintendogs has sold over 8 million copies.

Wii consoles sales for Europe as a whole were put at over 6 million units (compared to a rest of the world total of 6.30 million in the company’s nine month financial report). The figures are claimed to be sell-through figures based upon retail sales in each European country, as provided by unnamed independent research companies.

Four first party Wii titles have sold over 1 million units in Europe (not including the bundled Wii Sports), with hardware bundle Wii Play topping the list at 2.3 million units, followed by The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on 1.3 million units, the more recently released Super Mario Galaxy on the same amount and Mario Party 8 at 1 million units.

Hardware sales for the Nintendo DS in Europe have now exceeded 20 million units (the rest of the world total is given as 22.94 million). The best selling game has proven to be Nintendogs with 8 million units sold, followed by Brain Training (aka Brain Age) with 5 million units sold and More Brain Training (aka Brain Age 2) on 2.8 million units.

The total number of million plus sellers in Europe has not been made clear, with titles such as Pokemon Diamond/Pearl and Animal Crossing: Wild World also believed to have reached the milestone. The only other titles mentioned specifically by Nintendo of Europe though are Mario Kart DS on 2 million units and New Super Mario Bros. on 3 million units.

In addition to this pan-European sales data, Nintendo UK has released additional information, indicating that the Nintendo DS was the best selling hardware of any kind in 2007, with a UK installed userbase of over 5 million units.

Wii was the best selling home console of 2007 in the UK, with lifetime-to-date sales of over 2 million units, exceeding that of the Xbox 360. Nintendo had a 79 percent share of the handheld console market in 2007 and a 45 percent share of the home console market.

Additionally, sales of Nintendo’s Touch! Generations range of software accounted for 56 percent of all first party software sold for the Nintendo DS in 2007, while combined sales of both Brain Training titles have now passed 2.5 million units in the UK.

Source (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=17096)

[Gamer From '78]

thanks sparrow read the article interesting how the Europe totals don't include the UK or Austraila. UK being the biggest European market is telling. Even where the PS3 is winning it's not a landslide it's neck and neck not enough to make up for the stomping they are recieving here in the states.

Though the numbers for "Europe" are divided up among the seperate countries, you have to look at them as a whole. Dividing them up is like dividing up the individual US states since "Europe" is considered one market like the US (including Canada and Mexico) is considered one market.

Three markets, Xbox 360 winning one (albeit the largest) and the PS2 winning in two. Microsoft needs to get off their asses and do something. A price drop and bundling in the wireless option would be a good idea. :aureola:

[DrunkenThumbmaster]

From David Reeves, who heads operations from sony in europe.



This was the key swing territory for MS and they're blowing it. They've also blown japan. In december of 06, the 360 courtesy of titles like Blue Dragon sold nearly 100k, this past december 07, they did well under half that for the month.


It's a marketing guy so you have to take it with a grain of salt. He dodges a few issues. He's happy with the UK. But are they outselling the 360 there. Culmulative overtake the 360 how in just those regions or worldwide or in all of Europe. Last numbers I saw for france had the 360 still in the lead there but the PS3 was out pacing it.

The numbers are all fudged everywhere you look. The only clear thing is the DS and the Wii.

[DrunkenThumbmaster]

Though the numbers for "Europe" are divided up among the seperate countries, you have to look at them as a whole. Dividing them up is like dividing up the individual US states since "Europe" is considered one market like the US (including Canada and Mexico) is considered one market.

Three markets, Xbox 360 winning one (albeit the largest) and the PS2 winning in two. Microsoft needs to get off their asses and do something. A price drop and bundling in the wireless option would be a good idea. :aureola:

That's the thing they aren't winning two. They are still 3rd in Europe overall. And while they are winning the small countries. They are still losing in the UK and Austrailia from any numbers I've seen.

And where there are winning it's neck and neck a few couple thousand consoles. I'm not saying won't eventually overtake the 360. Right now the net wants to give Sony Europe when it really doesn't look that clear.

[DrunkenThumbmaster]

I read somewhere (probably Gamasutra) that Sony had cut production costs for the PS3 in half. So a $299 PS3 is very likely.

Here's some additional Nintendo info for Europe.



Source (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=17096)


GTA april 29? Good money.

[Gamer From '78]

I read somewhere (probably Gamasutra) that Sony had cut production costs for the PS3 in half. So a $299 PS3 is very likely.

I don't think we will see a $299 PS3 anytime soon. I think that Sony knows if they cut the price in half ($600 at launch to $300 rumored new price) in just over a year, people will think it's a blowout and that Sony is ditching the product. either that, or they have no confidence in their platform.

