PS2 Rocked This holiday Season

[Joeiss]

January 08, 2003 - The PlayStation 2 enjoyed substantial success in the United States during the 2002 holiday season, Sony Computer Entertainment America announced in its annual press release touting the successes of the previous year. More than four million PS2s sold through at retail in November and December -- approximately one million in November and three million in December. Those sales represent a 42% growth over the same period in 2001.
Worldwide, approximately 8.5 million units of hardware were sold during the two months. 3.4 million units sold in Europe, a 27% increase over the previous year, and 940,000 units sold in Japan, a 27% decrease. The drop in Japanese sales, even over that country's lengthier shopping season (through the first week of January) indicates that the console is reaching the saturation point in its home country -- i.e., as many customers own PS2s as are likely to buy game consoles.

Sony remains on track to meet its planned worldwide shipping target of 22.5 million consoles in the fiscal year ending March 2003, and expects to turn a profit of 180 billion yen this fiscal year, a 10-fold increase over the previous year.

A total of 45 million units of PS2 software were sold from the beginning of the year through the end of November in the United States, increasing the system's software-to-hardware tie ratio (the average number of games owned by each console owner) to 7.7. More than 200,000 players reportedly made their way online using the PS2 Network Adaptor (some of them players of the more than 700,000 units of SOCOM: US Navy SEALs sold by the end of the year), and demand for the peripheral remained strong, with more than 400,000 units shipped to retail by the end of the year.

"We operate our business based on the fundamental belief that great games drive consumer purchase decisions. As Sony Computer Entertainment America evaluates our eighth holiday selling season in tangible measures, we affirm yet again the value of our approach to our partners," said Jack Tretton, executive vice president, Sony Computer Entertainment America. "In the new year we will raise the bar in interactive entertainment even higher as we delve into exciting new internal development and licensee opportunities to grow our platform businesses."

The original PlayStation, meanwhile, enjoyed brisk sales for an eight-year-old console, selling nearly one million units in November and December.

We of course offer our congratulations to Sony on the occasion of their Godzilla(or perhaps King Ghidora)-esque domination of the videogame business, and wish them further success in the future.

WOAH!!!!

[Crono]

Well it's not surprising, but where did you find this anyway?

[Joeiss]

Oh, I didn't provide a link. My mistake! I forgot that people at this forum do not trust anything that isn't from IGN.



http://ps2.ign.com/articles/382/382045p1.html

[Dyne]

That's a little too good for comfort.

What's suprising was that it was opposite for Japan, where the GBA was on the top for the holiday..

[Perfect Stu]

very impressive

SCE was shooting for 50 million units sold worldwide by March 2003...some people have estimated that they've already hit that mark, or are really close to it

[DarkDemonic726]

Im not suprised they had some great games this year :

Kingdom Hearts, Vice City, SOCOM, The Getaway, Suikoden III, ETC

[tarakan69]

I own both a PS2 and X-Box... there is one thing I can say...

You got to be a complete DICK to miss out the exclsuives... like GT3, GTA: Vice City, Final Fantasy, Suikeden, Wild Arms 3, Silent Hill 3 etc.

It has games to satisfy everbody's needs... although it's OVERPRICED. It should sell for around 130 dollars. Go on... bitch that Sony is still selling great at a high price. But don't forget you as the consumer are getting ripped of, other consoles give a bigger bang for the buck

IMO Getaway was mediocre at best. Running at constant 15 framerates per second... WOW... they trealisticly modeled 60+ miles of london... but the game was unplayable.

[Joeiss]

Originally posted by DarkDemonic726
Im not suprised they had some great games this year :

Kingdom Hearts, Vice City, SOCOM, The Getaway, Suikoden III, ETC

Doesn't Getaway come out next year? Or is it allready out?

[DarkDemonic726]

its out in the U.K