• Financial Times, Wednesday, December 13, 2006 11:04 AM

Due to a worse-than-expected supply problem, Sony sold less than half the PlayStation 3 units it projected in its first month of U.S. sales, according to NPD Group. The research group says Sony sold 197,000 units in its first month, when it expected to surpass $400,000.

Conversely, the Nintendo Wii outsold the PS3 by more than 2-1 during the same time period, selling 476,000 total units in November. Understandably, Nintendo is gloating about this, although Sony has struggled to manufacture the more powerful and more expensive PS3.

Software sales have been somewhat weaker than video-game publishers expected. NPD says this is partly due to the number of units that wind up on eBay, where supply shortages have led to sales well in excess of the price tags for the PS3 and the Wii, at $600 and $250, respectively. Jacked up prices have led to a low ratio of one game per PS3 and two for the Wii, rather than the three and four that was expected.

Sony suffered manufacturing setbacks with the Blu-ray player incorporated into its console, but analysts now expect production to make between $600,000 and $800,000 units available in the U.S. by the end of the year.

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