Price Cut Boosts PlayStation 3 Sales in US

Sales of the PlayStation 3 in the US more than doubled in the weeks after the company slashed the video game console's price by $100 and launched a low-end model.

Sony said it sold more than 100,000 consoles of all types in the week ending November 11.

The price cut and new model make the PS3 more competitive against Nintendo's Wii and Microsoft's Xbox 360 as the holiday season opens, claimed Sony Corp. CEO Howard Stringer.

Sony said it had been selling between 30,000 and 40,000 consoles per week before the October 18 price cut from $599 to $499 of the 80GB model.

Sales rose to 75,000 in the week of October 29, reflecting both the lower price of the high-end model and the introduction of a 40GB model for $399 on November 2. It was the following week that sales hit 100,000, according to Sony.

Lagging sales of the PS3, compared to sales of the Wii and XBox 360, prompted Sony to cut the price in the US as it had in Japan and Europe.

Stringer said Sony is poised to benefit from the difficulty Nintendo has had producing Wii consoles fast enough to keep up with demand.

By October, Nintendo had shipped 9.3 million units worldwide of the Wii, which went on sale late last year. By the end of this fiscal year, total global Wii shipments are expected to reach 22.3 million.

Sony had sold 5 million PS3s worldwide by October. The game console went on sale late last year in Japan and the US, and in March in Europe.

Microsoft had sold 11.6 million Xbox 360 machines in two years.

Sony executives said the rising sales also will boost the Blu-ray DVD format, as each PS3 comes with a Blu-ray drive.