Chicago (IL) – After a very rocky start, Sony is now much more optimistic about the sales potential of its game console: Sony hopes the PS3 will outsell the PS2 eventually.

Last month was a key event for Sony. For the first time, U.S. PS3 sales exceeded Xbox 360 by a far margin – 405,500 units vs. 219.800 units. If Sony can keep this volume, it not only sits right in the middle between the Xbox 360 and the Wii, which sold 666,700 systems, it may also become the success story it was envisioned to be.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Sony Computer Entertainment’s Kazuo Hirai said that the current success has made Sony optimistic enough to set the goal beyond the PS2. “It’s not fun for me replicating the PS2 numbers. I’ve seen that movie already,” Hirai said I want to try to see if we can exceed the PS2 numbers after nine years, otherwise why are we in this business?”  

According to Sony’s fiscal year 2007 report, the PS2 has sold 131.6 million units since its introduction in 2000. According to a Sony announcement made at E3, actual sales have now exceeded 140 million units over its 9-year production run. The original Playstation sold 102.49 million units between 1994 and 2006. Hirai hinted that Sony’s goal with the PS3 over 9 years will be about 150 million units, which means that sales will have to increase dramatically from the company’s current pace of 9.24 million units per year. Sony said that it had sold 12.81 million PS3s until March 31 of this year.

To us, this sounds like an ambitious goal and perhaps one that cannot be achieved unless Sony will find a way to conquer new gamer crowds and application areas for its PS3. Compared to the production time of the PS2, the company had virtually no competition and certainly not a dominating competitor such as the Nintendo Wii, which some market watchers believe to account for at least half of the video gaming market within a few years. And then there is Microsoft’s Xbox 360, which is currently losing ground and potentially exposed to a few not-so-great decisions made by Microsoft, including a fee-based offering of Netflix, but it is unlikely that Microsoft will just watch how Sony is gaining market share.

The Xbox 360 is at the time where Microsoft can and will have to afford further price cuts and investments into its gaming community. If that is the case, the PS3’s 150 million unit goal may be a tough one to achieve.

author fails to mention

Jul 22, 2008 12:52     

Author fails to mention that the ps3 sold so much in June because of MGS4. That is like comparing sales number for sept 07 (halo 3 release) and declaring the 360 will sale that much every month from here on out. Why all the 360 hate lately Wolfgang?
xlephon report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +10

hate

Jul 22, 2008 13:06     

"Why all the 360 hate lately Wolfgang? " Cause his Xbox broke
tilt report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +7

Wolfgang's problem

Jul 22, 2008 13:15     

Wolfgang's problem is not with the 360. It's that he has way too much PS3 love. That and Sony's spin engine has been red-lining lately, pushing the PS3 farther in advertising than it has been since introduction. All because one game made it have better sales for one week. Expect August PS3 sales to tank worse than they ever have before. PS3 was a great idea, it just doesn't do it for the majority of the market. The only reason I see to own one, is for protein folding, nothing else.

Narg report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

If Sony can keep this volume ....

Jul 22, 2008 13:21     

Wolfgang, so Sony is planning to release MGS 4 (or its equivalent) every month going forward. You must know something that nobody else knows. If you are going to do that type of comparison, then you should compare the numbers with the month that MS released Halo 3. Ohh but let me guess, that would mean that the 360 would crush your beloved PS3. Dude your just as bad as the fanbois here.
09 F9 report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -1

go make Final Fantasy a PS3 exclusive again and you...

Jul 22, 2008 13:25     

go make Final Fantasy a PS3 exclusive again and you might have a shot.
Seizure report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +2

will never happen

Jul 22, 2008 13:40     

It will never outsell the PS2 unless they release a backwards-compatibility patch for the newer PS3's. In a few years, blu-ray players will be much cheaper than the PS3 so that will give people a reason not to buy one.
Jason report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +5

I guess I don't understand.

Jul 22, 2008 14:14     

Where do you guys get off saying that Wolfgang is all PS3 fanboi? Narg are you pissed that Mark (xbox lover) Raby is gone? Obviously the sales figure is based on MGS 4's influence. Just like when halo 3 came out the 360 sold more. I have little to say about the article, but I for one don't think Wolfgang has near the bias that Mark Raby had.
wmcgritt report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -1

Sony is on a roll

Jul 22, 2008 14:18     

The current trend in console sales proves that quality will sooner or latere always come on top. PS3 is a rock solid product, slick 'n sexy and it has an exciting future ahead. 150 million might be a stretch though, it depends on how quickly they can reduce costs and prices. Once it hits the $299 price point, nothing will be able to stop it.
Ray report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -3

