PS3 worldwide sales: 50 million shipped

By Robert Purchese Published 15 April, 2011

PlayStation Move sell-in tally at 8 million.

The worldwide sell-in total for PlayStation 3 has teetered over 50 million units, Sony has announced.

PlayStation Move, the platform holder added, has shipped more than 8 million units.

The PS3 total was calculated on 29th March; the Move total on 3rd April.

Remember that these are sell-in numbers, which means the same thing as shipped: i.e. consoles sold to shops rather than shoppers.

The last we heard, on 1st April, worldwide PS3 sales - actual to-consumer sales - were alleged to be 43.4 million. Worldwide Xbox 360 sales were said to be lower, with the total standing at 42.9 million.

Move sales, on the other hand, are overshadowed by Kinect - the fastest selling consumer electronic device ever. Kinect sold 10 million units between November 2010 and January 2011.

Sony went on to announce that, as of 20th March, PlayStation Network counts more than 75 million registered accounts. Be mindful, however, that PS3 owners can have multiple accounts and that multiple devices share a PSN log-in, such as the PSP.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (28) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • TopKatt #1 1 year ago

    I really wish that Move was selling as well as Kinect, then Sony could stop wasting time releasing all these games and make 2011 "all about Move."

  • rotmm #2 1 year ago

    @Robert Purchese, "The last we heard, on 1st April, worldwide PS3 sales - actual to-consumer sales - were alleged to be 43.4 million."

    No we didn't. That 43.4 million figure was based on guesstimations of PS3's actually still in-use as of December 2010. That number assumed there where some PS3's (and for the other figure, X360's) that were bought but are sitting in a cupboard somewhere, and also that some had died and.

    Please, I realise that the other news story wasn't posted by you, but it would be wise to at least read it before referencing it.

  • karooo #3 1 year ago

    43.4 million was active userbase, not sell through figures.

  • coolbritannia #4 1 year ago

    I'm glad the commentators are here to correct these articles, reads completely differently after reading just the first 3 posts.

  • SeesThroughAll #5 1 year ago

    @TopKatt: Count me as one of those who don't buy into this "motion control" nonsense. Glad Move didn't sell that much.
    Edited by SeesThroughAll at 15/04/11 @ 09:07

  • pantherjag #6 1 year ago

    Particuarly pleased to hear move doing so well because it is a fantastic piece off kit. Keep the games with support coming sony

  • BonzoBanana #7 1 year ago

    shipped includes consoles at retail doesn't it? So includes some consoles yet to be purchased by end users. Not knocking the figure but their will be a very small percentage still waiting to be purchased I think.

  • RodHull #8 1 year ago

    I could've sworn that MS stated sales of 50 million at GDC.

  • KrazyFace #9 1 year ago

    Sony: "LOOK HOW BIG MY SHLONG IS"

    Yeah, great. I've no idea why I read this article, or why I'm commenting!!!!!

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #10 1 year ago

    @BonzoBanana

    That is true but, tracking sell through to customers is almost impossible, sales to retailers can be tracked by the console manufacturer exactly and is the best figure to go off, except for periods when there are shortages and when a console is winding down, retailers world wide will hold roughly around 1 million units in stock. So you can get a rough idea of sold through, but also bear in mind Sony said over 50m so this could be anywhere upto 50.9m. When MS said they had sold over 50m a few months ago it was later revealed that at that point they had sold 50.8m.

  • saintedd #11 1 year ago

    Wonder if this counts all the YLOD, and on the 360 the three i had to buy to replace RROD.

  • Spekingur #12 1 year ago

    How are the Move sales calculated? Every additional peripheral counted? Such as the controller and the navigation controller each counted - so two sales if you buy those.
    Going by amazon.co.uk a bundle of Playstation Move Starter Pack (incl PS Eye Camera), Playstation Move controller and Playstation Move navigation controller cost just under ₤91. Counted as three sales?

  • mr2ange #13 1 year ago

    I'm waiting for Sorcery for move.

    That could be the true full killer app for move.

  • Widge #14 1 year ago

    Not for me, looks aimed at the wrong age group.

  • Widge #15 1 year ago

    Wrong? I mean different.

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #16 1 year ago

    @Spekingur

    In the past sony has said they count move sales as just the individual Wand controllers the ones with the light bulb on, including any that come in bundles with the camera.

    So its hard if not impossible to work out how many homes its in, i have 2, and im sure there will be people that have 3 or 4 but equally i think there will be alot of people that just have 1.
    Edited by GamesProgrammer at 15/04/11 @ 11:20

  • davisorle #17 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 15:13:14 09-05-2012

  • disappointed #18 1 year ago

    Only a sixth of PS3 owners have Move? Come on Sony, make the effort. You're not releasing the PS4 any time soon so this is the best you've got. Put some marketing muscle into flogging this thing. It's good, it's cheap, it should be your flagship product. Why are you wasting your time on two different portable devices when you still haven't even got the Move in every home? That's the trouble with Sony - they never know what they've done right.

  • ForozM #19 1 year ago

    Move already has it's killer app, and that's Killzone 3.

  • Architect_z #20 1 year ago

    Alot of people have mentioned KZ3 is good with Move, is it better than a controller though?

  • RodHull #21 1 year ago

    @Architect_z

    KZ3 is fun with Move, but after an hour or so I shifted back to using the DualShock. I found using Move to require too much concentration which distracted me away from the game itself, makin it feel unitegrated into the game experience. Hopefully with time it'll feel more natural to use the wand as I can certainly see the potential.

  • pantherjag #22 1 year ago

    @Architech_z

    Killzone with move is simply superb, iv played through it twice and it works a dream. Iv also played a lot off online and not felt inhibitated in the slightest, infact i often feel i have an unfair advantage if im honest.

    In my opinion killzone 3 is a reason to buy move but bear in mind you really need the navigation controller as well.

  • Mister-Wario #23 1 year ago

    I will buy Move when I have some truly compelling titles for it that aren't Killzone.

  • FuzzyDuck #24 1 year ago

    Still means now't really.

  • MDL199 #25 1 year ago

    Motion controls are fine for simple games but i've yet to see one example of them working better than a regular controller on a hardcore game.

    Of the 3 options out there Move works better than Kinnect or Wii to be fair.

    Motion controls were mean't to replace the traditional joypad it's enthusiasts said but the reality is motion controls have simply not delivered and the joypad looks safe for many a year thankfully.

  • des #26 1 year ago

    NPD day and Sony is releasing their shipped(lol) figures and internet is buzzing about new Nintendo hardware.What a coincidence...not

  • betrayerofhope #27 1 year ago

    by the end of 2011, sony will have surpassed the xbox.

  • frazzl #28 1 year ago

    @rotmm and karooo And how in the world did Strategy Analytics guesstimate how many PS3s and 360s are in active use? The same way they predicted the Wii would be a non-entity and fail to sell even 25 million units? Strategy Analytics are full of shit as are the suckers who believed their little, mostly irrelevant (and rarely published) nonsense :).