Sony capitalizes on Wii's supply shortage

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

November 15, 2007, 11:31 AM

Lowering price and making the best of its competitors' slip-ups are how the PS3 will come back from the brink, its CEO says.

The discounting of its PlayStation 3 by $100 and the introduction of a cheaper model has caused sales in the US to double, CEO Sir Howard Stringer told the Associated Press on Wednesday.

While not breaking down the consoles by type, Sony sold some 100,000 units total for the week ending November 11. Previously it had only sold about 30,000 to 40,000 every week.

Sales jumped to 75,000 during the week ending October 29, about a week and a half after the price cuts were announced. The cheaper PS3 debuted on November 2, which gave an additional bump to sales.

Like in the battle with HD DVD, Sony's products have been held back by high prices. At $499, the console was $100 more expensive than the premium Xbox 360, and twice the price of the Wii.

However with the cheaper model, the PS3 is now more competitive, and the race for video game supremacy can now be decided more on a console's merits rather than its pricetag.

Being cheap and successful may actually be the downfall of one of this market's participants. A full year after it released the Wii, Nintendo is still struggling to manufacture enough consoles. Earlier in the fall, it warned of shortages throughout the holidays.

This problem opens up an opportunity for its competitors to woo customers away, as they become frustrated over the Wii's generally poor retail availability. Stringer said he will make sure his company takes advantage of Nintendo's issues.

As of October, Microsoft led all with 11.6 million consoles shipped. Second was Nintendo with 9.3 million units. Third and final spot went to Sony, which has sold five million consoles.