Sony optimistic about 15 million-unit PS3 sales target

Reuters reports today that Sony feels it is sitting pretty when it comes to its annual PlayStation 3 sales targets. Sony Computer Entertainment president Kaz Hirai told the news service at the Tokyo Game Show that not only have sales PS3 projections been met for the year to date, but they have been slightly exceeded.

"As of the end of August, sales look a bit better than we expected," said Hirai. Some analysts are also anticipating a holiday price cut for the $300 console, which saw its internal hard drive upgraded to 160GB last month. A 320GB version of the console will also be available as part of a $400 PlayStation Move bundle starting this weekend.

Sony's goal of selling 15 million PS3s during the 12 months ending March 31, 2011, was first revealed when it reported a reduced company-wide annual loss of $440 million in May. For the previous year, the goal was 13 million--a target Sony looked like it would miss until the introduction of the $300 PS3 slim in late August 2009. The cheaper, newer console boosted sales of the platform, which had a range of new exclusives and special editions shown off at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June.

To date, the PlayStation 3 has sold over 38 million units worldwide, with its portable cousin the PSP selling over 62 million units. By comparison, Microsoft earlier this year stated that the Xbox 360 had sold 40 million globally, while Nintendo has sold nearly 132 million DSs and 74 million Wiis. Of those, some 30 million Wii consoles were sold in the US alone.