@wmcgritt

Jul 22, 2008 14:58     

you wrote: "Obviously the sales figure is based on MGS 4's influence. Just like when halo 3 came out the 360 sold more." Well, thats obvious; however Wolfgang writes: "For the first time, U.S. PS3 sales exceeded Xbox 360 by a far margin – 405,500 units vs. 219.800 units. If Sony can keep this volume, it not only sits right in the middle between the Xbox 360 and the Wii, which sold 666,700 systems, it may also become the success story it was envisioned to be." Nowhere in the article does it state that the reason PS3 sold so many was due to MGS4. Wolfgang makes it seem like the PS3 is just outselling the 360 by a large margin. also: "And then there is Microsoft’s Xbox 360, which is currently losing ground and potentially exposed to a few not-so-great decisions made by Microsoft, including a fee-based offering of Netflix" ITS FREE, not fee based ... if you are a gold member and a netflix subscriber ITS FREE. The only "fee" is the gold membership ... which entitles you to A LOT more than netflix. Wolfgang, just states the news as is, if you are going to spew out your opinion there is a section for that.

09F9 report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +3

Bad Wolfgang

Jul 22, 2008 15:34     

"And then there is Microsoft’s Xbox 360, which is currently losing ground and potentially exposed to a few not-so-great decisions made by Microsoft, including a fee-based offering of Netflix, but it is unlikely that Microsoft will just watch how Sony is gaining market share." This is not going to be with a fee. Microsoft is adding a feature(Netflix) to their current gold membership. It's not like we're only getting that if we put another $10/year or anything. Keep in mind there's 12 million XBL accounts. It's not an add-on like when you want HBO with your cable and get charged in addion. Further more, if you're going to be opinionated in your articles, please state that in the beginning. Sales of the PS3 jumped this month because of MGS4. Now you'll see their value dive because FFXIII is no longer an excuslive(which is bigger news than these numbers). Why would you write this when Samatha wrote the same crap and upset most of the users? Doesn't TGD offer a good benifits package? @Ray "Once it hits the $299 price point, nothing will be able to stop it." It's been at the $299 price point for quite sometime. I'm guessing that you're saying the hard drive upgrade from 40 GB to 80 GB is going to make some kind of fire sale. Well you're going in the wrong direction if that's the case. Until the PS3 gets a SKU under the $250 price point you will not see many of these selling. I'm keeping off until the price comes down to

Headward report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -1

An easy way to make PS3 sell more than PS2....

Jul 22, 2008 19:40     

Drop the price down to that of the PS2 and add backwards compatability. I don't know if this will help PS3 catch up with the xbox 360, but it will surely help PS3 kill PS2 :-) Pun intended!
Dude report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +2

consoles

Jul 22, 2008 20:14     

Both are just consoles. Get over it :). PS3 is Sony. Since when did Sony make lame products. Be serious. Xbox just filled the gap between ps2 and ps3 when Sony slept on their laurels. BIG games go for the allaround platforms availability and that means that every gamer will benefit from them, be it xbox or ps. The only real battle is between exclusives. I am sure every veteran of REAL shooters(starting with wolfenstein 3d along to the likes of Cod4, unreal 3, battlefield and so on) does laugh at Halo. So we have Halo Forza against MGS4 and Gran Turismo franchise. It would be nice of you how many of xbox fanboys play their games on a sony plasma screen or own a sony camera.

Andrei report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

PS3 doomed by Sony Mktg

Jul 23, 2008 01:03     

PS3 is a lovely device, with many attributes beyond gaming (tho I am hooked on GT5 - 1st game that really "got" to me...). It is doomed to fail (or not succeed in their terms) by Sony Mngmt & Marketing mediocrity. Every aspect of everything it touches is compromised to "protect" Sony content and control the user. The latest example is the lame video rental - my try produced a 23 hr. download for a "semi" HD movie with stereo (?) sound. All for $5.99 plus tax and rental period started at the beginning of the download - not when actually available. Nice.

TechBob report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -1

PS3 has outsold 360 6 of the 7 months this year.

Jul 23, 2008 01:34     

I'm not surprised at the anti-Sony user comments going on here, seems if it the news is pro Sony, suddenly all the 360 fanboys come out of the woodwork. If we were to talk a year ago, the media absolutely devoured the PS3 for most of the year. It's time to realize the media wont play to internet mob rules. FFXII is coming out for 360, that's great, more people should play the game; instead of posting personal bias about a console manufacturer in a comments section while personally attacking an author go and play some of those games.

fonz report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +3

PS3 rocks but Wolfgang needs to be more objective

Jul 23, 2008 07:02     

I agree with the comments regarding MGS4 sales. I don't think June can be used to signal a trend. Sony needs to be more conservative in the medium term planning. But who know, maybe Sony has something up their sleeve. I wonder how many 360s worldwide got the red ring of death in the time it took you to read this post.
C-Drive report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

