After US, Sony ships 1 million PS3s in Japan

After achieving its goal of shipping 1 million PlayStation 3 (PS3) video game machines to U.S. in 2006, the Japanese game giant, Sony Corp. said shipments of the game consoles in Japan has also reached 1 million Tuesday, hitting the company's target about two weeks behind schedule.

The Tokyo-based Sony had originally planned to ship 2 million PS3 machines worldwide by the end of last year. Though, Sony has managed to reach the 2-million-unit shipment mark in nearly two months, but speculation is high on air that the company would fall far short of its 6 million global shipment target by March 2007.

On the other hand, in a press release Tuesday Sony's game unit, Sony Computer Entertainment dismissed such worries, noting that a global shipment of 2 million reached within a short span of time, the largest volume of shipments of any game console made by the company within two months of its launch.

Launched in Japan on November 11 and in North America on November 17, Sony’s new video console competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii to become the market leader in the $30 billion video game industry. The PlayStation 3 launch in the European market is scheduled for March.

Gaming unit’s announcement came a day after Nomura Securities Co. cut its PS3 shipment forecast by 25 percent to 4.5 million units from 6.0 million. Nomura said in a research report yesterday that weaker-than-expected sales in North America meant it now expected the company to reach only 75% of its global target for PlayStation 3 sales this fiscal year through March.

The firm also lowered its PS3 shipment forecast to 10 million units from 16 million for 2007-08 and to 11 million units from 18 million for 2008-09.

Hiroshi Kamide, an analyst from KBC Securities said its firm estimates Sony selling only slightly more than 3 million units of the PS3 by March as the console lacks of gaming software and costlier than its rival counterparts.

"The biggest factor is the high price," Kamide said. "It is hard to understand for users why they should pay that much for the product."

Sony's high-end PS3 retails for about $600 in the United States while Nintendo sells its lower-tech Wii for $250 and Microsoft’s premium Xbox 360 costs $400. Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 in 2005, while Nintendo, which makes Pokemon and Super Mario games, rolled out the Wii in the U.S. on November 19 and in Japan on December 2.

Like Sony, the world's biggest maker of video-game consoles, Nintendo is also targeting a shipment of 6 million Wii machines by the end of the fiscal year through March.

Meanwhile, Nanako Kato, a spokeswoman from Sony Computer Entertainment said though shipments had slipped behind schedule, but the company is still on schedule to ship 6 million PS3 machines globally by March 31.

Sony shares fell by 0.2 percent to close at $47 in Tokyo.