Stringer: PS3 nearing 800,000 sold in Europe

Sony chief executive declares the European launch a resounding success; doesn't comment on whether the company has hit its global target of 6 million units.

Sony had an estimated 1 million units available for the European launch of the PlayStation 3, 165,000 of which were sold in the UK during the launch weekend. Sony has so far been tight-lipped over further figures, but yesterday CEO Howard Stringer said the console was nearing 800,000 sell-through in the European region, reports the Financial Times.

Stringer, speaking at the Spider-Man 3 movie premiere in Japan, told journalists that he believed that the sell-through in Europe was now "close to 800,000." He also said that in the first two days on the market in the UK, £100 million in revenue "changed hands."

"We came into the [European] market with more games, and perhaps we lived up to the expectations in Europe in a way that perhaps we didn't in Japan," he said.

However, Stringer did not mention whether or not Sony had hit its target of shipping 6 million units worldwide.

77 Comments

  • HXCDEW

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:41 am PT

    I have been saying this from the start, Europe, especially UK belongs to Sony and now it's proven why. You can expect even better sales this fall, when a lot of the most anticipated games will come out.

  • JFreezy02

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:40 am PT

    I don't know what to believe. This article contradicts itself. "...but yesterday CEO Howard Stringer said the console had reached 800,000 sell-through in the European region..." and then "Stringer, speaking at the Spider-Man 3 movie premiere in Japan, told journalists that he believed that the sell-through in Europe was now "close to 800,000." Huh?

  • Paul_TheGreat

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:39 am PT

    Europe is Sony land.

  • _sean_05

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:39 am PT

    wo0t! PS3 owns u

  • Big_Boss2703

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:39 am PT

    Well.. where I am PS3's are flying off the shelves.I mean the store restocked yesterday and today all the PS3's are sold, while there are A LOT of 360's rotting on shelves.And i believe that if you check the evolution of the 360 in the same period since launch in which the PS3 is, you'll see that the 360 wasn't doing so well compared to Sony' s console, but fanboys will still compare the PS3 sales so far with the grand total of 360 sales, simply because their lemming minds cannot understand that the 360 sold 9,5 million in MORE THAN A YEAR, and not in 5 seconds as they would like you to think.Oh and check the 360 sales and you'll see they're not so hot as some would like you to think.

  • hegetshiskeys

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:37 am PT

    Wow, this post is rank with MS ***-kissers!! I'll check back in a few hours to see how its progressed. That is always amusing!

  • lusitanogamer

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:35 am PT

    The fanboyism in here is just hilarious...
    Some people really need to grow up.

  • angelserval

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:33 am PT

    Launch with a kaboom
    Sony claims with pinch of salt
    Dust stays for a while

  • sanjt

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:33 am PT

    kinglink2 you know very well thats not the case. He is the CEO for christs sake. I think he would know the sales figures very well.

  • kinglink2

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:31 am PT

    He believed? So what? All that means is the number has no validity.

    I believe the Ps3 is 20 bucks, doesn't make it so.

  • littlestreakier

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:30 am PT

    cool

  • Beards_Mahoney

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:30 am PT

    I hate fanboys as much as anybody elese, but whats almost as bad are the people that think they can "shut them up" by responding to them.

  • Morehouse007

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:28 am PT

    "However, Stringer did not mention whether or not Sony had hit its target of shipping six million units worldwide."

    WORLDWIDE.......That's the number I want to know.

  • moohan

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:28 am PT

    these numbers are impressive but to me are almost expected... it is no big secret that the EU market is a supporter of Sony as is the American market... the true test and the true numbers that show whether or not the system "is on track" and/or "going to dominate" are the next coming months sales figures.... when the purchasing of systems shifts from the early adapters/loyal customers to the much coveted (and Wii owned) casual consumer....

  • sanjt

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:28 am PT

    "How did they sell 165,000 systems in a weekend with no queues?"

    ....Preorders + mail delivery...

  • zekere

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:28 am PT

    PS3 is rotting on the shelves . Nobody is buying one, and damn right !! There's no reason to buy one, and no, I'm no fanboy . I even play my PS2

  • gamerTag-shank

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:26 am PT

    "The Ps3 Sucks, i mean, it only has resistance, the 360 has.....ummmm....hold on.....ummmm.uhhhhhh......one sec.......ummmmm.....gears of war and ummmm........uhhhh......
    I SHOULD HAVE GOT A PS3"

    No - you should get a new hobby if you believe that there have only been 2 games worth playing on the PS3 and 360 combined.

