Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) has issued a statement in response to March NPD figures, observing 98 per cent year-on-year increase in PlayStation 3 sales.
NPD figures released yesterday revealed that the PS3 sold 257,000 units for the month of March 2008; edged out slightly by the Xbox 360, which shifted 262,000 units during the same period.
Speaking in a statement issued today, Jack Tretton, CEO of SCEA, commented: "Our sales momentum continues to defy what is traditionally a sluggish sales month. PS3 continued the strong momentum with a year-over-year sales growth of over 98 percent.”
"…PSP expanded the portable market with more than 297,011 in hardware sales this month, driven by the monster releases of the two best-selling handheld games in March, God of War: Chains of Olympus and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. This further proves the trend that 2008 is the year for PlayStation."
PlayStation hardware revenues reached USD 186 million for March, amounting to a year-on-year increase of 23 per cent, with PlayStation brand software revenue for the month up 25 per cent to USD 304.7 million, said the company.
Furthermore, the platform holder revealed it had sold 1.9 million units of software across all three PlayStation platforms during March, which yielded a year-on-year increase of 139 per cent.
Sony also said that PlayStation Network registrations in North America to date have reached 3.7 million, with 67 million pieces of content downloaded since its inception in November 2006.