PS3 sales up 76 per cent over Christmas

By Ellie Gibson Published 7 January, 2010

Santa sticks 3.8 million consoles in stockings.

The PlayStation 3 enjoyed a global boost in sales over the festive period, according to Sony.

More than 3.8 million consoles were shifted in the five weeks before Christmas, including 1.7 million in the US alone. That equates to a 76 per cent increase in sales compared to the same period a year previously. Sony has never shifted so many PS3 consoles in the run-up to Christmas before.

Stat fans may also like to know there are more than 38 million registered PlayStation Network accounts. More than 780 million pieces of content have now been downloaded from the service.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (17) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • Vice.Destroyer #1 2 years ago

    I still don't quite know, but does the number of PlayStation Network accounts equal the number of PS3's? Or is it similar to the Xbox 360 gamertags, where you can have multiple accounts on a single console, to take advantage of different regions contents, amongst other things?

  • Doctor_What #2 2 years ago

    How many PS3s are out there now? I should imagine it's still 5-10m behind the 360, but those are still good numbers over the holiday season.

  • NotSoSlim #3 2 years ago

    6m is the max the gap is at!! Japan is the country that will eat into the lead imo

  • oupe #4 2 years ago

    Stat fans may also like to know I have 2 PSN accounts :)

  • mkreku #5 2 years ago

    My dad bought one for Christmas! Not only that, he opted for the 250GB model..

    The funny thing is, he didn't buy a single game for it! Only two Blu-Ray movies. One of which was Twilight.

  • Kapo! #6 2 years ago

    It's interesting how the opinion on the PS3 has changed. Over a year ago, my 360-owning friends wouldn't dream of buying a PS3. That has now changed. Many of them have primarily been lured by the price-drop; in addition to this, 2009 has been a great year for PS3 exclusives.

    It's interesting to think that if Sony had implemented an early price-cut on the machine perhaps it would be the PS3 which would be leading the 360 by a margin of a few million consoles, and not the other way around.

  • patch #7 2 years ago

    One of which was Twilight.

    That's not the kind of thing you want to be admitting.

  • GamesConnoisseur #8 2 years ago

    Kapol agreed, that I think PS3 is getting to be more favourable against those who wouldn't get one. Price drop and Slim are both an important factor, though I did think we would see a bit more than just 3/4 extra sales on top of previous sales at old price.

    Hope I haven't let my maths down but this is like 100 PS3 at £300 sold in 08 get 75 more consoles at 09 with attractive £200 price tag?

    That was a loose example but did imagine would have multiply the sales by few folds at the fact it's better priced? Or is there still consumers waiting for further drop?

    More of my mates owns both consoles.

  • ShinMegami08 #9 2 years ago

    I've got 4 PSN-accounts (Japan, US, UK and Switzerland). I suppose most PS3 owners have two accounts....

  • gjgjg #10 2 years ago

    i bought one this year, i caved in. but since ive finished uncharted and gow collection its been pretty idle... Sony like their slow burner consoles

  • Widge #11 2 years ago

    Nothing else you want to buy or you got something against back catalogues?

  • onyxbox #12 2 years ago

    ^^^ shame you could not get into those games, they are grrrreeeeaaat! (as Tony would say)

  • Drpwnage #13 2 years ago

    In support of Kapo! I picked up a PS3 slim for Christmas as well - the new lower price point and Uncharted 2 was the tipping point for me along with the potential of the coming exclusives (+Wipeout HD and Blu Ray playback!), bar Demon's Soul the other PS3 exclusives are of no interest.

  • chessboxer #14 2 years ago

    "after the PS2 i'm just dumbfounded there's not a 40 million difference between them by now"

    The PS2 launched at £279 but didn't start to sell loads until a price drop put it much closer to £200. Expecting the PS3 to sell just as well when starting at £425 is a bit much, especially when there was a cheaper alternative to play the multiformats on.

  • callum9999 #15 2 years ago

    I'm sure a large number of PS3 owners have more than one account, but I'd say well under half - nowhere near most. I'd guess most people are unaware of the benefits of having more than one account (or know you can get more than one).

  • man.the.king #16 2 years ago

    @callum9999

    "I'd guess most people are unaware of the benefits of having more than one account"

    Genuine question: What are the benefits of having more than one account (for a single user)?

  • BadBoyBonner #17 2 years ago

    evoga - same boat as you. GF bought me a 250GB PS3 - Argos with Uncharted 2, Killzone 2 and GT Prologue.

    Picked up Lair for £4 to try remote play (games crap but remote play works well, more so for browsing and video streaming/BBC iPlayer), Heavenly Sword for a fiver and spent the best £20 in a long time by picking up Wipeout Fury.

    PS3 was the only thing I had left to buy/own as I have everything else. Looking forward to the 3D firmware update and love the fact that you can use the Logitech wheels on it unlike the 360.

    Agreed Uncharted 2 is amazing, completed it on Normal - went to it's internal store and purchased FAST MOTION (making the game extremely responsive, if a little prone to leaping in the wrong direction) and playing it with that activated on Hard. Nearly completed it again and still loving it. Very few games have had me start again immediately on completion - think only Dead Space has in the last few years.

    Killzone 2 feels like it lags from controller input but does look great - I'm about a 1/3 of the way through. GT Prologue with 900 degree FF wheel is great to play. Obviously Wipeout is a bit of a Love/Hate game - personally I love it although the SixAxis motion controls are rubbish; stick with the stick/D-Pad.