PS3 Demand Remains Strong, Wii Sales 'Have Picked Up Nicely,' says Analyst

Sony recently announced that sales of its new PS3 slim model have reached 1 million units worldwide. In the U.S. SCEA has noted that sales picked up 300% at its top retail partners since the price was lowered to $299. SCEA boss Jack Tretton even acknowledged that shortages are "conceivable."

According to the latest channel checks from Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia, the momentum for Sony hasn't slowed much as we head towards the all-important holiday period. "We believe PS3 hardware sales continue to be strong following the late August/early September price cut of $100. ...PS3 hardware sales for September could be up as much as 75% year-over-year," he said. "Our checks show strong demand continues. Equally important, availability (supply) also appears to be solid with 100% of the stores we checked indicating availability and in most cases, pretty good availability. We note Sony had indicated potential for shortages in the PS3 earlier. We believe if current strength continues, we could see shortages by Christmas."

As for the Nintendo price cut on Wii to $199, although it's still pretty early in the game, Bhatia said he's already noticed a sales bump. He doesn't expect Wii to benefit as much as PS3 has from its price reduction, however. "Not surprisingly, Wii Hardware sales have picked up nicely since the price cut. Although it’s only been a couple of days since the $50 price cut on Wii went into effect on Sunday, September 27th, the early feedback suggests a nice pickup in sales. That said, we don’t anticipate Wii hardware sales picking up à la the PS3," he said.

EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich previously told us that he expects weekly Wii sales in October to be up around 40 percent.