What PS3 Needs

Jul 23, 2008 09:43     

I have said a hundred times that 360 sales should be plateuing since it has been out for a year longer than PS3 and Wii. Wii has this generation locked, so when just talking about PS3 and 360 there is one big thing that people have to consider. What will make someone who already owns an Xbox360 shed out $400 for a PS3? Since 360 has a larger installed base right now, most people who wanted a next gen console right away got 360. PS3 and 360 are very very similar IMO. 95% of games are released on both systems and are not different in terms of graphics and playability. Sure there is Halo and Gears of War on 360, but then there is MGS4 and GT on PS3. However, from reviews I have read, MGS4 is awsome, but GT slacked big time. Sony needs to do something to separate itself from 360 to attract those who already own a 360. If you are going to yell "But sony has a blu-ray drive!!" just stop because 95% of the market does not use blu-ray and unless you have money coming out of your a$$ you won't find much reason to go blu-ray since the movies and players/ps3 are very expensive. Right now I own a 360, but I am not a fanboy for anything, rather, I just buy what is best at the time. I have really considered buying a PS3 for the blu-ray on my HDTV, and for the additional gaming system. But right now I have no real reason and can't afoard buying a blu-ray collection, and there is nothing that I can see that PS3 offers me over my 360 (Not to mention, I have tested both and I think PS3's online service has a way to go to catch up to xbox live). Once PS3 sets itself apart with a new feature, game, or hardware from the 360, then I will buy it. Until then, my 360 does everything equal to or beter then a PS3 (Except blu-ray, I know).

gnon report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +2

Not going to happen

Jul 23, 2008 14:58     

I own all 3 and unless Sony has a radical shift in games available for the console their not selling 150 million units.
Action Jackson report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

PS3 needs to make up ground in US

Jul 23, 2008 18:38     

The only place where the PS3 needs to get better penetration is the good old US of A. everywhere else it's doing fine against the 360. I think some of this is where each brand is based, same goes for 360 into Japan, luckily for MS Japan isn’t such a huge market.
PS3 report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +2

Yeah... about GT

Jul 24, 2008 06:09     

You say the sales are slumped... it's not GT5, it's the prologue, GT5 has been calculated to have over 900 cars already for it, and it's debut expected late this year (hopefully before christmas), early next year (wont hold my breathe, but I aint changing brand, because no racing game compares to each new full release of GT) and GT 1/2/3/4 were all in the top 5 games sold for their consoles, when GT5 is released, that is when PS3 will take off and the people who have GT5 Prologue, good for them, cause they get bonus features if it follows the same path as GT4 Prologue to GT4. *All information above is a theory based on the laws of statistics and previous Playstation growth rates* Plus newsflash to Xbox360 fans, I live in Australia, over 20 of my mates for Xbox360s, so far I've heard of over 15 of them busting (Red Rings of death) and them purchasing PS3s because how dissatisified they were. They were all bought at different times during the last year or so, so it's not a batch issue. PS3 will come second, Wii will come first. Sorry Xbox fans but no-one outside of the US seems to like Microsoft as much, taking into account over 50% of Xbox360s sold are in the US. Lets compare probably 80 million "potential" customers in the US for purchasing a Xbox360 or PS3. 400 million "potential" customers in the rest of the world for purchasing a Xbox360 or PS3 Note: I say potential, because not everyone thinking about buying one or the other will get one, they may opt out for a Wii or not buy a console at all because of their own personal reasons they make (price, the amount they would use it, if it's what they are after, etc etc)

Anarchist report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

RE: Yeah... about GT

Jul 24, 2008 13:47     

You speak about 15 of your friends had the RROD with the 360. But Microsoft fixed that for free. Yeah FREE. Just start looking around at Sony's track record at supporting their product. Sony would have charged the hell out of their customer if there was an issue with their PS3. Infact the Nintendo is doing right now with their remotes. The motion add-on to give better control. So fixing the controller by charging consumers with an add-on that will cost about $30. I've just got to hand it to Microsoft to make it right with RROD and fixed it for free.

Headward report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Enough with the RROD already!

Jul 24, 2008 18:58     

Products fail all the time... but have you ever heard of a manufacturer replacing them as quickly as MS does??? EX. On a hot day I was playing COD4, and I didn't realize my roommate had stacked some DVDs next to the air intake of the XBOX360. It locked up, and when I rebooted RROD ! ARGH! But guess what... filled out online form... three days later prepaid box arrives at my house. Sent it in and 7 days later a replacement is at my door. Complete time RROD to replacement: 10 days. Happiest ten days in a long time for my girl... So shut up already you PS3 dopes... RROD is not an issue any longer. Lack of killer games for the PS3 however... we could talk about THAT all day !!!

RockHop report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

bleh

Jul 25, 2008 15:54     

Too bad its already obsolete. Nintendo could release a new system next year that is far more powerful than the PS3, for $300. (If Nintendo was smart, that is.) What could sony do? They should be happy though, they got their stupid blu-ray. That's all they cared about anyway. They sacrificed the PS3 to get it. And anyone who bought a PS3 is stupid for being used like a pawn by Sony. You have to have principles, or these companies are going to walk all over you.

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