The first data are starting to appear on sales of Sony’s revamped Playstation 3 “Slim” since price cuts went into effect at the start of September. The data are good. The question is whether they are good enough.
In Japan, research company Enterbrain says that Sony sold 150,252 PS3 Slims in the four days between its launch on September 3 and September 6. That is the highest weekly sales number Sony has recorded for the PS3 since its launch in 2006 and also compares well with products past, such as the 170,779 units of Nintendo’s DSi handheld console sold during its first two days in the shops last autumn.
There have also been encouraging signs for Sony from other markets, such as the UK, where PS3 sales are reported to be up eleven-fold. Blogosphere calculations claim that means a rise from 3,700 sold in the last week of August to around 41,000 last week.
It is hard to draw any definite conclusions from this, however. There have been rumours about PS3 price cuts for more than a year, no doubt prompting many to delay their purchase. Only when that pent-up demand is satisfied will the true situation emerge.
As always, that situation will depend on whether there are games sufficiently compelling that consumers will buy a console in order to play them. Third-party publishers look set to release fewer of their big games this Christmas – although Modern Warfare 2 from Activision and The Beatles: Rock Band from Viacom are likely to sell some Xbox 360s and PS3s.
That means that Sony has a lot riding on two titles. In Japan, Square Enix is set to announce a pre-Christmas release date for Final Fantasy XIII, which has the potential to sell hundreds of thousands of PS3s in Sony’s home market, such is its popularity. FF13 will not reach the US and Europe until 2010, where it will also be available on the Xbox 360.
In western markets, Sony will be counting on its own Uncharted 2, an action-adventure game that won the top critics award at this year’s E3 convention in Los Angeles.
