Sony reports 238K PS3 install base down under
PlayStation 3 first-year sales outpace PlayStation 2's debut year in Australia; PlayTV slated for Q3 2008 release.
By Randolph Ramsay, GameSpot AU
Posted May 1, 2008 8:16 pm PT

Sony's PlayStation 3 was late to the next-gen console party in Australia, arriving three months after the Wii's local release and a full year after the Xbox 360's launch. Sony Computer Entertainment Australia (SCEA) seem to be more than happy with its performance so far, however, saying that the PS3 has sold 238,000 units down under since its debut in March 2007.

The 238,000 figure comes from SCEA directly and not from official industry trackers GfK Australia (who do not include bundle deals such as Sony's PS3 giveaway with Bravia televisions in late 2007/early 2008 in their figures). The last official count from GfK featured figures for the end of 2007, which had the PS3 at 155,000 units sold, compared to more than 300,000 for the Wii and 306,000 for the Xbox 360. In February this year, SCEA head Michael Ephraim told GameSpot AU that more than 28,000 PS3s had been given away as part of a holiday promotion which saw every purchaser of a new Sony Bravia LCD receive a free console. The 238,000 figure means the PS3 has easily eclipsed the first-year sales total for the PlayStation 2, which clocked in 146,000 in sales for in its first 12 months. GfK has yet to release figures for Q1 2008 hardware sales in Australia.

SCEA has also flagged a tentative Q3 release date for the upcoming PlayTV add-on for the PS3 in Australia. PlayTV--the PS3's equivalent of a personal video recorder--was first unveiled at last year's Leipzig Games Convention.


http://www.games-news.de/go/sony_rep...r.html?url=%2F

Thanks, I'm waiting for GfK Q1 numbers, GameSpot usually publish them a month after the quarter ends, so hopefully we'll get them soon. Anyway, through April GfK should have PS3 @ 210k, with another 28k in Bravia bundles not tracked by them. We already know it was Wii>PS3>360 in Q1, but not the actual sales. Anyway, PS3 sold around 55k first 4 months of 2008 excluding Bravia bundles.

Is this actually through April or is it March? it does say about the 1st 12 months later in the article which makes me think it is till the end of March (which would be 12 months and 1 week)

Nice ... I wonder will it be able to maintain its lead over PS2 sales in the longrun ?

"According to the company, domestic PS3 sales have almost hit 240,000 units since the console’s March 2007 debut. In comparison Sony’s PS2 sold 146,000 units in its first 12 months on the market."

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10287&Itemid=2

Pretty surprising considering the higher entry price and like for the UK, a relatively strong 360 market as well. The PS3 selling faster than 360/PS2 for the UK and Austalia is very good and promising. Hopefully Metal Gear Solid 4 will win over North America, the last difficult and important still worrisome battleground against the 360 for the PS3.

Australia's video game market was much smaller in 2000 so it's expected that all the new consoles beat the PS2 for the first 12 months.

how the news relate to vgchartz numbers.?

 VGC has it undertracked by about 50k as usuals.

Did you even look at the VGChartz numbers. You people who claim the numbers off all the time are so annoying.

 Sony claims 238K by the end of of the first year, so we assume they mean end of March, since that is their fiscal year. VGChartz has the PS3 at 203,604 selling ~4k per week. So that means there is ~35k stock or 9 weeks stock. 9 weeks stock sounds a little high, so at best you can assume VGChartz is undertracking by ~15k

 Now if we assume they mean end of April, then VGChartz is spot on.

Vgchartz probably doesn't include the PS3s given away with Bravia TVs, just like Gfk doesn't include them.