EA predicts PS3 shortages for North America

Electronic Arts CFO Warren Jenson has warned that PlayStation 3 units will be hard to get hold of in the US this Christmas following the console's launch on November 17.

In a conference call Jenson said, "We're thinking that with PlayStation 3 in North America, the [shipment] range is probably 500,000 to 800,000." Sony has previously stated it plans to ship 2 million consoles to the US and Japan by the end of the year.

Jenson observed that the middle of EA's predicted range is "approximately what Microsoft sold last year on the Xbox 360" - adding, "I think from a consumer standpoint, itâs probably going to be as challenging to find a PlayStation 3 this year as it was to find an Xbox 360 last year."

EA also predicted that between 900,000 and 1.4 million Nintendo Wii units will have shipped in North America by the end of 2006. The publishing giant put the figure for Europe at between 200,000 and 900,000 units.