PS3 at 'turning point' - Stringer

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

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

In the week ending 29th October, 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."

Stringer said that the price cut and introduction of a cheaper console makes the PS3 more competitive against Nintendo's Wii and Microsoft's Xbox 360 as the holiday season opens.

"Obviously, we've taken so much heat over the year on PS3. Finally, the turning point has been passed," he said, sounding a bit like Gerard Houllier.

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

"It's a little fortuitous that the Wii is running out of hardware."

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 by the end of this holiday season," said Sony's chief marketing officer, Andrew House.