PS3 Shipments Hit 2 Million Worldwide

According to officials from Sony Japan, total hardware shipments for the PlayStation 3 console have now reached 2 million units worldwide, with news of a total of 1 million consoles shipped in Japan. The official announcement confirms that Sony missed its target of 2 million units shipped before the end of the last year, but nevertheless, the company claims that the console has been the fastest ever to reach the 2 million unit milestone. According to a Kyodo News report translating the comments, Sony still intends to meet its target of six million units shipped by the end of March – which will encompass the European launch of the console by current plans. At the same time, Sony indicated that software sales in Japan and the U.S. had exceeded 5 million units by the end of 2006. Meanwhile, the number of registered users for the console’s online features reached 500,000 worldwide according to the company – representing a 25 percent adoption rate for the free online service. The number of downloads for free game Gran Turismo HD Concept in Japan were put at 300,000 in just twenty days. Sony’s announcement comes after a report yesterday by analyst group Nomura Securities which suggested that the company had achieved only 75 percent of its fiscal years sales target, following lower-than-expected results in the U.S. The group cut its own estimates for PlayStation 3 sales by the end of March from 6 million to 4.5 million.