PS3 has sold 38.1m units worldwide

By Tom Bramwell Published 29 July, 2010

But PSP sales slip year on year.

Sony's latest financial results reveal that worldwide sales of PlayStation 3 now stand at 38.1 million units, following 2.4 million sales of the console in the company's first quarter, which ended 30th June 2010.

Microsoft announced a few days ago that Xbox 360 has shipped 41.7 million units worldwide, although it has had a year longer on the market than its main competitor.

2.4 million sales of PS3 in Q1 represents a 118 per cent increase on last year's 1.1 million sales, although things weren't so rosy for the PSP, sales of which declined slightly to 1.2 million compared to 1.3 million in the same period of 2009.

The mighty PS2, meanwhile, sold a sterling 1.6 million units.

Money-wise, the Networked Products & Services division, of which games is a component, saw sales rise 32.4 per cent to 325 billion yen, of which games contributed 142 billion yen and PCs the rest.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (70) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • karooo #1 2 years ago

    Its good considering all the first party studios they own, would be a shame if they were losing money
    Edited by 1 at 29/07/10 @ 09:21

  • MaxiSleep #2 2 years ago

    I would guess that in terms of active consoles that the ps3 is actually ahead at this stage. Which surprises the hell out of me after the balls they made of the launch.

  • Goodfella #3 2 years ago

    Not bad for lagging a year behind and still being the more expensive console.

  • SHPanda #4 2 years ago

    Seriously who are these people still buying PS2s and where the hell are they finding them?

  • light&shadow #5 2 years ago

    PSP hardware slightly down, but some PSP love lately software-wise, which can only be a good thing:
    'PSP game sales were also up to 9.2 million, from 8.3 million, and PS2 sales were down from 8.5 million in 2009 to 3.4 million.'

  • Goodfella #6 2 years ago

    @ SHPanda

    I know, I haven't seen the console for sale anywhere, for ages.

  • Haerger #7 2 years ago

    3.6 million behind Xbox 360?

    Gap is getting closer quickly.

  • Doctor_What #8 2 years ago

    Three and a half million behind the 360? As Maxisleep said, that could actually mean more active PS3s these days. Blimey, that's a turn around for the books - I did think that this would happen, having seen the sales graphs, but I expected it to take several more years.

    What's the Wii on these days? It was around 70m last time I looked, I think. It's odd how they've got the best selling console but still third parties are shy of it.

  • X201 #9 2 years ago

    @ SHPanda

    Latin America is a big market for PS2
    Happened with the Mega Drive as well, they were still building them there until a couple of years ago.

  • Nighthawk_08 #10 2 years ago

    Really surprised ps3 is only just over 3 mil behind 360. Considering the year head start the 360 had and the awful first year the ps3 had. But tbh I really don't care too much for sales. I fuckin love my ps3 and if it had only sold half that I'd still fuckin love it.

  • slippysloppy #11 2 years ago

    That's an impressive stat for Sony but despite the extra year, it's still impressive for Microsoft they've achieved impressive sales despite being practically non-existent in the Japanese market.

  • X201 #12 2 years ago

    @Doctor_What

    In millions
    Wii: 71
    360: 41.7
    PS3: 38.1


    Its a major milestone that PS3 + Xbox is actually a larger figure than Wii on its own.
    Edited by 1 at 29/07/10 @ 09:45

  • LazyDan #13 2 years ago

    You can count me as one of those 38.1 now. Enjoying Fat Princess and God of War 3 so far, but for the love of all that is holy - why on earth is the Playstation store so badly laid out?! It's horrible to browse, I had to resort to looking up 'top 10' lists online just to try and find the good.

  • 00.00.01 #14 2 years ago

    @ LazyDan
    The PS3-store is not laid out badly, it's just (commercially) less 'in-your-face' compared to another platform. PS3-Store only pushes the 'Special Offers' section as it's got reduced prices and/or limited offers. Other than that you are completely free as a consumer to make your own decisions.

  • SHPanda #15 2 years ago

    To be fair, that's very impressive by Sony, but the gap is still about a year and a halfs total sales difference, and we'll have to see what the Slim card will do for MS in terms of sales over the next year. I think the gap will be pretty much exactly the same this time next year.

    But you also have to say hats off to Microsoft, sales wise the original flopped, so this is a massive turn around in the grand scheme of things, and to have sold that many without even denting the Japanese market is bloody impressive.

