PS3 sales reported to climb 1000%, but compared to what?

The Net is alight over the recent sales figures for Sony's ailing Playstation 3 device. Reportedly, the introduction caused a 1000% increase in sales week on week. Wow, that sure sounds like an incredible feat! But upon closer inspection...

These figures come from UK market watcher Chart Track which is generally known to be fairly accurate with its numbers. They also have some other interesting data to share, that tell a different, less impressive story.

First off, the PS3 outsold its competition 3 to 1, which is definitely a good score, but this already brings things into perspective. Let's say, for example, that the DS, Wii and Xbox 360 sold ten thousand units combined. That means that the PS3 sold 30k, right? Now lets 'reverse engineer' that number. Yep, you're seeing it now aren't you: in our example, Sony sold a only 3000 Playstations the week before.

And there's more. Software sales increased 17%. What? Only 17%? Are you kidding me? With sales numbers like that, only a fraction more software was sold? In the most rosy explanation of that, it would mean that 83% of all PS3s sold, were sold without any game at all! It looks to me that existing owners were tired of the black, bulky behemoth under their slick flatscreen TV, and replaced it with the PS3 Slim.

In this light, Sony's 1000% increase in sales looks fairly modest, and more in line with what one would expect from a launch of a new model from the same device. The hype will pass in a couple of weeks, and when the dust settles, the sales of the PS3 will fall behind the competition again. In the mean time I recommend anyone who is looking to pick up a PS3 on the cheap to watch Ebay for a coming flood of old fashioned PS3s.

*edit* corrected original sales number comparison