Sony ships 3m PlayStation 2s in five months

A triumphant Sony this morning said it sold over three million PlayStation 2s into the Japanese market in the first five months following the console's 4 March debut.

That's four times the number of PlayStations Sony sold in the same timespan, the company crowed.

Sony initially said it would sell one million PlayStation 2s in Japan in the first month, with five million more being sold through the rest of 2000 and the first two months of 2001. Today's figure suggest the company is well on to beating that target - particularly since it has the Christmas sales period yet to come.

And some 30 per cent of sales to date have been to users who don't already own a PlayStation, Sony said. A good proportion of those buyers are likely to be customers who passed on Sega's Dreamcast specifically to wait for the new Sony machine.

Sony also said it has sold 270,000 PSone consoles, the compact version of the original PlayStation launched just under a month ago. The PSone will be released in the US next month, to be followed by the PlayStation 2 launch on 26 October. The console will debut in Europe on the same date. ®