Euro PS3 launch causing stock issues in US, says Sony

Following the publication of NPD figures which show a small rise in PlayStation 3 sales, SCEA has said the European launch of the console has constrained supplies in North America.

A statement issued by the company this morning notes that PS3 sales were by up by 2 per cent last month to reach 129,638 units.

However, SCEA added, "We continued to find ourselves supply constrained in March due primarily to the shift in manufacturing focus to the PS3 PAL version to support the launch of the system in Europe."

The NPD figures state 199,000 Xbox 360 consoles were sold during March, while Wii came out on top with 259,000 units - despite continuing stock shortages.

But PS3 was the only next-gen console to see sales rise over the course of the month, SCEA said, with Xbox 360 and Wii sales down by 12 per cent and 22 per cent respectively.

PlayStation 2 is still outselling all of the next-gen machines with just under 280,000 units sold. However, 508,000 Nintendo DS units were shifted in the same period, making it the best selling hardware overall.

Sales of rival handheld PSP rose also by 2 per cent during March to reach just under 180,000 units. The price of the Core system was reduced to USD 169 earlier this month and according to SCEA, the response from consumers and retailers has been "very positive".

"March 2007 showed a 24 per cent increase in retail dollars generated year-over-year for the PlayStation brand in North America with total sales of USD 447 million, due in part to the addition of the PS3 platform as well as the strong launch performance of God of War II for PS2 at retail," the company's statement reads.

"On the software front, we were pleased to see sales increases from February for both the PSP and PS2. PS2 software showed a 29 per cent increase with the launch of God of War II and PSP software demonstrated a 13 per cent jump."