After a slow start, sales of PlayStation 3 have finally reached the numbers that Sony would like. In Japan last week, sales of PS3 overtook those of Nintendo’s Wii for the first time due in no small part to the arrival of Metal Gear Solid 4 – a huge game that Japan loves almost as much as the UK loves Grand Theft Auto IV. And, in case you didn't know, Grand Theft Auto IV sold an incredible 6 million copies in a single week around the world, making it the biggest grossing 'entertainment' launch ever, film and albums included.
At the same time, speaking to Bloomberg, Sony Corp Chairman Howard Stringer announced that Sony hope to sell 10 million PS3s this year globally. Cheaper production costs for PS3 have helped Sony and a reduced marketing spend has been useful, but should Sony have really been pushing the PS3 as a games machine from the start when launch games were so, well, lacklustre? The switch to advertising the console as an all-round home entertainment device was perhaps too late.
After all, the PS3 is a good Blu-ray player and with more inputs and outputs than we ever expected from a games console, it’s a perfect starting point for someone entering the world of budget home cinema. Sony just needs to shout about it a bit more while the gaps between games as big as Grand Theft Auto IV appear. Stringer went on to say that overall improvement was needed amidst falling sales of Sony LCD TVs: “In a UK brand poll, Sony was ranked No.1 this year, but we are not Number 1 in my mind yet''.
So, what do you think? Did you buy your PS3 machine as a games machine, as a Blu-ray player or both and do you see Sony as your number 1 brand?