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Despite growing rumours of stock lying untouched in stores, Sony has met its ambitious target of shipping one million PlayStation 3 consoles in North America last year.
The announcement was made at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and proves the company has been working overtime to resolve the manufacturing glitches it faced with the system’s high-definition Blu-ray drive.
The console has been in short supply ever since it launched stateside back on November, and Sony spokesman Dave Karraker said that, if necessary, the company will continue to airlift in extra stock through the spring. However, internet reports have been flooding in of stockpiles of unsold consoles being spotted by consumers in the US.
Globally, Sony intended to shift 2 million PS3s by the end of 2006, but whether this goal was reached was not disclosed at CES.
Sales of the PlayStation 3’s main next-gen rivals, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Nintendo’s Wii, have also been strong in the US, with the Wii alone selling 476,000 in the two weeks following its November 19 launch. Microsoft expected to have shipped 10 million units by the end of 2006, and this was confirmed at CES last night.
Reacting to the success of Xbox 360 and Wii, Sony’s Karraker said: “Are we worried about strong sales of the Wii or Xbox 360? Not really. It was a great year for the industry overall. With the tide all ships rise.”
Sony and Nintendo are both projecting shipping six million consoles apiece by the end of March, the month when PS3 is due to launch in Europe.
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