Sony’s brand new PS3 120GB ‘Slim’ made its way to American retailers on the 25 of August. The introduction of the $300 console was accompanied by the price reduction on the Xbox 36 Elite and Pro, leading to both companies seeing a significant increase in sales figures.<\/p>\n
Most notably, Sony managed to sell over double the amount of units in the last week of August as it did in the previous week. Between 16-22 August the company moved just 37,167 PS3s. Between 23-29 August the figure closed at 75,931 according to VGChartz <\/a>.<\/p>\n Xbox 360 sales in the USA saw a less significant increase of 32%, selling 74,689 consoles in the final week of August. While Sony saw a greater increase, the two companies sold around the same amount of consoles during the week.<\/p>\n Conversely, Nintendo shifted 4% less consoles in the final week of August than it did in the previous week, before the PS3 Slim and price reductions were announced. Nintendo finished on 74,245 units for the week, making it effectively a three way tie.<\/p>\n Sony is expected to continue to see increased PS3 sales in the USA as the PS3 Slim becomes more widely available. Furthermore, the Xbox 360 price cut was announced late in the week, so sales growth is expected to be greater at the end of the current week once Microsoft has had a full week of the new pricing.<\/p>\n It is worth noting that the increase in sales is exaggerated by exceedingly slow weeks leading up the price cut. While Sony enjoyed a 104% increase in sales thanks to the PS3 Slim, the previous weeks saw very low figures due to widespread price cut rumors leading many buyers to hold onto their cash.<\/p>\n In regions which had not received the PS3 Slim in the last week of August, Sony saw significant declines in sales. This is obviously due to consumers waiting for PS3 Slim availability. The Xbox 360 on the other hand reported increased sales globally due to the price cut being instantaneous.<\/p>\n Overall Sony increased PS3 sales globally by 35% following the introduction of the PS3 Slim. This figure is expected to increase substantially when the PS3 Slim becomes available in more countries. Microsoft saw a global increase of 29% in Xbox 360 sales, and Nintendo was down 5%.<\/p>\n The PS3 Slim is expected to become available locally later this month. An official price has not been confirmed but early preorders suggest that South Africans will pay around R3800.<\/p>\n