PS3 shipments total two million

Culver City (CA) - Despite a dismal launch, Sony has announced that global shipments of the PS3 have reached two million, smashing the early shipment records set by the PS2 and closing in on the Wii gap.

At its CES press conference just last week, Sony announced a units shipped figure of one million in the US. Japan has now caught up, with PS3 shipments there accounting for about half of the new two million shipments worldwide milestone.

Of course, the number of consoles shipped does not equal the amount sold to consumers. PS3 boxes continue to dominate store shelves while consumers look at them but decide not to shell out $600 for the premium console.

Although Sony still maintains that it will meet the original expectation of six million units shipped by the end of March, at the close of Sony’s fiscal year, Forbes is reporting that Japanese firm Nomura Securities expected that number to be unrealistic, due to sluggish North American sales. Nomura says a more realistic estimate is to only have 4.5 million consoles shipped by April.