PS3 Sells 1 Million In Europe

The PlayStation 3 has now sold an impressive one million units across Europe and other PAL territories, according to Sony.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's president, David Reeves, elaborated on the specifics, saying, “Early last week we went through the one million mark on PS3. And we did that in nine and a half weeks.” That's one million consoles sold, rather than the 'shipped' figures - which include consoles sat in warehouses and retailers - that platform holders often give.

Perhaps more impressive is how that figure stacks up against Sony's previous home consoles. “That was faster than both PS2 and PSOne. And I think that the analysts out there will also realise that it’s faster than our brothers and sisters in the competitive world,” Reeves said.

Reeves also noted the success of PlayStation Network, stating that 460,000 users have registered with the online service, a figure that Sony has confirmed for SPOnG represents Europe alone. Reeves was quick to dismiss comparisons with Microsoft's rival Xbox Live service, saying, “I don’t feel we’re competing with Xbox Live in any way. We’re in a different stadium. And with the introduction of Home at Christmas, we’re going in a completely different direction with something very entertaining. We don’t have our eyes on the competition in any way.”

In terms of software sales Reeves was less bullish. He revealed that 2 million first party games have been shipped, but did not give figures for units actually sold. Resistance: Fall of Man and MotorStorm have shipped 600,000 and 500,000 units respectively.

Reeves conceded that that since launch there has been a lull in releases, but added “our big bangs will be arriving around September and October; Phil [Harrison] will be announcing these at a later date, but they will probably be in the arena of social gaming as well as more traditional games”.

The hardware figures are certainly likely to cheer Sony. Following a successful launch there was a dramatic drop-off in PS3 sales in subsequent weeks, and today's news should serve to demonstrate that the launch weekend wasn't merely a phenomenon driven by fanboy anticipation and unusually high stock levels.

That said, the drop-off in releases mentioned by Reeves has led to a drop in Japanese PS3 sales to below the apparently “psychological” level of 10,000 units per week recently.

^{Source: MCV}