Kaz Hirai, the chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment says that he hopes that lifetime PlayStation 3 sales will top those of the PS2. He also tells the Financial Times that the older console's sales give him a pain where the next-gen console is concerned. "It's not fun for me replicating the PS2 numbers. I've seen that movie already", he said.

According to the FT, Hirai wants to sell 150 million PS3s. The paper doesn't actually get Kaz to say as much though. It merely builds on the SCEE boss stating, "I want to try to see if we can exceed the PS2 numbers after nine years, otherwise why are we in this business?" So, this looks like a bit of maths that uses the current 140m PS2s sold and adds... 10m.

As of the end of Sony's last fiscal year (March 31st, 2008) Sony had sold 12.85 million PS3s worldwide. That's over a period that's just short of 15 months. With 12.85 million sales under its belt, Sony has 137.15 sales to go to hit its target. However, the PS2 had sold between 10 and 14 million units worldwide depending on how you read Sony's official figures.

According to everyone's favourite analyst, Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities, once the PS3 gets below $200 (£100) it will sell as well as the PS2. That doesn't look as though it's happening any time soon, however. Sony just announced that it will introduce the 80GB PS3 at the same price as the existing 40GB model (£299, $400 for the US). That might represent added value, but it doesn't put the console any closer to selling at below $200...

Do you think Sony will make it? Let us know in the Forum.

^{Source: Financial Times}