In reality, I see a $349 package around the holidays. Sony really needs to concentrate on the games right now. By the looks of it, they are rallying for a huge year in '08.

In other news, large retailer GAME in the UK is reporting a listing for Splinter Cell Conviction on the PS3 with the same release date as the 360 and PC versions. Strong sales of Ubisoft titles on the PS3 (relative to it's installed base) in addition to rising sales of the PS3 which is set to overtake the 360 this summer (according to Sony...take with pinch of salt), Ubisoft may be changing their tune. They seem to have hammered out their programming dificulties for the most part and their most recent release-Assassin's Creed looked very similar across the board, especially after the PS3 patch that fixed the PS3 bugs. With End War, Prince of Persia, Rainbow Six Vegas 2 and other upcoming games announced for the PS3, this makes sense for Ubisoft to maximize profits. I will also say that with Ubisoft fighting off EA who is trying to buy them out, they will do everything in their power to maximize profits.

Back to the PS3 though, Best Buy has sent out notice that the 80-gig PS3 model is being phased out, just as they sent notice out to the stores & employees that the 60-gig SKU was discontinued. http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2008/01/24/best-buy-discontinuing-80gb-ps3/ Here's the dirty from the internal memo.

"An anonymous Best Buy employee has sent us a scan of an internal letter, which notifies employees that the 80GB system is being discontinued. "The 80GB version of the PS3 is going closeout and won't be replaced at this time," it reads. "It will come off the planogram on Jan. 28. The 60GB version should already be gone from stores. Only the 40GB version of PS3 will be sold in Best Buy stores at this time."

If true, Sony seems to be phasing out PS2 backward-compatibility completely. The move to the cheaper model and ONE SKU make sense. In addition, rumors circulating that the "Porcelain White" model already released in Japan is coming stateside as well as the black and white Dual Shock 3 controllers. With an easily swapable HDD and USB hubs costing next to nill these days, there really are no benefits to buying the 80-gig model except the backward-compatibility.

Sony seems keen to move ahead now. Could it be that they have grown tired of PS2 software eating into PS3 software sales? A big asset last generation has turned into a big liability this generation. PS2 will drop to the sub-$100 mark making it nearly as cheap as a couple bottles of Jose Quervo.

A solid holiday for Sony will consist of the following IMO and boost sales. The single SKU PS3 (in Porcelain and Piano Black) will be $349. It will (now) be bundled with a Dual Shock 3 Sixaxis (matching color) and a Blu-Ray movie (Spidey 3 is good). A good thing (though I doubt they would do it) would be to bundle a 6-foot HDMI cable in as well. Throw in Metal Gear Solid 4, Final Fantasy XIII, Killzone 2, Resistance 2, Home and Little Big Planet as well as multiplats like Grand Theft Auto IV, Devil May Cry 4 and a few other biggies and Sony will have one hell of a end to 2008.

[ilnadmy]

Hmm, seems like the international numbers are somewhat mixed. UK, Germany, and Italy have the 360 outselling the PS3, while Spain and Japan have the PS3 in the lead. I reckon though that if you took the numbers in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, you'd find the PS3 in the lead, although I suppose in terms of purchasing power parity, those regions take a backseat to the US, Europe, and Japan/Australia.

Edit: LOL @ David Reeves. Interesting tidbit about PAL territories: they include Africa and the Middle East if I'm not mistaken, and while Sony has agents in most every country on the planet, Microsoft doesn't, as they don't really have a strong retail presence. That's one big reason why Sony's PAL numbers are stronger than MS's official PAL numbers. 360s sold in some PAL regions aren't sold through official vendors, since there AREN'T any official MS vendors, so what the stores there do is buy them FROM THE US, and then resell them to customers. That's what they do back home. Thus, those numbers boost the US numbers while keeping the PAL numbers flat, whereas people who buy a PS3 in a PAL territory add to that region's PAL sales. I would thus take David Reeve's "our PAL numbers kick MS's numbers in the ass" with a grain of salt.

[Tappy_Tibbons]

I dunno, nothing on PS3 interests me at this time. All the multiplat games are usually superior on 360 so why even bother with PS3? Maybe this year with some games worth owning and another price drop later I may end up with a PS3.

[NEO-360]

From David Reeves, who heads operations from sony in europe.



This was the key swing territory for MS and they're blowing it. They've also blown japan. In december of 06, the 360 courtesy of titles like Blue Dragon sold nearly 100k, this past december 07, they did well under half that for the month.

But so far the PS3 hasnt had any games thats sold as well as the heavy hitters have done on the 360. Sony can sell a mint of hardware when it comes to the PS3. But its no secret that the software on the console isnt really doing jack s---! Do anyone have the numbers right in North America when it comes to PS3 games as of late? :cool: