Sony Ships 50 Million PlayStation 3 Consoles

Posted 04/18/2011 at 9:13am | by Paul Lilly

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Sony says that worldwide sales of its PlayStation 3 consoles reached a milestone of 50 million units as of March 29, 2011. In addition, sales of Sony's PlayStation Move surpassed 8 million units worldwide as of April 3, 2011, the console maker announced. Both are impressive numbers, though it's worth noting that even though Sony calls them "sales," these are really shipment numbers to retailers, not necessarily to end-consumers.

For the sake of comparison, Microsoft's Steve Ballmer announced at CES in January that his company's Xbox 360 console had just sold 50 million units as of December 2010, while Nintendo's Wii console now boasts 86 million units worldwide. Microsoft also recently announced its Kinect device set a Guinness World Record for the fastest-selling consumer electronics device when it sold 8 million units in its first 60 days of availability (that number has since increased to 10 million units).

Even without the number comparisons, the console wars have been heating up as of late. Nintendo recently released its 3DS handheld console and there are rumors of a Wii 2 coming out this summer. Sony, meanwhile, had some strong words for Nintendo last week, saying the console maker makes "babysitting tools" and that "no self-respecting twenty-something is going to be sitting on an airplane with" a Nintendo device.