Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) has said that it sold 1.2 million PlayStation 3s over the 'The Holiday' period. The figure covers the period from November 23rd through to December 31st.

What Sony has actually told Bloomberg is: "...PlayStation hardware retail sales reached more than 3.9 million units in North America during the critical holiday sales window (Friday, November 23, 2007 to December 31, 2007). This accounts for SCEA's three systems currently in the market PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation. PS3 retail sales reached 1.2 million hardware units during this holiday timeframe".

The PS3 figure (1.2m) would be more than twice that of the 466,000 PlayStation 3s sold in the USA during November as reported by the NPD Group, which collates US games industry sales to consumers. NPD also states that Sony sold 1.76 million PS3s in the first 11 months of the year in the USA.

According to Sony, the PS3's impressive sales feat was still topped in terms of raw numbers by its older sibling, the PS2, however. 1.3 million PS2s were sold. The PSP outperformed both, with 1.4 million units of the handheld shifted.

"Consumers are clearly responding to the expanding multimedia capabilities and a great line-up of over 200 games", Jack Tretton, president of SCEA, said in a statement.

Erm... you might want to check SCEA's website, Jack. A search of the site turns up 156 results (including third-party titles), with many of those not having been published yet. Tretton made a similarly slightly baffling statement about the number of games available for the PS3 in December.

Last week Microsoft announced that it had sold 4.3 million Xbox 360s globally between September and the new year. Nintendo has not released seasonal figures yet - but is tipped to be the over-all 2007 winner, despite supply problems and a paucity of good third-party games.

^{Sources: Reuters
Bloomberg}