At what sales figure do you reckon you’ve achieved mass market penetration? The much-loved PlayStation 2 can certainly claim that, having sold over 150 million units during its lifetime. It’s younger, but bigger brother is well on its way to that accolade too, with Sony confirming they’ve shipped over 50 million PS3’s worldwide. That doesn’t necessarily mean that there are that many actual consoles in homes, but it’s gotta be pretty close.
In addition to that, the company is proud to announce that they’ve shipped 8 million PlayStation Move units, something that might pick up even more once there are actual games available. Sony showed us such cool applications for their Move tech, where’re the games? Of course, the same could be said of Microsoft and Kinect. Still, that’s a fair amount of accurate waggle going on.
I’m still of the opinion that the more affordable PS Slim was the system’s saviour; it brought the console in line with the Xbox 360’s pricing, and put side by side, the PS3 just offers a better value proposition – mostly thanks to that Blu-ray thing. How many of you were early adopters, and how many picked yours up when the cheaper slim became available?
Hyperbolic press release (with footnotes!)Â after the jump!
SCE today announced that the cumulative sales of the PS3 reached a milestone of 50 million units*1*1 worldwide, as of March 29, 2011. SCE also announced that PlayStation Move sales surpassed 8 million units worldwide as of April 3, demonstrating continued growth and momentum of the PS3 platform.
The PS3 system, equipped with future proof cutting-edge technologies including the powerful Cell Broadband EngineTM and RSX processors as well as the Blu-ray disc player and HDMI, has delivered users with high-definition and high quality entertainment experience since its launch in November 2006. The PS3 system continues to evolve and enhance the user experience through new features and services delivered via software updates.
Concurrently with the introduction of PS3, SCE launched PlayStation®Network service which now has more than 75 million registered accounts and operates in 59 countries and regions*2 around the world. PlayStation Network supports free community-centric online gameplay and communication tools such as PlayStation Home*3, and offers vast downloadable digital content through PlayStation Store, from games to movies of more than 32,840content totaling to 105,988 digital content worldwide. In September 2009, SCE launched the new slimmer and lighter PS3 system with new form factor and less power consumption that has been well received by users around the world.
To further expand entertainment experience only possible on PS3, stereoscopic 3D game and Blu-ray 3D*4 in April and September 2010 respectively. The feature enables users to enjoy stunningly realistic stereoscopic 3D in their living room on their PS3 system by simply connecting it to a 3D-compatible TV such as 3D “BRAVIA†TV using an HDMI cable. The number of stereoscopic 3D software titles has reached to 89 as of April 1 in 2011. features were introduced to the system via a free system software update
SCE launched PlayStation Move in September 2010 for North America, Europe/PAL territories and in Asia, and in October 2010 for Japan to deliver a new entertainment experience across all categories of games, from casual to immersive. The PlayStation Move motion controller is used in combination with the PlayStation Eye camera to detect the precise movement, angle, and absolute position in 3D space of the user, thereby allowing users to intuitively play as if they are within the game. The number of PlayStation Move supported/dedicated software titles has reached to 155 as of March 24 in 2011, including titles such as Sports Champions, SingStar Dance and Killzone3*5 PlayStation Move continues to further expand the new gameplay along with variety of upcoming new PlayStation Move titles for 2011including SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs*6
With strong support from 3rd party developers and publishers worldwide, PS3 features a vast library of more than 2,128 software titles with more than 480 million units sold worldwide*7. Recently released blockbuster franchise titles from first party studios include Grand Turismo 5, LittleBigPlanet2 and KILLZONE 3.
SCE will continue to further expand the PS3 platform and create a new world of computer entertainment.
*1 Sell-in number
*2 As of Mar 20, 2011.
*3 A ground-breaking 3D social gaming community available on PS3 that allows users to interact, communicate
and share gaming experiences. Within PlayStation Home, users can create and customize their own unique
avatars and explore the virtual community in real time where they can communicate freely through text or voice chat. When the service is available, PlayStation Home icon will appear after booting/ re-booting the PS3 system. Some content and services are charged.
*4 System software versions 3.30 or later are required.
*5 Titles and year differ by each country or region.
*6 Adapts to stereoscopic 3D games
*7 As of the end of Dec, 2010
Last Updated: April 15, 2011
