Sony sold 9 million PS3s last year

By Robert Purchese Published 14 May, 2008

So its bank balance is going up.

Sony has told everyone that it sold 9.24 million PS3 consoles in its last financial year, which ended in March 2008.

That is an increase of 5.63 million from the year before, with software sales seeing a similar leap from 44.6 million to 57.9 million.

The worldwide PS3 figure now stands at 12.81 million units sold.

The PSP added 4.36 million hardware sales to take it to a 13.9 million lifetime total, and sold 55.5 million pieces of PSP software over the 12-month period. (Correction, 12.26pm: We originally said 800,000 based on some cock-eyed back-of-a-napkin calculations. Apologies for the error.)

However, the biggest seller of the Sony bunch was the ageing PS2, which shifted 13.73 million consoles. This was a year-on-year decrease of 980,000, but good nonetheless.

Its massive installed base meant 154 million games were sold on PS2 which, again, was down (by 34 million) on the year before, but still nearly triple the other platforms.

Unsurprisingly, then, Sony has made more money from its videogames division: USD 12.2 billion if you're counting, which is a whole 26.3 percent better than last year.

It still means Sony is running at a loss of USD 1.18 million in that department, but it hopes this will edge into profit this financial year as hardware costs drop and PS3 software sales increase - even with the offset of declining PS2 demand.

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.

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

You may also like...

Comments (37) Latest comment 4 years ago

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

  • Zomoniac #1 4 years ago

    Oh.

  • Psychotext #2 4 years ago

    The tagline is funny... given their gaming division lost money last year. ;)

  • CannonAnBall #3 4 years ago

    teh end in nigh!

  • GamesConnoisseur #4 4 years ago

    Sony sold 9.24 million over 07/08 fiscal year and having previously sold 3.61 the year before (9.24 - 5.63 improvement) add up to 12.85 million PS3 consoles sold by 31st March 08?! I thought it was 11 million or so PS3 worldwide up to now?

    Or I mess up the calculations?!

  • thomasbeff #5 4 years ago

    800,000 PSP games in a year? Wtf? How is it that bad. Some great games got released last year.

  • richardiox #6 4 years ago

    A euro DS3 would be tempting. As would re-instating back-compatability.

  • Waffleaber #7 4 years ago

    Those PSP games figures are indeed shocking, if you work it out that means only approximatly only 1 in 17 PSP owners bought a new game last year.

  • miiiguel #8 4 years ago

    "800,000 PSP games in a year? Wtf? How is it that bad."
    err... not bad? That dogs game or something from nintendo must have sold that in a week. I'm not going to mention high-profile games, such as Halo or GTA... in one hour ?

  • TheNinkyNonk #9 4 years ago

    I sold my PSP yesterday and am thinking of shifting the PS3.

    They're the most impressive pieces of kit I've seen in years and I have a great deal of respect for Sony as a consumer electronics manufacturer...but they just sit there, gathering lots and lots of dust :( I'd consider keeping the PS3 just as a BR player...but I refuse to buy BRs on principle at the cost they're currently at.

    As much as MS manage to bungle quality control in manufacturing and their product feels a bit 'cheap and plastic' in comparison, at least I'm playing games on it and it makes me feel like I'm part of a proper online community.

    Come on Sony!


  • Hughes. #10 4 years ago

    Monster Hunter Freedom 2 or MHF2G have both sold over 2 million apiece, how does the PSP have software sales of only 800,000?

  • BlueDot #11 4 years ago

    @Hughes

    I was thinking that too. I bought 3 games last year for the PSP, must have counted for something! Also, didn't God of War sold 1m+ ?

  • CallousB #12 4 years ago

    "12.85 million PS3 consoles sold by 31st March 08?! I thought it was 11 million or so PS3 worldwide up to now?"