    At least we have 3 consoles that can compete and one hasn't gone the way of Sega/Nintendo in the past where they've just fallen off the mark greatly. Choice and competition only helps the consumer.

  • RodHull #16 2 years ago

    Don't worry Microsoft! As soon as Kinect is released they'll be at least a berjillion more 360s in peoples' homes!!

  • El-Dev #17 2 years ago

    "being dead last 5 years into this one and losing the most money by far."

    Suppose the counter-argument to that point really has to be that the PS3 hasn't even been on sale for 4 years, but good point all the same.

  • coolbritannia #18 2 years ago

    That's a lot of Blu Ray players.

  • Beano #19 2 years ago

    38.1m is not bad for a "doomed console".

  • Goodfella #20 2 years ago

    Yeah, the company that utterly dominated the gaming world for 2 generations being dead last 5 years into this one and losing the most money by far. Impressive!

    Did you pull that figure out of your arse? I make it 3 years and 8 months since it launched in Japan, 3 years and 4 months in Europe.

    Hyperbole, don't you just love it.

  • sarcasmoidosis #21 2 years ago

    Will GT5 close that gap? Now that's the question.

  • Lee_Morris #22 2 years ago

    I always said the PS3 would eventually take over the 360 sales worldwide and many people just laughed. Of course if your head's stuck up America's arse then the 360 is miles in front of the PS3 (in the HD race of course)

  • uzivatel #23 2 years ago

    Both PSP and PS3 seems to be doing well in Japan. The PS3 sales seem to be on par with Xbox 360 in other territories and as such the gap between PS3 on the 3rd place and Xbox 360 on the 2nd place is slowly closing. PSP on the other seems to be doomed in North America. The PSPgo thing sure did not help.
    Edited by 1 at 29/07/10 @ 10:45

  • Markitron #24 2 years ago

    If they win the motion control battle they could pass the 360 this christmas, Considering how far behind they were in 2007 thats pretty good

  • flaming.carrot #25 2 years ago

    My launch day fat PS3 died at the start of the week, and I've found it surprisingly difficult to find anywhere locally with any stock. Had to resort to a 2nd hand slim on eBay. Are there supply problems at all?

  • rotmm #26 2 years ago

    @Argentlupine, "does that mean that the PS3 has sold more in it's lifecycle than the the 360 had?"

    Yes, by a couple of million.

    An even more astouinding statistic is that, sales for the PS2 since the launch of the PS3 total 39.6 million units, 1.5 million more than the PS3 has sold.

    I don't think that the PS3 is going to have anywhere near the success of the PS2 (which was near 60m units at the same time in the cycle), but at least it shows that Sony will get money from the PS3 for many years yet.

  • JBlokeUK #27 2 years ago

    @ Beano

    My thoughts exactly.

  • uzivatel #28 2 years ago

    @rotmm: Without the huge installed base - like the one of the PS2 - they should not expect the PS3 to stay on the market anywhere near as long after the next generation launches. Xbox and Gamecube died in early 2006 and while the PS3 is going to have much larger installed base (and market share) its not going to be anywhere near the PS2.

  • alimokrane #29 2 years ago

    These figures are always confusing.

    Shipped to where? storage? Retailers ?
    Sold to who? retailers, customers?

    The day they clear this confusion is the day I can say my opinion properly. As it stands, everyone is winning which is great. Nice to see that there is space for success for everyone. Die Fanboys DIE!!!
    Edited by 3 at 29/07/10 @ 11:34

  • dr_faulk #30 2 years ago

    How does one measure the number of "active" consoles?

  • chibber23 #31 2 years ago

    android123: Have you not heard about the supply shortages of the PS3 right now, they are flying off the shelves faster than Sony can make them. Congrats to Sony, having 3 successful consoles competing with each other can only be good for gamers!

  • rotmm #32 2 years ago

    @alimokrane,

    Sony reports it's sales as "Shipped to Retail", just as Microsoft and Nintendo does.

    On launch of the PS3, Sony reported sales as "Shipped to Distribution", which meant the moment that a newly built PS3 left the factory. Which is why there was some confusion in the first couple of quarters the PS3 was released, where they were saying that had "sold" nearly 7M PS3's, when in actuality they had only "shipped to retail" around 4.5M, and of course the number in end-users homes is always somewhat less than the shipped to retail figure.

