Price cut boosts PS3 sales 250-300%

Sony said that it has sold more than 100,000 PS3 consoles in the week ending November 11, an increase of 250 to 300 per cent from the average weekly sales before the price drop.

According to an AP report, Sony said it was selling between 30,000 and 40,000 PS3 consoles per week prior to the October 18 price cut and introduction of the 40GB model.

In the week ending October 29, sales rose to 75,000. The next week, sales rose to more than 100,000.

"It’s the breakthrough we’ve been anticipating," Sony chairman and CEO Howard Stringer told The Associated Press. "We’ve been holding our breath."

Nintendo has shipped 9.3 million Wii consoles worldwide as of October, but is expected to ship 22.3 million by March 2008. Sony has sold 5 million PS3 consoles worldwide as of October and hopes to ship 11 million by March 2008.

Microsoft, meanwhile, has sold approximately 11.6 million Xbox 360 consoles in the two years that it has been on the market.

Sony executives said the rising sales also will boost the Blu-ray high definition DVD format.

"It puts us vastly ahead of where the other format is going to be in terms of an installed base in people’s homes."