PlayStation 3 finds one million PAL's

Mike Bantick
Monday, 11 June 2007 17:51

Your IT - Entertainment

All together now, put your little finger to your mouth a'la Dr Evil and say “One Million PS3’s”

Despite all the bad press and ass kicking by the Nintendo Wii, the Blu-ray drive disguised as a game machine by Sony is actually doing okay.

Sure it is miles behind the others as Japan buys 5 Wii’s for each PlayStation 3 sold there, but in the PAL territories Sony notched up the 1 millionth customer this week.

That actually puts it ahead of the seminal powerhouse the PlayStation 2 for the same period of “on sale” time.

In particular the PS3 has done well in the UK breaking all sorts of sales records there for gaming machines (165K in its first two days)

Some good sales figures for launch games Resistance: Fall of Man (600,000 units) and MotorStorm (500,000 units) were also announced.  These two titles are definitely the best available exclusives on the console to date

Sony exec David Reeves talks about the success in PAL regions over at MCVUK;

In terms of individual territories, the UK has led the way, claiming around 25 per cent of sales. Iberia and France are showing strong revenues, too, while SCEE distributor territories such as Russia and the Middle East are performing above expectations.

“These are very lucrative markets, with a lot of wealthy people there – so there’s not been such a worry about the price,” Reeves explained wryly.

Then there’s the take-up of consumers on PlayStation Network. Demonstrating his trademark modesty, Reeves admitted that online has been “a steep learning curve”. But he is rightly proud that over 40 per cent of PS3 owners have subscribed already – ahead of Home’s much-anticipated launch.

Sony will continue to pace itself with the PS3 as the PlayStation name once again creeps into the public psyche.  Both Microsoft and Nintendo would do well to avoid seating themselves comfortably on their laurels.