Stringer: 800,000 PS3's already shipped in Europe

[JTK]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6169204...stnews;title;2

Sony chief executive declares the European launch a resounding success; doesn't comment on whether the company has hit its global target of 6 million units.

6 million sold worldwide by now? I doubt it, that would be a very pleasant surprise.

Sony had an estimated 1 million units available for the European launch of the PlayStation 3, 165,000 of which were sold in the UK during the launch weekend. Sony has so far been tight-lipped over further figures, but yesterday CEO Howard Stringer said the console was nearing 800,000 sell-through in the European region, reports the Financial Times.

Stringer, speaking at the Spider-Man 3 movie premiere in Japan, told journalists that he believed that the sell-through in Europe was now "close to 800,000." He also said that in the first two days on the market in the UK, £100 million in revenue "changed hands."

"We came into the [European] market with more games, and perhaps we lived up to the expectations in Europe in a way that perhaps we didn't in Japan," he said.

However, Stringer did not mention whether or not Sony had hit its target of shipping 6 million units worldwide.

Again I doubt it but I would be happy to be proven wrong on that.

Despite news like this: I continue to see HD-DVD fanboys and zealots constantly bemoan of what a miserable disaster and failure the PS3 is, how horrible its sales number are, how much the Wii is dominating and kicking its ass despite being a completely different product with a completely different price range altogether, etc.

[Shin-Ra]

It's no surprise to me, I don't know if SCEE had any part in it but retailers have been great in discounting the price to the far more attractive looking £399 mark in the UK (don't know about other Euro countries) so there wasn't such a huge drop in sales in the weeks following launch which you usually expect.

SingStar's the next first-party Euro-centric PS3 game I can think of (June), I wonder what it can do for hardware sales. If the Eye3 HD camera doesn't come out in preparation for it, I wonder what other biggie-camera using game they've got coming.

[phranctoast]

the 6 million mark was a shipping target, not a sales target. It is possible they shipped 6 million, and sold 3 million.

[Maximus]

Well there might be some good news coming soon for Continental buyers, apparently a price cut is in the works, already. A friend said that they have received promotional material directly from Sony about a limited-time offer, whether this is true or not, I couldn't say so take it with a big pinch of salt. If it does happen, then expect €100 off list price bringing it to €499 for the 60GB. It could have something to do with the weakness of the USD, or because they have a hardware revision in the works, but there is a glimmer of hope for those who haven't bought in.

Also expect some sort of Spiderman 3 tie-in, we have received some promotional material and will be showing the extended trailer in stores in 1080p played off a promotional BD that we will receive some-time this week in the post.

A Sony guy is coming store to install a bunch of Bravia X-Series TVs and hook them up to PS3s and one 52" to the BDP-S1(E). Atm we have a few V-series TVs hooked up to a PS3 and a Wii, and a Samsung hooked up to the X360. It looks like the PS2 will make way and the current PS3 stand is going to change. All of this is tentative, but hopefully I can take some pics when the dude comes to do it if I am there (though next week is going to be my last week at HMV for about 2 months as I start my leave of absence for my finals).

[JTK]

Originally Posted by phranctoast

the 6 million mark was a shipping target, not a sales target. It is possible they shipped 6 million, and sold 3 million.

That's what I figured.

[Shin-Ra]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

Also expect some sort of Spiderman 3 tie-in, we have received some promotional material and will be showing the extended trailer in stores in 1080p played off a promotional BD that we will receive some-time this week in the post.

Cool. I hope you get some large signs explaining the obvious (to us), too.

I bet there's people out there actually using the composite cables supplied with their PS3.