Sony Europe opening weekend numbers

[Thorin]

Okay, I'm sure most of you have heard that Sony sold 165,000 units on its opening weekend in Europe...  So far I've read ten articles and they're all quoting the same source (either directly or they're quoting another source that when you check it quotes the first source), so there really only appears to be one single statement being disseminated through the media.

Then I blundered onto this site, where the author attempts to debunk the (in his eyes) mythical sales numbers.  On the one hand, he does have lots of photos of dead launch parties and high stock numbers and stories of people discussing the purchase and deciding against it, on the other hand, if enough websites report the (single-sourced) sales numbers aren't they true? 

[Lazybones]

The Europe launch includes a much larger population than the North American launch. I have read that Australia was also included in the Europe launch numbers because it was at the same time.

[Mr. Analog]

Some of those pictures were classic, especially the France ghost town / launch.

[Thorin]

In the comments of an ArsTechnica article:

Sony's European launch numbers are record-breaking. But ultimately, that fact is meaningless, because all previous launches were supply-constrained. PS3 is, as always, demand constrained; people simply do not want it very much. They aren't willing to pay $500-600 (or more, depending on locale) in substantial numbers.

Sony's Euro launch is good for them. But it is not some kind of corner-turning event that shows that PS3 is on the come-back trail. It isn't a non-event, but it isn't a sign of a resurgence either.

Sony's problem is that it will take them upwards of 4 months to sell another 600,000 in Europe.

That's a good point, the North American PS3 launch, the North American Xbox360 launch, and the worldwide Wii launch were all supply-constrained.  One could argue that the Japanese Xbox360 was demand-constrained, but lately console launches seem to cause sellouts as the manufacturers don't keep up with production...

An interesting statement by another commenter on ArsTechnica - if you want to buy a PS3 in Europe (or North America) you can find one in-store; if you want to buy a Wii, good luck, even though more than twice as many Wiis have been manufactured.