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Price Cut Leads To PS3, PSP Sales Boost

Posted by Zonk on from the i-know-it-got-me dept.

Klaidas writes "The BBC reports that sales of Sony's PlayStation 3 console in the US rose by 21% in June, though the machine still trails the Wii and Xbox 360. NPD numbers show 98,500 PS3s were sold, compared to 198,400 Xbox 360s (up 28%) and 381,800 Wiis (up 13%). Sony said that the $100 price cut to the 60GB PS3 led to a 135% sales rise over the last two weeks, though independent confirmation of that jump is not yet available. 'Nintendo's DS handheld sold 561,900 units , while Sony's PSP, which has been boosted by an April price cut, sold 230,100 units, NPD reported. Software sales in the US are 31% higher than the same time last year, the market research showed, buoyed by new consoles from all three firms.'"

3 of 154 comments (clear)

  1. June was a 5 week period, May was a 4 week period by ShapeGSX · · Score: 5, Insightful

    NPD counts sales on a per week basis, not monthly. But the tallies are reported monthly. With NPD, not all months are 4 weeks. If every month was 4 weeks, they would only end up counting 12 * 4 = 48 weeks in a year. There are 52 weeks in a year, so they need 4 months out of the year to be a 5 week period.

    June is one of those 5 week periods.

    If you take this into account, weekly PS3 sales were actually DOWN for June vs May, not up! This is the only valid way to measure sales for months that have a different number of weeks in them.

    So in May, they sold 82,000/4 = 20500 PS3s per week.

    In June, they sold 98,500/5 = 19,700 PS3s per week.

    Sales didn't increase by 21% in June, they decreased by 4%!

  2. Re:Misleading headline by Wdomburg · · Score: 3, Insightful
    This is supposed to prove ... what exactly? Even if a single vendor was a meaningful metric, there's a few issues here:
    • The Wii is currently ranked higher.
    • Even though it's not unlikely the PS3 temporarily took the #1 spot, you provide no evidence that it did or for how long. Since this is updated hourly, it's unlikely that you actually know that it was consistently #1 (unless perhaps you're disturbingly obsessive).
    • Amazon doesn't even sell the Wii directly at the moment.
    • The marketplace sellers that do offer the Wii are doing so at a shipped price of $392.19 and higher, or $142.20 over MSRP. If anything it's absolutely pathetic that the PS3 at MSRP can't outsell the Wii at 56% markup over retail.
  3. Don't know if this is the right place... by Discgolferusa · · Score: 4, Insightful
    but here goes.

    What is the facination with the Wii? Why is it doing so well? Price has something to do with it obviously, but after playing the Wii several times, I can't say I was that impressed with it. The lineup is fairly light, and it isn't long before the remote loses it's cool factor and frankly, in some games, can be down right annoying.

    I found the whole experience fairly boring after just a couple of hours of total use. Yet, I know people who are obsessed with the thing.

    So what am I missing about the Wii phenom? Is it primarily because it is easy for little kids to pickup? Or is it some party aspect that I've not had the priviledge of partaking in that has this console being some must have device?

    Of course, I've not been terribly impressed with Nintendo consoles for years. I owned a 64 and think it was the biggest waste of money I've ever had. I currently own a DS almost strictly for FF and Puzzle Quest, and if I could get them in a different medium, I probably would (Puzzle Quest on a small screen is its own little version of torture, but the game is too damn fun not to play).

    (For perspective I own a DS and a 360 currently for "consoles").