North American PS3 launch will eclipse 360's, says SCEA

News of the PS3 delay may have left European gamers and retailers disappointed, but SCEA has been quick to highlight the advantages for the North American market.

SCEI president Ken Kutaragi yesterday announced that the US will be allocated 400,000 PS3 units for day one of launch.

Speaking to IGN, Sony spokesperson Dave Karraker said, "The North American number is just below what we had available at launch for PS2 and is higher than what Microsoft had for Xbox 360.

"More importantly, in my mind, is that we will have 1 to 1.2 million units available by December 31 in North America," he continued.

"This is more than double what Xbox 360 sold through during the same period (TRST data) and should assure there aren't significant stock dips at retail."

However, Microsoft did manage to pull off a global launch - and sold around 500,000 Xbox 360 units in Europe during the same period.

According to NPD figures, more than 320,000 Xbox 360 units were sold in North America within two weeks of launch - and hardware shortages followed across the region.