Wii Leads In Sales Despite PS3 Price Cut

November 15, 2007 11:46 p.m. EST

New York, NY (AHN) - Nintendo's popular Wii gaming console has re-conquered the sales records in the United States for October, despite the recent price cut that rival Sony announced for its PlayStation 3.

Wii sales increased by 36 percent from its September record, with U.S. retailers selling about 519,000 units, putting it back on top. October sales revealed that the PlayStation 3 sold 121,000 units, even after hacking off $100 from its 80GB model, and releasing the cheaper 40GB PS3.

Records from the previous month showed that Nintendo was beat out by the release of the popular game "Halo 3", giving the Microsoft Xbox 360 console a significant increase in its sales, which totaled 528,000. October records showed the Xbox to have sold 366,000 units.

The increase in Wii's sales is being identified as the result of an increase in its production for the Christmas season, according to Bloomberg.

"There remains a tremendous amount of pent-up demand for Wii," noted Evan Wilson, an analyst for the Pacific Crest Securities. "If Nintendo had shipped 600,000 to U.S. retailers, they would have posted that number."

George Harrison, the marketing chief of Nintendo, is also thankful for the rush of early Christmas shoppers.

In an interview, Harrison revealed that in order to keep the momentum going in terms of the increase in sales, the first step is "to try to get as much hardware into the market as possible."

"We're still expecting some shortages in December. But we're not going to be pilling back on our marketing. So even though we'll be selling everything we can get, we'll continue full-blast with our outreach through PR, and through paid advertising and other things," Harrison explained.