Price drop produces 135% jump in sales
by Andrew Yoon 
{ Jul 23rd 2007 at 7:00PM }
"Preliminary internal data" from Sony shows that PS3 sales have increased by more than 135% at the company's top five retailers since the $100 price cut was announced two weeks ago. $100 is a significant savings -- but we wonder how many of these purchasers rushed to pick up a 60GB system because they're no longer in production. During the same time period, software sales increased 15% and peripherals by 60%.Recently released NPD figures show that PS3 was gaining momentum even before E3's price drop. In June, sales of the console increased 21% over May's figures, with 98,469 units sold at retail. (However, that still doesn't compete with the massive sales of the hugely successful PS2, with 270,763 consoles sold for the month.)
In a press release, Jack Tretton, president and CEO of SCEA commented: "The new price on the 60 GB PS3, coupled with our very strong software showing from E3, is certainly paying dividends in terms of impressive sales across the board at retail."
[Update: Complete press release is now attached.]
On the heels of a strong showing at E3, today Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) announced retail growth for PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) in July. Based on preliminary internal data, PS3 sales have increased by more than 135% at the company's top five retailers since the new $499 price was announced two weeks ago on July 9th. During this same two-week period, total PlayStation hardware sales have increased by 161%, software by 15% and peripherals by 60%.
Also, according to NPD sales data released today for the month of June, PlayStation sales increased prior to E3, as well. Overall, the PlayStation brand continued to exhibit solid growth evidenced by a 21% increase in total retail dollars generated year-over-year in North America with total sales of $393 million. PS3 sales were up 21% over May's figures, with 98,469 units sold at retail. Furthermore, PSP® (PlayStation® Portable) witnessed an impressive increase, up 31% year-over-year, selling 290,108 units at retail, while PlayStation® 2 (PS2) once again remained one of the best-selling consoles on the market, with unit sales of 270,763 for the month.
"The new price on the 60 GB PS3, coupled with our very strong software showing from E3, is certainly paying dividends in terms of impressive sales across the board at retail," said Jack Tretton, president and CEO, SCEA. "This jump in sales bodes very well for us heading into the fall as we launch an impressive arsenal of hardware and software, leading off with the new 80 GB PS3 in August along with the unveiling of highly anticipated games such as Lair and Warhawk. That will be followed by Heavenly Sword in September and six more exclusive first-party PS3 games in October, including Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Andy @ Jul 23rd 2007 7:04PM
Just a note. PS3's are completely sold out of Canadian retail stores except in Quebec. Thats because Quebec threatens to separate and all the big corporations left and so did the jobs. Have fun in your economic crisis, the west ain't bailing you out. Wow that was really harsh.
Andy @ Jul 23rd 2007 7:11PM
Those 98,469 people are probably kicking themselves for not waiting a couple of weeks, they could have saved $150 dollars.(here in Canada)
Darkdrium777 @ Jul 23rd 2007 7:20PM
WTF are you talking about? Quebec is not separating. This would be on the news everywhere over here, but it isn't. Stop spreading nonsense.
Ian @ Jul 23rd 2007 7:21PM
Andrew, your post reads like something from a Microsoft corporate presentation handbook - Lots of figures plucked from here and there with no qualification of their origins so any spin can be applied to the story.
1. "...sales have increased by more than 135% at the company's top five retailers since the $100 price cut was announced two weeks ago."
Compared to what period? In what region?
2. "During the same time period, software sales increased 15% and peripherals by 60%."
Compared to what period? In what region?
3. "However, that still doesn't compete with the massive sales of the hugely successful PS2, with 270,763 consoles sold for the month."
WOW! Over a quarter of a million PS2s sold in one month!!! It might not sound so impressive if you qualify the region/s this figure covers.
Consolcwby @ Jul 23rd 2007 7:23PM
These figures will begin to add up - with the North American holiday season approaching, we might begin to see an avalanche of systems being sold. Most people not being early adopters and waiting for the games to come out can only mean one thing: This season will be much more jolly for Sony than for 2006. I still say 2008 will be the year watch.
Ian @ Jul 23rd 2007 7:24PM
With regards to my 2nd point above, how can you state that software sales have risen and present it within an article alluding to PS artefact sales rising when the range of software products changes from month to month? It's not really a stable comparison.
Andy @ Jul 23rd 2007 7:28PM
"Quebec is not separating."
There always talks of Quebec separating. For people under the age of 30 there is an almost 20% unemployment rate. If you haven't realized all of the west hates Quebec. It all goes back to the National Energy Program when the west had to sell oil to the east for bellow market prices. Alberta lost billions and Quebec sat on their asses and wanted to seperate.
Jldowning @ Jul 23rd 2007 7:30PM
Ian, I'm sure there is a source for this somewhere, but does it really matter what period? Or what area? It just says PS3 sales are going up, which is a good thing for everyone.
I mean I get your point, a source is nice, but I didn't come to PS3Fanboy to decide what to put stocks in ya know?
Andy @ Jul 23rd 2007 7:29PM
I am totally off topic. Sorry folks.
Darkdrium777 @ Jul 23rd 2007 7:37PM
Yes I know there are talks, particularly in the Parti Québécois, but it's not going to separate tomorrow so it has nothing to do with the PS3 sales and the fact that they stack up in our stores, therefore I come back to my previous point: stop spreading nonsense.
Will @ Jul 23rd 2007 7:44PM
@10: if there's that high of an unemployment rate it would have quite a bit to do with ps3's not selling in the region. if people don't have a job, they don't have money...so they sure as heck aren't gonna buy a $5-600 console
Ian @ Jul 23rd 2007 7:52PM
Jldowning - Point taken. I just get irritated with spin from marketing departments and I'm sure that given the raw data both you and I could come out with totally different reports.