    In Apri 2007, after investor pressure to be more transparent in this area, Sony changed their reporting method from "shipped to distributon" to the more standard "shipped to retail"

  • rotmm #33 2 years ago

    @chibber, "android123: Have you not heard about the supply shortages of the PS3 right now, they are flying off the shelves faster than Sony can make them."

    And where is this happening, pray tell?

  • Xardan #34 2 years ago

    Surprising stats thats for sure. But not so surprising when Japan buys the most PS3's whereas in Japan the 360 sells next to nothing so Microsoft struggle to make up for that.

  • drumbaby #35 2 years ago

    PS3 is closing on the Xbox 360 at an alarming rate.

  • Nighthawk_08 #36 2 years ago

    @android123

    Stop being a fuckwit. Ps3 has had one year less than 360 and is only 3mill behind. One year. That's 12 months dickhead. Do you seriously think it won't overtake 360? And it's funny how u wierdos claim we buy our ps3 for bluray alone. It's a fuckin awesome extra, I'll give you that but it's like me sayin you bought you xbox as an alternative storage heater. Oh and one point, 360 failure rate was comedy. How many of you fuckers bought a 2nd, 3rd maybe even 4th console????? Put them figures in sales and see how many people actually own a 360

  • Darren #37 2 years ago

    I'm surprised that there's less than 4 million units between the 360 and PS3. Wasn't it something like 7 million only 18 months or so ago?

    One thing to note is that Microsoft quote number of units shipped not sold whereas this article refers to the number of PS3's sold so the gap may be even smaller assuming that not every Xbox 360 shipped has been sold.

  • Xardan #38 2 years ago

    Of course the 360 will easily stay ahead for another year or two thanks to the new slim and Kinect. But i dont see how worldwide sales even matter really. Its the sales in your particular contintent that should matter to you.

  • rotmm #39 2 years ago

    @Darren,

    Wrong. Please see my post #37 for clarification on how Sony reports it's "sold" figures.

  • ronuds #40 2 years ago

    All of the big 3 report shipped to retail. To them, that's "sold"... there's no way they could know definitively how many of those were actually sold to customers. Even NPD and the like only "estimate" so I doubt these companies would go by that as what they'll report to stock holders.

    Anyhow, the Slim closed the gap by about 2m since it was released. Let's see if the 360 slim can make up that gap. I doubt it because Japan still doesn't care, but I think it will be able to at least maintain its advantage to the end of this gen... if only somewhat. Either way, there's something like a 1% difference between the two. They're virtually tied.
    Edited by 1 at 29/07/10 @ 12:43

  • Darren #41 2 years ago

    @rotmm - OK, fair dos. The EG article does mention Xbox 360s 'shipped' and PS3s 'sold' though.

  • darth_paul #42 2 years ago

    'shipped' and 'sold' are different things.
    lets see if HALO REACH and X360 SLIM are enough to stop GT5. Personally, im not into racing games, but a lolt of people are, so thats a game many will buy a PS3 for

    @chibber23
    dunno if they're really "flying off the shelves". there are plenty in the shops. your the 1st one talking about PS3 shortages in 2010... ahem
    Edited by 1 at 29/07/10 @ 13:09

  • Dizzy #43 2 years ago

    My favorite snack... wasabi and red bean crackers sell great in Japan. Pity I can't get them here.

  • Markitron #44 2 years ago

    @ Nighthawk_08

    A decent point, if a bit too aggressively made. Personally id love to know how many of the 360's sold are repeat customers, im sure everyone has a friend that has bought more than 1.

  • Pastici #45 2 years ago

    So Sony are finally saying sold not shipped? Yes its close but the PS3 had a boost in sales with a hardware revision last year and I think the same will happen for the Xbox this year. How close were the SNES and MegaDrive back in the day?

  • Lee_Morris #46 2 years ago

    Halo: Reach and GT5 will both be massive games but only one is going to drive system sales. Hint, it's the one that hasn't had a mainline game appear on this generation of harware yet.

    Edit: I don't believe either Move or Kinect will shift hardware. Peripherals will always be peripherals unless they starting packing it into all systems sold.
    Edited by 1 at 29/07/10 @ 14:02

  • ronuds #47 2 years ago

    Can any numbers gurus help me figure out to whom exactly Sony sold 2.4m consoles in 3 months?