    12.85 m sold/shipped to retail..not sold to consumers (although I suspect they have sold over 12 million to consumers by now).
    Edited by 1 at 14/05/08 @ 12:10

  • Beano #13 4 years ago

    "err... not bad? That dogs game or something from nintendo must have sold that in a week. I'm not going to mention high-profile games, such as Halo or GTA... in one hour ?"

    I agree... 800K is nothing. Surely that must be a mistake?

    How many games have Sony published for PSP the last year?
    I'm sure the total sales of those must have exeeded 800K.

  • Widge #14 4 years ago

    gaining ground, but a touch sparse on releases for this year so far? Its all been about the GOW and FF7 excitement... now they have passed, where to go now? I mean what is there, RType Command and thats it?

  • seasidebaz #15 4 years ago

    hooray!

    now let's have some more games worth buying...

  • Beano #16 4 years ago

    According to Kotaku, Sony sold 55 million PSP software units which makes more sense ... 800K is not correct.

    http://ko taku.com/390245/its-sony-financ...

  • Xerx3s #17 4 years ago

    Good for them.

  • Vice.Destroyer #18 4 years ago

    Looks like Rob read Beano's figure and corrected himself in his report.

  • thomasbeff #19 4 years ago

    What i meant was how did it get that bad for PSP s/w sales. Not, how is that bad. Anyway, its all been cleared up now.

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #20 4 years ago

    With a mistake in the figures of over 49million i hope Rob doesnt do the accounts for eurogamer!!

  • BlueDot #21 4 years ago

    It was the lack of common sense that worried me. Any games journalist would surely have questioned the 800k figure as it was so obviously wrong.

  • Hughes. #22 4 years ago

    To be fair to Bertie, GI.biz had the same figures earlier.

    Cut & Paste journalism is teh rael next gen!

  • Apologie #23 4 years ago

    As a gamer it's pointless to know how many consoles were sold, how many money was made etc... thouse are not my problems, i don't care about Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo.
    Just give me reliable hardware and, more important, the damn Games, that's all, thanks.

  • Olemak #24 4 years ago

    Concidering the PS3 bundles with GT 5 prologue, GTA IV and the upcoming MGS4, I bet Sony will sell quite well over the summer.

    EA predicts that the PS3 will sell somewhere between 9.5 and 11.5 million units in the US and the EU during this year, in total. They recon the Xbox will sell 6 to 8 million in total, in the same markets, in the same time-frame - pretty solid figures, really.

    That should put the total installed base for the PS3 at about 20 million. So by the end of the year, they'll pretty much be where the Xbox is right now, in terms of total installed base worldwide. Good to see the competition being nice and even like; that's the best outcome for everyone, really.

    I'm sorta looking forward to the fall season. I am betting we'll see new hardware from both companies: a Jasper xbox with further reduced heat/noise issues, maybe built-in power supply and a redesigned exterior. Integrated WiFi is probably still just wishful thinking, tho.
    Perhaps Sony will be able do a PS3 based on a 45 nm cell at a cheaper price at about the same time - IBM has already started making them 45 nm Cell chips. Dead certain both companies will do something very competitive and hence great for us, the gamers, in preparition for "the holiday season".

  • chrisjm #25 4 years ago

    does sold = shipped or sold = in someones home beign used.

  • rhinoxious #26 4 years ago

    So everyone who's ever bought a PSP bought four pieces of software last year alone.

    Seems unlikely to me.

  • themorganator #27 4 years ago

    agreed, Olemak = Great post.

    Anyway, back to fanboy baiting......" lol, Sony sold more PS2's than PS3's!"

    I bet thats the only thing keeping that division from sinking!

    Hazaar!

  • rhinoxious #28 4 years ago

    "Concidering the PS3 bundles with GT 5 prologue, GTA IV and the upcoming MGS4, I bet Sony will sell quite well over the summer"

    - I doubt the GT5 prologue bundle flew off shelves - it's only half a game and GT hsan't sold brilliantly since GT2 - if the bundle had done well Sony would have let us know in no uncertain terms.

    - GTA4 would have sold some PS3s, but probably sold just as many 360's due to their lower price.

