PS3 Outsells Wii in Japan

In a sign of what may be to come for the United States, the Sony PlayStation 3 has finally outsold Nintendo's cheaper rival unit in the native country of both companies.

Sony’s PlayStation 3 may still be playing catch-up to the Nintendo Wii in the United States where a recent price job resulted in a sudden boost of sales, but in Japan the shift has already happened. The PlayStation 3 outsold the Wii by a significant margin in November.

According to an industry survey cited in the Wall Street Journal, Sony seized the lead quite decisively in the four-week period ending Nov. 25. While the Wii still managed to sell an impressive 159,193 units, the PlayStation 3 outsold it by 15 percent with 183,217 units.

The sudden jump in sales was preceded by price cuts on the machine. In October, Sony cut the prices of existing PS3s to ¥44,980 and ¥54,980 for the 20GB and 60GB versions, respectively. On Nov. 11, Sony introduced its new, cheaper 40B PS3 in Japan for ¥39,980.