    Just looking at the numbers from Media Create and NPD, and over the course of that quarter the numbers don't come anywhere near 2.4m. I understand those aren't the only territories, but they're the 2 biggest, and if you do some quick estimations of what the other territories may have sold, it's still nowhere near 2.4m. Maybe Sony is stuffing the channels in preparation for the Move Bundle, et al?

    Just curious...

  • Feanor #48 2 years ago

    Japan is not bigger than Europe.

  • bladdard #49 2 years ago

    I think the new xbox 360 will guarantee a bumper christmas but Microsoft has been a little bit like Sony of old with only a handful of new big releases in the last 6 months. I also think a lot of gamers myself included who were worried about buying a "flaky" 360 will bite the bullet this christmas now the new super sexy 360 is out. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the gap doesn't open a little again unless Sony creates price parity. If the two consoles cost the same then there is little doubt the Sony PS3 would have easily outsold the 360.

    Edit* Fixed typos.
    Edited by 1 at 29/07/10 @ 14:30

  • MrFlump #50 2 years ago

    I wonder how many people though had got PS3 simply for the Blu-Ray playing? Thats the only reason I got mine but now that the price of Blu-Ray players that have both iplayer and youtube streaming on them as well is now about £99 i traded in my PS3 as I realised that the only console I really play games on was my 360 and I'd not ever felt compelled to buy anything other than PS3 exclusives (LBP, Uncharted etc).

    The true measure isn't the number of units shipped really if they want to go for it, its the number of software titles sold to each platform.
    Edited by 1 at 29/07/10 @ 14:35

  • ronuds #51 2 years ago

    Japan is the 2nd largest territory for game sales, and has been for years.

    UK and mainland Europe are considered 2 separate territories.

    Why I'm being negged for a genuine question is rather odd... but doesn't surprise me.

  • Dizzy #52 2 years ago

    "Japan is the 2nd largest territory for game sales, and has been for years. "

    In 1990 maybe.

  • Quixz #53 2 years ago

    Halo Reach Vs GT5..

    I personally don't think GT5 can pull it off.

  • ronuds #54 2 years ago

    Sometimes it is better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool, than to open it and prove it.

    Sorry for thinking I could have an intelligent conversation with facts in the comments section of an article. Silly me!

    [link url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Console_wars#Japan_sal es_figures
    ]http://en .wikipedia.org/wiki/Console_war...[/link]

    Japan is #2 in sales on that list... and it's a list made after 1990.
    Edited by 2 at 29/07/10 @ 15:59

  • Milkman1 #55 2 years ago

    EMEA(Europe, Middle East and Africa) region is second largest territory in console sales, Japan is not even close. Europe alone is probably bigger than Japan.

  • rotmm #56 2 years ago

    @ronunds, "UK and mainland Europe are considered 2 separate territories."

    By who? Not by Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo, that's for sure.

    So who exactly, other than yourself of course, considers the UK and mainland EU as 2 seperate territories?

    Until you answer that question, your other point about Japan being the 2nd largest region in terms of sales is invalid.

  • miiiguel #57 2 years ago

    Reading this thread comments seems like we're in 2006 again. The gap is closing! Wooo, it's going to happen, pretty fast! So impressive! Hoorah!

  • Gromit #58 2 years ago

    I have never understood comparing PS3 with 360 as though they are two pairs of shoes.

    Whether you like the systems or not, the blu-ray player on the PS3 adds so much cost to make the PS3. The 360 doesn't have a similarly expensive component. I think the situation with the sales would be a lot different if Sony could've released the PS3 with blu-ray as an optional extra somehow.

    Although MS had a year or more in the marketplace ahead of Sony, at least when the PS3 was released there wasn't a RROD fiasco to put up with. They just threw it out and dealt with it on the fly, and surprisingly many people tolerated this total disrespect several times over.

    I own both systems, but I personally have had 3 360s and one of those extras was paid for, and I have friends and family who have done the same. It's a totally valid argument for me that if you factor in the sales or replacement RROD machines, the 3/4 million lead wouldn't be there.

  • NotSoSlim #59 2 years ago

    Halo Reach vs GT5 is simple....Japan dont buy Halo and buy GT in spades so the winner will be GT5 despite what the Europe and US figures say.

