PS3 sales soar 178% in the UK – Beats Xbox 360 but not Wii
The PS3 has achieved a sales comeback in the UK over the past week, with figures suggesting Sony enjoyed a 178% upturn in console sales. Whether this is just a temporary blip in the PS3′s fortunes thanks to the introduction of a cheaper 40gb model, or whether they’ve actually turned a corner for good remains to be seen.
Sony announced a new pricing strategy a few weeks ago, and these results are the first indications we have as to whether that policy will turn out to be a good one or not. The new 40gb model of the PS3 launched in the UK last week along with a new bundle of the (soon to be discontinued) 60gb model.
The 40gb model features no backward compatibility for PS2 games two USBs instead of four, and the obviously smaller hard drive. To sweeten the deal though, the price is only £299 ($610). The 60gb model has also been repackaged while they sell off the remaining stock, being called the ‘Value Pack’ and featuring two games and one controller. That package also sees a price cut to £349 ($720).
The PS3 was sat in third place last week in total console sales, still comfortably behind the Nintendo DS and Wii, but beating the Microsoft Xbox 360 by quite a margin. Sony enjoyed their third biggest hardware sales week ever, beaten only by the first two weeks the console went on sale in the UK back in March.
PS3 software sales also rose as a result, with Resistance:Fall of Man, Heavenly Sword and Motorstorm all rising substantially in the all formats game charts.
So what does all this mean. Well, it was obvious that there would be a rise in PS3 sales since October 10th when the new SKUs became available for the first time. 178% is impressive but the PS3 was starting from quite a lowly position so is it actually that good a result?
This rise is certainly a combination of people who don’t want to miss out on the 60gb version of the PS3 while it is available, along with people tempted by the new lower priced 40gb model, but is that sustainable? This will however undoubtedly encourage Sony to push through their plans in other territories, with the USA now being ripe for the 40gb model.
The fact remains that the Wii is miles ahead, both in terms of total sales, and weekly sales, in the UK, and that doesn’t look like changing any time soon. Demand is still outstripping supply for the Wii, and a lack of available consoles may be Nintendo’s only downfall this Christmas. Sony isn’t quite dead yet though… maybe there is life left in the PS3 after all.
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17 Responses to “PS3 sales soar 178% in the UK – Beats Xbox 360 but not Wii”
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October 16th, 2007
Technologically speaking, PS3 is so far ahead of the game that inevitably PS3 will leave 360 & Wii so far in the dust they might never recover. The 360 is an obsolete piece of junk and the Wii is a glorified Game Cube with a gimmick controller and crappy games. Face it, the Wii sells because of the price, not because of the games. The games on PS3 keep getting better & better. There seems to be no limit on what the PS3 can do. I’m sure we’ll all see when Kill Zone 2 launches.
October 16th, 2007
The Wii is a fad, it’s got maybe another year and a half tops.
PS3 is just getting started.
The 360 will likely take the crown this holiday, but it will be its last.
October 16th, 2007
So the PS3 sold more consoles than the 360 even though it has had none of its big games released, the 360 costs less and the biggest game on the 360 was just released.
LOL @ that.
They might as well give up on the 360 altogether after Christmas ‘cos they are going to get stuffed next year when there actually is a reason to buy the PS3.
October 16th, 2007
Yeesh, Sony isn’t quite dead yet? God, I love the tone of these articles. Sales have soared 178% but….Sony’s just about dead….man… What a crock of shit. Can’t wait until Killzone 2, Haze, Gran Turismo 5, Tekken 6 and MGS4 hit the shelves….hope these idiots who write these things eat their own words.
October 16th, 2007
You guys are just out there… so what if the system sold more last week. Its the previous week that mattered anyways for Halo. Also, if it was over the previous weeks sales… maybe the PS3 sales were low due to Halo 3 being released. There are a number of reasons this number could be higher, but its not a comeback yet after one week. The same thing happened when the PS3s price was lowered in the US. Amazon reported a 1400% increase in demand. It all depends on the previous weeks numbers, if 10k were sold that week you are looking at an increase of 7800 units. Not taht big of a deal unless they sold 500k units which is not likely.
October 16th, 2007
Brian Murphy you forgot Final Fantasy 13 and LittleBigPlanet.
I really, really cant wait for next year because so many annoying mouthy little xbots are going to slowly but surely STFU.
October 16th, 2007
PS3 ROCKS!!!!
October 16th, 2007
Wow, it just takes one sales surge to remind me why sony fanboys are the biggest a-holes in the universe.
October 16th, 2007
i dont understand why people are buying wiis cuz is just a piis a crap.ps2 is better than a wii.
October 16th, 2007
For those of you math noobs (there are at least one of you based on Le’s quote) an increase in sales of 178% is calculated in the following manner:
(1.00 + 1.78) x previous week’s sales
So using Le’s example of 10,000 units, this results in an increase of 17,800 units NOT 7800.
Learn2math
October 16th, 2007
The professor beat me to it.
October 17th, 2007
It’s good to see people buying the ps3. The more people buy the more developers will see the financial possibilities of devolping on the ps3 and we will see more and more games making use of the 50 gb Blu-ray discs. MGS4, FF13, Killzone 2, Haze, Uncharted are just the beginning. The more ps3 sells the closer we get to games people have always dreamed of, sadly however the 360 is slowing down this progress (still only uses 8.5gb DVD’s!!!) the quicker it goes away the better for gaming.
October 17th, 2007
[...] PS3 sales soar 178% in the UK – Beats Xbox 360 but not Wii [...]
October 17th, 2007
PS3 fanboys check this out. Even though your console outsold the 360 in the UK for one week the 360 is still kicking it’s ass in WW sales even with the new gimped sku on the market. The 360 is almost two years old and it still has a higher demand than the ps3 that is why the attach rates are so much greater than the PS3. You say that devs are taking a look at this gain… Ha ha ha ha. The 360 sells over a 1,000,000+ software titles every single week vs the PS3′s 200,000+. I wonder what developers care more about PS3 reaching 5 million or the 360 reaching 12 with an easier to develop for console I really wonder. So don’t kid yourself the PS3 has a long way to go to even get in the fight.
October 17th, 2007
Amen “Guy who knows”. The ps3 robots are out in force. It’s way to late for these guys they’ve been assimilated. They are part of a collective and can’t think for themselves.
October 18th, 2007
[...] medios internacionales se han hecho eco del aumento de ventas de un 178% del que se ha beneficiado PS3 tras la salida del nuevo modelo de 40 GB a 399 euros. Lo cierto es [...]
October 18th, 2007
To “guy who knows”
PS3 has shipped 5.5million and sold 5.1(that was at the start of the month, even before the 178% surge). Sounds like high demand to me.
Software sales are more on the 360 for 2 reasons 1. 360 has been out longer (more hardware = more software sales).2. The games so not entertaining (apart from Bioshock) that 360 owners have to keep buying software to keep themselves entertained, notice how similar PGR and Forza are (both GT clones,poor ones). Oh and 360 hasn’t sold 12 million they have shipped 12 million, last I checked 360 had just been takien over by the Wii and the 360 had sold 8.9million(Despite a year headstart). Sounds like PS3 selling better than the 360 did at this stage in it’s life. And that is saying something as 360 had a whole year without competition whilst the PS3 had to deal with the Wii.