The PlayStation 3 Strikes Back

Console price cut leads to near-tripling of sales in the UK.

Simple economics says that when you bring the price of something down, as long as the demand is there, more people will buy it, and that's been proven true by Sony as sales of the PlayStation 3 have jumped after a price cut on the console last week.

On 10 October Sony introduced the £299 40 GB PS3 and simultaneously dropped the price of the 60 GB model to £349. Almost immediately sales rose, by nearly 178 per cent according to figures from Chart reported by MCV.

The influx of new PS3 owners had an effect on game sales too, with three exclusive games - Heavenly Sword, MotorStorm and Resistance: Fall Of Man - storming back up the charts.

More PS3 were sold last week than at any time since two weeks after launch, MCV said. That's quite a turnaround for a console that a month ago had its worst sales week ever.

Exactly which of the two versions of the hardware is responsible for the biggest part of the sales rise is unclear and Sony did not comment on the matter.

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The 40 GB PS3 has come in for some criticism because it lacks any support for PlayStation 2 games, though software for the original PlayStation will still work.

The big question now for Sony is whether this the start of a new trend or whether it is a temporary blip.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo