Sales of Sony’s PlayStation 3 (PS3) have finally topped the one million mark in Japan eight months after its launch, lagging well behind those of Nintendo’s Wii, research showed on Wednesday.
Sony had sold just over 1,01-million PS3s as of July 15 since the console’s launch in Japan on November 11, according to Enterbrain, a Japanese publisher that tracks video-game console sales.
Meanwhile, Japanese sales of the Wii had reached almost 2,91-million since its launch last December as of last week, while Microsoft had sold just 420 705 of its Xbox 360 console, which was introduced in December 2005, Enterbrain said.
The success of the PS3 is considered vital to Sony’s future following a series of setbacks.
But Sony was forced to delay the global launch of the PS3 due to problems with the high-definition DVD player.
It recently made a $100 price cut for the PS3 in North America to make it more attractive to consumers, particularly against the Wii, which has proved a hit thanks to its motion-sensitive controller and affordable price.
Sony previously dominated the home video-game market and shipments of the original version and the PlayStation 2 have both topped 100 million each. — Sapa-AFP