Sony shifts 6.5m PlayStation consoles over Christmas

In excess of 6.5m PlayStation consoles were sold worldwide in the period between November 18th to December 31st, Sony has estimated.

Of those sales the new PlayStation Vita contributed half a million units following its Japanese launch on December 17th.

Sony added that over 70 Vita games are currently in development for the Japanese market.

Sales of PS3 in the period exceeded 3.9m systems, which Sony says means the console is still on track to reach its 15m unit sale target by the end of Sony’s fiscal year on March 31st.

The PlayStation Move controller shifted a further 1.7m units over Christmas, with the promise of more dedicated and supported titles on the way for the peripheral through 2012.

There’s life left in PSP, too, which shifted 1.6m units, with both the PSP-3000 and the new budget PSP-E1000 continuing to deliver.

Let’s not forget PS2, either. Sony says that the aged console continues to enjoy robust sales”, particularly in emerging markets. In total PS2 sold over 0.5m machines throughout the period.

SCE will continue to deploy various measures to further expand the PlayStation business with strong support from users as well as 3rd party developers and publishers, and will vigorously enhance the world of computer entertainment system that is possible only on the PlayStation platforms,” the company added.