Iother @ Jul 24th 2007 5:24AM
Mjah, Sony isn't selling very well. So a 135% raise doesn't mean much without the actual numbers. But as it looks it could maybe sell more then the XBox 360.
That is, if the increase is permanent.
Andy @ Jul 23rd 2007 8:08PM
Anyone wanna bet July PS3 sales will go over 150k?
zenprism @ Jul 23rd 2007 8:10PM
What's a Canada?
I was one who bought a PS3 a week ago just because I wanted full backwards compatibility. I own no games, I haven't even opened the box yet, but I own one because I was worried that if I had waited, I wouldn't be able to play my massive collection of PS1 and PS2 games on it. The price drop helped in that decision too.
Mike @ Jul 23rd 2007 8:25PM
I wonder how many folks bought this model because of the backward compatibility. The new 80gig units are going the software only route.
Andy @ Jul 23rd 2007 8:23PM
"they sold 98,500/5 = 19,700 per week."
I did not realize 2 days counted as a week?
Darkdrium777 @ Jul 23rd 2007 8:43PM
@11: I agree that the fact that people don't have a lot of money can explain the fact that not a lot of people own a PS3 over here, but it doesn't necessarily link up to the fact that Quebec's government thought about separating something like 10 years ago. Right now, Quebec's staying in Canada, even though it's population is greatly divided over that matter.
Jerry Vargas @ Jul 23rd 2007 9:00PM
isn't the price drop to get rid of stock as soon as they are gone the price will shoot back up to $600?
Darko @ Jul 23rd 2007 8:57PM
Price drop??? what price drop.... lmao
finalfan @ Jul 23rd 2007 10:58PM
@19
I agree with you there. Actually,I live near the capital, Quebec city, and opinions over tthat matter are really divided. As for the PS3 sales, I checked most of the future shops and they're out of stock everywhere. Guess that the Ps3 Is Gaining in popularity. After all, Ps3 Fanboy DID said that people COULD'NT afford a Ps3 at 700$. That said, people turned over to the 360 pro. But now, Ps3 and 360 Elite, which icludes HDMI support, are at the same price. Now, people are becoming more and more aware of Ps3 hardware superiority (thanks to Future Shop salesmans who supports Ps3 unlike EB games who does not) and are opting for Playstation. Don't forget that epic is working in collaboration with sony to enhance Unreal 3 Engine given to that superiority. Plus, It' only 1% or so defectuous. Cheers ;)
SKI @ Jul 23rd 2007 11:16PM
"Price drop produces 135% jump in sales"
Who cares if it is still being outsold by the GBA?
humpty @ Jul 23rd 2007 11:22PM
The price in Canada was 'corrected' and brought up to $699.. now, its $550 and FutureShop is throwing in 5 BD movies as well. So, its a crasy good deal, esp. compared to only a few months ago.
Also, if you bought it at FutureShop (or many other places) and the price drops after 30 days, you can get the difference back in cash.. its been std. procedure for ages.
Things are looking up for PS3.. PS2 is still freakin' selling 270k units a month.
unboring @ Jul 24th 2007 7:13PM
@18, still josh, if you take the total sales NPD has reported for each month and divide by the days in each month then the sales were on an increase. Accept that your skewed math of making 2 days count as an extra week is flawed and its objective it too put down Ps3s small increase in sales. Its great to have a competitive gaming market, does it bother you if sony's sales are increasing? I HOPE PS3 HITS 150K!!!
madgunde @ Jul 24th 2007 12:32PM
Josh wrote:
"June was a 5 week period for NPD. May was only a 4 week period.
So in May, per week, they sold 82,000/4 = 20500 per week.
In June, per week, they sold 98,500/5 = 19,700 per week.
Sales weren't turning around in June, they were declining even more."
@Josh,
lol, nice way to twist the numbers there buddy. Let me try, OK?
In May, per DAY, they sold 82,000/31 = 2645 per day.
In June, per DAY, they sold 98,500/30 = 3283 per day.
Holy crap! That's like a 24% increase in sales EVERY SINGLE DAY!
24% x 30 days = a 724% increase in sales!!!!! PS3 FTW!
;-)
chris @ Jul 24th 2007 3:18PM
@13 June still only has 30 days so you can count that as 4 weeks, when we get a month that has 35 days in it the you can ramble on about 5 weeks.
Rotmm @ Jul 24th 2007 5:06PM
Unfortunately Josh, it seems that it IS a head concept for some people.
So just to reiterate, even though some actual months have 28 days, some 30 days and some even more than that, NPD does report data on sales from the 1st day of whatever month to the last day of the month.
No, what they do is round up or down. So therefore, most NPD reporting months are a fixed 4 weeks (ie: 28 days) with the rest being a fixed 5 weeks (ie: 35 days). May happened to be a 4 week NPD sales reporting month and June happened to be a 5 week NPD sales reporting month.
Therefore, the daily sales of the PS3 in the NPD reporting month of June were less than the daily sales of the PS3 in the NPD reporting month of July.
Rotmm @ Jul 25th 2007 3:30AM
unboring,
It is NOT making 2 days counting as an extra week, it's making SEVEN days count as an extra week. Please read all of the comments from Josh where the NPD way of recording sales data is clearly explained.
However, it's very clear that Sony realises some people don't understand such simple concepts when relasing press releases, knowing that they'll be impressed with statements such as "PS3 sales were up 21% over May's figures", not realising that it actually shows a sales decline.
For the record, the XBox360 Weekly sales for May were 38750 and June 42350. The Wii? Well May was 84500 and June 85870.