PlayStation 3 Sales Drop Sharply On Low Supply

Sales of the PlayStation 3 console during its first full week of availability in Japan were sharply lower than those during the two days immediately following its launch, according to estimates published this week.

During the seven days from Nov. 13 to Nov. 19, there were 43,378 of the consoles sold in Japan compared with 88,400 sold on Nov. 11 and Nov. 12, according to figures published by Enterbrain Friday. The company publishes local gaming magazine Famitsu and its figures are generally regarded in the industry as reliable.

Another local market data supplier, Media Create Co., estimated sales in the first full week at 42,099 units and said they dropped further to 32,622 units in the week from Nov. 20 to Nov. 27. Media Create earlier estimated launch weekend shipments were 81,693 units.

Supply To Blame

Sony Computer Entertainment in Tokyo wouldn't comment on the estimates but said that it is continuously shipping new consoles to retailers in Japan and the U.S.

The sharply lower number of consoles sold is likely due to tight supply of the machines. Sony has faced problems procuring blue-laser diodes for the PlayStation 3's Blu-ray Disc drive and was forced to cut-back on launch plans. It had originally planned to have 2 million consoles in Japanese, North American and European retailers for launch week but this was reduced to 500,000 units and the European launch was pushed back to March 2007.

As a result the consoles have been in high demand and fetching premium prices on Internet auction sites.

Game Sales Not Much Better

Software sales for the PlayStation 3 have also gotten off to a slow start. Sales have been lower than expected in part because a large number of early buyers were getting the console to resell for a profit online. Enterbrain estimated that in Japan, less software than hardware was sold at launch, while in the U.S. retailer Gamestop said an average of 1.5 games were sold with each console. In comparison the retailer reported average software sales for the Nintendo Wii were three titles per console.

The highest ranking software title for PlayStation 3 on Media Create's chart for the week of Nov. 20 to Nov. 27 was Ridge Racer 7, taking the 29 position.