Finally, one year after the official launch of its gaming
platform, Sony did the right thing. The Japanese company has unveiled a new
40GB version, price-tagged at only $400 and it has slashed the price of the 80GB
version to $499.
All these moves have improved the sales of PlayStation 3 and
for the first time in months Sony’s gaming device has managed to outsell
Nintendo Wii in its homeland.
According to the latest data released by the research
company Enterbrain in the last four weeks Sony has sold 183,217 PS3s in Japan.
Nintendo Wii, which until the PS3’s price cuts, was the best
selling gaming console in Japan
sold only 159,193 units.
Earlier this week Sony Computer Entertainment America has
also reported a sharply increase of PlayStation 3’s sales in America.
Since November 2, the launch date of both the 40GB and the
cheaper 80GB PS3 models, PS3 hardware
sales have increased by 298%, SCEA said.
But is this a sign that the hard times are over and Sony may
return to it former dominance over the last 11 years? Hard to say! Sony is
still lagging far behind its competitors in terms of worldwide and US sales.
During the same period when Sony reported a 298 percent increase in US sales,
Nintendo sold in US 350,000 Wii in just one week, after no less than 300,000
units had found their owners in the first week of November. The sales of Wiis
represent the highest one-week U.S.
sales total outside of its launch week one year ago.
The last NPD research credited Sony with 121,000 units sold
in October. This means that Sony could sell somewhere around 300,000 to 400,000
units in November, while Nintendo Wii seems to be ready to hit the one million
units mark.
On the other hand, Sony’s competitors are better prepared to
take advantage of the holiday season. Despite its shortages, Nintendo Wii is
still rated as the best-buy gaming device by various gaming sites and analysts.
Microsoft has an impressive games line-up and its Xbox 360 Arcade, which has a
$279 price tag, is better positioned to lure away the Nintendo’s customers.
It’s very likely that Sony will see an increase in its PS3
sales during this holiday season, but rather to its Blu-Ray player and not for
its gaming capabilities.
Though, the next year will bring better news for Sony. With
a lot of new games coming up, Sony will solve the last of its deficiencies: the
lack of the good gaming software.
It will be interesting to see how Nintendo and Microsoft
will fight against a PS3 with a better price tag and some good games, such as Gran
Turismo Prologue, in his portfolio.
After all maybe all those analysts who predicted that PS3
will win the gaming consoles battle in 2009 were right.
Until then, grab your popcorn and let’s watch Microsoft
compete against Nintendo during this holiday season.