  • jjharney

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:23 am PT

    I agree that the PS3 is a great machine, but before i would call it a 'quality system' I'd have to take into account the price. Quite frankly, if it was the same price as a 360 I'd have already got one. I have a 360 and a Wii and would love to have all three consoles but Sony aren't showing me why I need to spend more money on their machine. In addition, these figures just don't make sense from all the anecdotal evidence coming in from across Europe of unsold consoles and lack of conspicuous interest. How did they sell 165,000 systems in a weekend with no queues?

  • 3XnemesisX3

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:23 am PT

    i mean seriously though. this mark of 800,000 units sold would just push the number of ps3's sold to just over 3 million in exactly 5 months.
    The 360 sold just over 1.8 million in its first 6 months in existance.
    numbers dont lie. the ps3 is on track to sell a whole lot more than the 360.
    the funny thing is the wii is on track to outsell both of them combined

  • ocdog45

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:22 am PT

    BALLIN! CASH Money for Sony!

  • SolidSnake35

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:19 am PT

    After reading through the comments, I find it embarrassing that so many people actually hate the PS3. It's a much better quality system than the 360, and the Wii just doesn't even compare because it's a totally different thing. The PS3 just lacks games... That's its only weakpoint at the moment.

  • sanjt

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:18 am PT

    Quite pathetic MS fanboys . Trying to make those numbers seem made up? Try to say roughly 800K in a month is bad? He didnt say 800,000 exactly, he said "close to". Lol, you guys really are embarassing

    Sorlok -
    "700 Million people in Europe, 800 Thousand PS3's sold... damn, thats not too many :-/"

    So about 10 million Xbox 360's out of a global population of 6.5 billion, is alot? Lol,...

    "Sell-through refers to a percentage of units shipped which are actually sold" - Wikipedia. Look up in any definiton source and it will be the same thing.

  • smithy1983uk200

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:17 am PT

    Ministry4390 that sounds about right them only selling around half of what they shipped most retailers in my city are offering a ps3 and a game last friday for £400

    thing is tho it was a crappy time to release a console most people are still skint from xmas

    i just know by xmas this year they will be sold out and people will be killing each other to get one

  • valrico

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:17 am PT

    ha ha ha sony eh eh eh sony sorry.

  • muppen

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:15 am PT

    Good work Sony.

  • rgjj

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:14 am PT

    more games what a loads of ******* probably yeah but for jesus so much is being made for all 3 systems but the time waitin to even sniff the major titles is becomin a bit of a joke. i own all 3 plus a top spec pc now jus gettin littl tired of just been able to read the teasers and havin a little dabble at demos. one game this year stood out and that was gears of war still waitin on other titles ie assasins creed ,gta ,gt, halo, mgs but how long are we all to sit on hardware waitin for these titles god dam it. an sorry if i sound like a moanin git jus i spent money on stuff which just aint producin the goods (i will let the wii off as the virtual console is producin some crap but its throwin it all out lol)

  • Ministry4390

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:13 am PT

    They sold 800,000 but didnt they ship like 2 million in Europe?

  • sanjt

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:12 am PT

    Sorlok....

    So about 10 million Xbox 360's out of a global population of 6.5 billion, is alot? Lol, don't be so ignorant. "Sell-through refers to a percentage of units shipped which are actually sold" - Wikipedia. Look up in any definiton source and it will be the same thing.

  • Jigglesbig

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:12 am PT

    Theres a few things I have to say about this:
    1. If you sold so many PS3's Sony, then how comes I hardly know anyone who has one, compared to the many, many more people I know who own a 360, a Wii, or both?
    2. Also, if you sold so many, how comes every store I know has tons of PS3's, and whenever I ask, very few people are buying in comparison to the Wii and 360?
    3. I also highly doubt you earned that much money in revenue, either. To me, it seems a little exaggerated.
    4. Sony are more than likely claiming PS3's sold to retailers, rather than those sold to consumers. It doesn't make sense that PS3 is selling so badly in stores, yet Sony are claiming numbers. I could easily claim that Jack Thompson is a great guy, but no one would believe me.
    5. To me, it seems a very weird thing to announce at the Spiderman 3 premiere. People want to see Spiderman, not how an irrelevant games console sold. To me, thats like explaining the theory of relativity to primary school children. You're speaking to the complete wrong audience, and nobody in that audience will care.
    6. "However, Stringer did not mention whether or not Sony had hit its target of shipping six million units worldwide."
    need I say more?

