PlayStation 3 Sales Spiked in July

Newly released sales figures show Sony's struggling console made a strong kick for the finish line in July, but still finished on the heels of the Xbox 360.

With this summer’s announcement of both a PlayStation 3 price cut, sales figures for the month of July have been eagerly anticipated by analysts to gauge the success of Sony’s maneuvers. Market research firm NPD Group released those figures Thursday, indicating that Sony received a huge boost from its price cut – but not enough to trump the Xbox 360.

Sony ended up moving 159,000 PS3s in July, representing a 61 percent jump from its June sales of only 98,500 (and the June sales period even had an extra week as measured by NPD). However, the extra sales were not enough to oust the Xbox 360, which held strong with 170,000 sales in July, a dip from the 198,400 sold in June but still more than Sony’s PlayStation 3 sold.

Nintendo, meanwhile, remains king of the mountain by a significant margin. The company sold 425,000 Wii consoles, meaning the system outsold both of its nearest competitors combined. Even more impressive, sales of Nintendo’s older DS handheld remain incredibly strong, with 405,000 picked off store shelves in July.