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Sony expects to sell 15 million PS3s in a year

Sony Computer Entertainment chief Kazuo Hirai thinks Sony will sell 15 million PlayStation 3 units around the world by the end of its fiscal year in March.

Don Reisinger
CNET contributor Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications.
Don Reisinger
Sony

Sony expects to sell 15 million PlayStation 3 game consoles--as it previously estimated--in its fiscal year ending March 31.

Sony Computer Entertainment Chief Kaz Hirai made the statement in Japan today, according to Reuters. During its last fiscal year, Sony sold 13 million PlayStation 3 units.

As strong as those worldwide sales figures may seem, Sony is still having trouble keeping up with the competition in the United States.

Market researcher NPD reported that Microsoft's Xbox 360 console had bested the Nintendo Wii and Sony's PlayStation 3 in sales during November. Microsoft reported that it sold 1.37 million Xbox 360 units that month, while Nintendo sold 1.2 million Wii units. Sony didn't divulge an exact sales figure, but trailed both companies.

However, Sony did tout its strong PlayStation Move motion-gaming peripheral's sales through the end of November recently, saying that it shipped 4.1 million units to retailers since the devices launch in September. Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter believes Sony will actually sell about 3 million Move units to consumers by the end of the year. However, those sales figures will be easily bested by Microsoft's Kinect, which Pachter believes, will see 5 million unit sales by the end of 2010.