NPD: PS3 hardware sales skyrocket after price cut

The NPD Group has released its sales figures for the month of September 2009, revealing a dramatic surge in sales of Sony's PlayStation 3 following the introduction of a new hardware model and subsequent price reduction.

According to the NPD, the PlayStation 3 sold approximately 491,800 units during the September tracking period of August 30 through October 3, 2009, more than doubling units sold during the previous month and in the same period last year.

"This portrays a very strong consumer reaction to the price decrease as August and September both realised a lift of more than 70 per cent over the prior month," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier. "This is the first month that the PS3 has captured the top spot in console hardware sales."

According to Frazier, the PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360 saw a unit sales increase of 87, 33 and 31 per cent, respectively, when sales were averaged on a per-week basis. Note that sales were averaged by the week because September data covered five weeks, compared to August's four, making monthly comparisons inadequate.

In terms of revenue, videogame hardware generated USD 499.96 million, down six per cent from USD 472.28 million in the same period last year. August 2009 hardware revenue, by comparison, was down 25 per cent from that of August 2008.

The full hardware chart follows.

• Nintendo DS - 524,200
• PlayStation 3 - 491,800
• Nintendo Wii - 462,800
• Xbox 360 - 352,600
• PlayStation Portable - 190,400
• PlayStation 2 - 146,000