14 DAY TRIAL // It seems that the PlayStation 3 Slim is having quite the impact on all the significant videogames markets. In Japan, the console is said by gaming magazine Famitsu to have moved around 150,000 units to gamers in the first three days. And now GamesIndustry.biz is saying that sales of the Sony made home gaming console have increased by 999% over one week in the United Kingdom, which is one of the most important markets in Europe.
Dorian Bloch, who leads the Chart-Track market research firm, has stated that “The uplift on week 36 on week 35 is plus 999 per cent. We don't give out the hardware numbers, but never-the-less it's a very large increase.” The head of Sony Europe, Andrew House, also weighed in on the situation by saying that “I think what I've heard anecdotally is that this is the point people were waiting for - a redesigned model and, in Euros, a significant price reduction. That's people's cue to jump into the business.”
Comparatively, Chart-Trak also reports that the increase resulted from the price cut applied to the Xbox 360 Elite by Microsoft was only of about 43%. Unfortunately, the company refuses to release actual sales numbers and is only talking percentages. It's also worth taking note that the re-designed PlayStation 2 console, which arrived in 2004, only pushed sales up by 310%. Chart-Track adds that the PS3 managed to outsell the Nintendo DS, the Wii and the Xbox 360 for the week by about 3 to 1. The PlayStation 3 has not led the hardware chart since the first week of 2008.
Sony seems to have the momentum it has always claimed in the console battle of this generation but it remains to be seen whether the company and the PlayStation 3 Slim will manage to replicate this strong performance over the coming weeks and especially in November and December, when Christmas shopping kicks in.