    - MGS4 is an unknown quantity these days as japanese blcokbusters are certainly not the sales powerhouses they used to be. MGS3 wasn't a big seller

    I'd expect 360 to still have a significant lead by the end of this year, though parity in market would be good for all, I don't thin we're going to see it.

  • zedzee #29 4 years ago

    "as hardware costs drop"

    Yes, but those savings will not be passed onto consumers. Greedy Sony will keep those margins for themselves.

    A shame, because they could've been leaders in this generation, had their original launch price tag not been so high, making their loyal fans (someone like me) decide not to buy a PS3 just yet; I decided to cancel my pre-order because I was fed up with them treating the EMEA territory as the dirt every single time they launch something significant.

    Look at PlayTV and DualShock3!

  • zedzee #30 4 years ago

    I want to see the PS3 (let's drop all these models, just have one) at £210, with:

    > 80GB HDD.
    > Backwards Compatibility (I'll settle for the half software solution or even all software solution).
    > DualShock3 bundled.

    I don't care about anything else; games and cables I can get later. Just like previous generations. It worked before, why change this time around?!

    If they do that tomorrow, I'd be the first in the queue.

  • Beano #31 4 years ago

    "Yes, but those savings will not be passed onto consumers. Greedy Sony will keep those margins for themselves."

    Well.. right now "greedy Sony" are selling PS3s below production cost, so who can blaim them for trying to cut costs?

    If anybody are greedy reg. hardware costs vs. sales price, it's Nintendo...

  • Goffee #32 4 years ago

    And the Sony PSP hardware figure is screwed, its 13.89m for the year, not lifetime. Stick to games and not figures guys

  • #33 4 years ago

    Consider me buying one.. Wife just got a load of cash back from tax and she gave me some..Ill use it mostly for Bluray on my nice42" LCD, but will be buying MGS4.

  • zedzee #34 4 years ago

    @ Beano:

    So why is it the consumer's fault that the PS3 is overpriced? Surely when they were designing it, they should've thought about whether the astronomical price tag would affect consumer's buying decisions?

    I agree Nintendo are the greediest, but then again, their unit is not so extortionately priced as Sony's, is it? They will hold on to the same price for as long as they can and then, when they notice Microsoft or Sony taking share from them, they will drop it and it will leave Microsoft and Sony exactly where they were before; trailing way behind Nintendo in the unit price.

    Sony especially should not have been so arrogant about the pricing, specifically in Europe, and insult fans by delaying it here, while other territories 'enjoyed' it for 6 months in advance.

    That, coupled with other factors such as inferior model specifications for Europe, no DualShock3, poor PSN content, hard development cycles, ever changing specifications, delayed releases of key games in Europe and a continued stubbornness to not to listen has put them where they deservedly are today...In 3rd place!

    Believe me, I don't want them to be there, because I've always felt that they've offered something different from any of the established vendors in the market and hey, let's not forget that they did us a favour and kicked Sega out of the hardware market, but they are where they are because of their own fault and I'm quite frankly enjoying the fact that I've so far made the right decision of sticking with my PS2 and PSP.

  • Darren #35 4 years ago

    Didn't Microsoft claim they had a 5 million unit lead over Sony last week thus implying that the Xbox 360 has only sold 17.85 million to date? LOL

  • Vic #36 4 years ago

    - I doubt the GT5 prologue bundle flew off shelves - it's only half a game and GT hsan't sold brilliantly since GT2 - if the bundle had done well Sony would have let us know in no uncertain terms.

    - MGS4 is an unknown quantity these days as japanese blcokbusters are certainly not the sales powerhouses they used to be. MGS3 wasn't a big seller


    What a load of rubbish. GT3 sold 10m. GT4 sold plenty aswell.

    MGS4 an unkown quantity? It'll sell plenty of hardware and you know it.

  • Zappa #37 4 years ago

    360 is doomed:) it will be beaten so bad by the awesome Europeans.