  • cobrax80

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:12 am PT

    Europe has always been playstations biggest market, still isn't a complete sell out though. There are still 200,000 on store shelves.

  • anamnawshad

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:11 am PT

    I think by 'sold' he means 800k shipped to retailers! (Just like M$ )

  • s_king7

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:10 am PT

    considering the price diffrence of the PS3 with the 360 and Wii, I think thats is GREAT because if the PS3 was less than £325.00 ($651.00, 480.420 EUR) then we would be seeing more consoles sold, anyways am not oging to get into an argument with anybody because time will prove am right as the price decreases the PS3 will sell more than its competitors

    GAMES ARE COMING YAHOOOOOOOOOOOO

  • wakko19991

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:09 am PT

    what does sell-through mean? everytime somene comes out with sales figures theres this non-descript terminology used. what are the actually dude carried box out of store numbers? if that is what sell'through means then cool...

  • sanjt

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:08 am PT

    Quite pathetic MS fanboys . Trying to make those numebrs seem made up? Try to say roughly 800K in a month is bad? He didnt say 800,000 exactly, he said "close to". Lol, you guys really are embarassing. And no this is not shipped amount, its amount sold. Get it right.

  • Sorlok

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:08 am PT

    700 Million people in Europe, 800 Thousand PS3's sold... damn, thats not too many :-/

  • TTDog

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:07 am PT

    Personally I don't trust anything that comes from Sony's PR department. If they told me it was night time I'd look out the window to check.

  • jofy

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:06 am PT

    Very good news for sony

  • naked_snake1

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:04 am PT

    I got a PS3 at launch and I'm impressed with it. 800,000 is pretty impressive for not even a month out in Europe. Can't wait for MGS 4

  • fastrozombies

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:02 am PT

    "Sodium_Free: What's pulling a Bill Clinton? Is that when you preside over a successful government that creates 22 million jobs, while maintaining world dominance and stabilizing relations with the rest of the world? I think you mean that Sony may be pulling a George Bush. You know, where you lie about things that actually matter, such as the necessity to go to war." We dont need biased political views from the either of you, it has nothing to do with it.

  • diablobasher

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 9:00 am PT

    Firstly, people, really, 800k units for the WHOLE of europe, is not all that many, not as many as it might first seem.

    Secondly, of course people in europe are going ot buy Sony, Sony has a very loyal fanbase here, one that is particularly hostile to any notion of change, and will hound a company and follow sony, just because it's sony, with no legitimate reasoning behind it. Regardless, congrats go out to sony for flogging such a heap o dung to so many people. Congrats also go out to those people for being ripped.

  • StrikerGold

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 8:59 am PT

    Questions: Why quantify it at 100 million pounds in revenue "changing hands?" With whom exactly? Why didn't he just say X amount of revenue from consumers. Does that mean not all of the systems were purchased by gamers? Wouldn't that mean that those numbers are padded a bit? And why does every financial announcement from Sony seem to come with a sticky film of deception and sleaziness with it?

  • CapoX

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 8:59 am PT

    until new Jak & Ratchet is out i aint paying da** over 600€ 4 ps3

  • evergrant2

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 8:56 am PT

    Thats not bad since it just launched les than a month ago. Thats pretty dang good.

  • phaqutomb

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 8:55 am PT

    how can any say if they sold 800,000 units or not. If this was MS you people would be all over this saying WTG MS for selling 800k units for only being out for a little month in Europe. and last i knew Europe was more than just the UK so 800K units really is not that much for a such a big continent

  • kevbo77

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 8:55 am PT

    Sodium_Free: What's pulling a Bill Clinton? Is that when you preside over a successful government that creates 22 million jobs, while maintaining world dominance and stabilizing relations with the rest of the world? I think you mean that Sony may be pulling a George Bush. You know, where you lie about things that actually matter, such as the necessity to go to war.

  • gord_mose

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 8:55 am PT

    It's an upward battle for Sony. I just hope MS doesn't misstep because I believe it has better games and the graphics are just as good on the 360 as they are on the PS3. The big problem MS does seem to have is reliability. I am not convinced the 360 is a reliable console yet but I'm hoping MS continues to own up to problems and correct them.

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