PS3 outsells Wii in Japan during November
For the four weeks ending November 25, the PlayStation 3 outsold Nintendo's Wii by around 15 percent in Japan, but it still has quite a bit more catching up to do.
November marks the first month the PS3 has had higher sales than the Wii, largely due to a price cut that was announced November 2. The cheaper $399 40GB model has brought the struggling console back to life in a battle with Nintendo and Microsoft's Xbox 360. Even sales in the United States are up, with PS3 purchases tripling over Thanksgiving week.
According to game magazine publisher Enterbrain, which tracks retail figures in Japan, Sony sold 183,217 compared with Wii sales of 159,193. The figures have some industry watchers wondering whether Sony can retake the lead in the console market, which was ripped away by Nintendo's surprise success.
"The worst time has passed. Now, Sony is going to do better. Demand for the PS3 is picking up. That should be true in Japan as well as in Europe and the US," analyst Michael Cai told BetaNews last week. He called on Sony to drive development of more games for its platform, saying, "The PS3 needs better content."
Sony recently slashed the price of its software development kit by one-half in an attempt to encourage more developers to build games for the PS3. Microsoft has used the success of its Xbox 360 to lure developers away from Sony, leading to a lackluster PS3 game lineup and few exclusive titles.
In total, Sony has sold 6.36 million PS3s, compared to sales of 13.72 million Xbox 360s and 14.92 million Wiis, according to Video Game Chartz.