NPD this week released their console sales numbers for the U.S., for May, 2007. The next-gen console sales for the month were:
XBOX 360: 155,000
PS3: 81,000
Wii: 338,000
Another phenomenal month for the Wii (coming in first place among all 6 available systems), and the PS3 continues its slide below the tracking of the XBox 360 (sales per month since inception). Although it's important to note that these figures are just for the U.S. (Microsoft's home territory), the PS3 has had a terrible last two months, though Microsoft's XBox 360 still continued to sell less than Sony's other two systems (the PS2 and the PSP).
Obviously, the XBox 360 has been out considerably longer than the other consoles, so in the interests of fairness, here is a chart that shows the total sales of the consoles over their lifetimes.
As you can see, the numbers for the PS3 aren't looking very solid in the U.S. right now. Whether that's due to the high price (and rumors of an upcoming price cut) or the (so far) lack of major game releases is up for debate, and likely both are partially to blame. Whatever the case, something needs to be done soon. There is some amazing content coming to the PS3 this fall, but that likely won't have much effect until October or November, by which time Sony may have a huge PR problem on their hands due to the lackluster sales numbers.
Sony's noncommittal stance on a possible price cut certainly isn't helping either. If you don't already own a PS3, there really isn't much reason to buy one right now given the rumors of a $100 price cut in the coming months. Hopefully, Sony will either cut the price sooner rather than later or announce that they won't be cutting the price anytime soon.
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