Sony finally announced the 120GB “PS3 Slim” last week at GamesCom for $299, but also announced an immediate price drop for the current 80GB PS3 model to the same price point. As expected, sales have increased this week but it is clear that many consumers are waiting for the new model before making the jump.
According to the latest Americas hardware data for the week ending 22nd August and in the three days following the price cut, daily PS3 hardware saw around a 30% increase. Overall, sales are up a modest 12% week on week (and sales have been down significantly the last few weeks) – so maybe not as large a boost as many had expected. The reasons for this are twofold:
1. Consumers are waiting for the new model PS3 which launches on September 1st
2. Stocks of the existing model are starting to become quite low in the US – indeed the entire reason for the price cut is to get rid of the last of the stock to make way for the new model.
In those same three days, preorders for the slimline PS3 were actually greater than sales for the current PS3, with each day larger than the previous. If this pattern continues, preorders could top 60,000 in America alone by this time next week – suggesting a week one of around 100,000. The same week, Microsoft lowers the Elite price to $299 to match the slimline PS3. Recent Xbox 360 sales in the Americas have been around 60,000 so we expect PS3 to be ahead of 360 for a couple of weeks but it will be interesting to see where both consoles settle.
Similar increases have been seen across Europe, Japan and Other regions, but far bigger increases are expected in September when the new model arrives. We project that September sales worldwide will be around double that of August – around 600,000 units. This will be the first time in 2009 that Sony posts a year on year increase.
