460,000 PlayStation 3s now in Aussie homes

* By James Kozanecki, GameSpot AU
* Posted Feb 4, 2009 9:04 pm PT

2008 marks a big year in sales for Sony's flagship console; 47 per cent SingStar sale increase.

Over the past few weeks, both Nintendo and Microsoft have disclosed their Australian hardware sales figures for 2008, with Sony the only one who has kept quiet. Sony Computer Entertainment Australia's silence has finally broken, with figures released today showing the company sold 213,000 PlayStation 3's last year, with a total down under install-base now of 460,000 units, according to industry trackers GfK Australia.

Not all of the 460,000 PS3s were sold, however, with the total install-base figure including 70,000 PS3s that Sony gave away during its Bravia LCD promotion.

In comparison, Sony's two rivals--Microsoft and Nintendo--have sold over 537,000 and one million units of their next-gen consoles down under, respectively.

While PS3 wasn't the victor in hardware sales, the three current PlayStation platforms (PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable) managed to have an impressive year in software sales. In total, 42 per cent of all software sold during 2008 was on one of the three PS consoles.

In a press release, Michael Ephraim, managing director of SCE Australia & New Zealand, said that almost 50 per cent of Aussie PS3 owners have embraced the console's online functionality. Interestingly, this number is lower than Aussie Xbox Live adoption amongst 360 owners, which Microsoft claim to be over 50 per cent.

Consistent with last year’s boom in the "family games" category, the SingStar franchise saw a 47 per cent increase in sales, with the latest game in the franchise--SingStar ABBA--selling 92,000 units in the six weeks leading up to Christmas across the PS2 and PS3.

While the focus of today's announcement was primarily on the PS3, Sony also updated its figures for the PS2 and PSP. Over its nine years of sales, the PS2 still holds strong to its title of best-selling console down under, boasting 2.4 million consoles in Australian households. The PSP, on the other hand, has sold just over half a million.