    Just like console sales Japan is the wildcard

  • Fur1ousApollo #60 2 years ago

    In response to the RRoD argument that is boosting 360 sales. I owned a PS3 60GB that failed before Christmas and was replaced by a PS3 slim. I know of at least three others that have done the same because of BluRay failure or YLoD.

    I'm not saying that the PS3 numbers are boosted by those issues, but pointing out that they are also not exempt from them either.
    Edited by 1 at 29/07/10 @ 19:16

  • ronuds #61 2 years ago

    @ rotmm

    By people who know anything - that's who. I already provided a link which lists UK sales as their own separate entity. I have some form of proof, whereas everyone claiming I am incorrect do not.

    I thought you guys might know more, but I had my question answered already in the forums where usually sense and sensibility prevail.

  • rotmm #62 2 years ago

    @ronuds,

    I don't want to get a pissing argument over something so pathetic, but honestly your argument of "By people who know anything - that's who" is about as pathetic an argument I've ever come across.

    A Wiki page listing sales figures is most certainly not proof, it's just an illustration that those are 3 countries where it's easier to get accurate sales figures from. Nothing less. Nothing more. Certainly it doesn't mean that the authors of that wiki page are any more "in the know" than you or I.

    As for proof from me?

    I'll give you one simple one. SCEJ/SCEA/SCEE

  • TwitchyMcTwitch #63 2 years ago

    Imagine what would happen if many people decided to upgrade to the ps3 from the ps2.

  • Spera #64 2 years ago

    Isn't it consoles shipped as opposed to consoles sold ?

  • man.the.king #65 2 years ago

    "Its a major milestone that PS3 + Xbox is actually a larger figure than Wii on its own."

    And I think that sentence perfectly explains why there isn't much proper third-party support for the Wii (from proper developers,not the ones who jump onto the Wii "party games" bandwagon) - considering most games are multi-platform, and most hardcore gamers tend to own PS3 and/or 360s (in addition to the Wii). The PS3/360 market(s) is/are still the one(s) that might offer the biggest returns to Game Developers & Publishers.

    Otherwise you can be sure Bobby Kotick would have been all over the Wii :)
    Edited by 3 at 30/07/10 @ 07:44

  • dllord #66 2 years ago

    As a ps3 and 360 owner i can see the ps3 overtaking the 360 pretty soon as kinect is from what ive seen so far useless for most games, where as ps3 move is at least transferable to a much wider range of games. Well i no which one i'll be spending my cash on come release day!

  • Maledictus010 #67 2 years ago

    Something I don't fully get. I understand the PS2 sales (big game catalogue, loads of game owners out there so buying one to keep those games running makes sense, that's what I did anyway) but no-one here sells the games anymore. So retailers here (NL) are trying to kill the PS2 sales, or at least trying to get us to buy the newer stuff by not selling the older stuff. So those PS2 sales are all sales for people that buy just the console, to run their old game catalogue?

  • Farzlepot #68 2 years ago

    Sony's sales figures aren't the impressive thing here - the impressive things are:

    1) Nintendo dominating the generation so soundly, after two somewhat disappointing generations. Although to accomplish this they've had to target their games consoles at non-gamers, thus I somewhat ignore it in the overall scheme of things.

    2) Microsoft's sales figures aren't 'disappointing' for a console launched a year later. They're bloody amazing when you consider how utterly dominant the PS2 was in the previous generation. Bear in mind that in the last generation, one of the (many) reasons the Dreamcast failed was because all the PS1 owners were holding out for the PS2 - that's brand power you cant buy. After only one competing generation together, Microsoft and Sony are now head-to-head, more or less.

    The PlayStation will, however, eventually usurp the Xbox 360. It's inevitable - PlayStation is a brand synonymous with games consoles, and, like its predecessor, it has positioned itself as a media centre as well. It's just that this time around they've priced themselves high, and haven't secured nearly as many first-party exclusives as bait.

  • BlueMonkeyPro #69 2 years ago

    Nice too see these figures. I have the backward compatible PS3 but for those with the newer model may need to purchase another PS2 for retro play if they sold their PS2 previously. I have bought and sold a few PS2's myself, lol.

  • man.the.king #70 2 years ago

    @mickey2010

    "With kinect, i think they will win the motion controller battle and eventually win the war."

    the war? The WAR???

    You are delusional.