How will the PS3 fare when it finally reaches Europe?
Judging by figures that came out of the US this week, the going for Sony’s console could be tougher than it had expected.
This Christmas was the first time that anyone could see the three next-generation console contenders – PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii – taking each other on head to head. And in America, at least, Sony was left struggling.
According to statistics put together by US retail analyst NPD, it was Microsoft’s Xbox 360 that emerged the overall winner during the festive sales rush. The Xbox 360 – already on the market for a year and boosted by the best-selling title Gears of War – shifted 2m units across the US in November and December, narrowly ahead of the Nintendo Wii.
The Wii, revelling in a huge splash of media coverage, managed 1.8m in the same two-month period – despite not launching until the third week of November.
In comparison with these two, however, the PlayStation 3 fared notably less well. Dogged by a lack of stock and higher price, the PS3 sold an estimated 750,000 units following its launch on November 17 – the same week that the Wii hit America’s streets.