Electronic Arts CEO, Larry Probst, speaking at the Reuters Media Summit this week, confirmed that 200,000 PS3 units made it to the US for the launch earlier this month. Sony had originally promised 400,000 at launch – a figure which was then halved just prior to launch day.

Probst said that he had anticipated a lower shipment figure than that promised but added that, "Where they ended up was a bit of a surprise." However, he also told Reuters that he expects between 500,000 to 800,000 units will been shipped in the United States by the end of 2006.

He also noted that console sales and corresponding game sales were typically slow to begin with because of supply constraints, and a clear winner will not be known for as long as five years.

The Reuters report also quotes him in upbeat mode regarding sales across the industry, "Bottom line, I would say that the first holiday weekend met or slightly exceeded expectations. Clearly the Nintendo Wii had a spectacular holiday," said Probst, adding that Wii sales came in ahead of EA's forecasts."

Essentially, Larry covered all bases - even pointing out that the Xbox 360 is on course for 10-million US units sold by the end of 2006.

The pay-off to the report makes interesting reading and illustrates how by merely opening one's mouth and talking up everything, a high-profile management figure at a US-based company can impact 'shareholder' value: "EA's shares fell 1.8 percent to $56.19 after Probst's comments, before recovering a bit to close at $56.77, still down 0.8 percent on the Nasdaq."