PS2 sales continue to rise in Europe

Although sales of the PlayStation 2 appear to have peaked on a worldwide basis, European sales continue to grow - with shipments of the PS2 in PAL territories growing by some 25 per cent in the first half of the year.

Sony has witnessed a drop in revenues from the Sony Computer Entertainment division as sales of the PS2 hardware slow down in Japan and North America, but Europe - admittedly running many months behind those territories in terms of the console's lifespan - is bucking this trend significantly.

In the first half of the financial year, the PS2 saw year on year sales growth of some 25 per cent across Europe - impressive growth which SCEE believes will be continued into the vital Christmas period.

"We are going into the peak selling period with great confidence," enthused SCEE president Chris Deering. "We have an outstanding range of games from our own studios and from third party publishers this Christmas, many of which are exclusive to PlayStation 2."

Deering went on to highlight the EyeToy - the second edition of which, EyeToy: Groove, is due to launch in time for Christmas - as an example of a product which has taken the market by storm, stating that it is "redefining in a very positive manner the way in which families perceive gaming."

This will also be the first Christmas for Sony's range of online-enabled titles, with games such as SCEE's own Hardware and EA's FIFA 2004 hoped to drive uptake of the PS2 Network Adapter peripheral.

Chart-Track's UK sales figures certainly bear out the company's assessment of a successful year to date. Regardless of the sound and fury emanating from Microsoft and Nintendo about their respective performances, Sony's venerable hardware has consistently outsold both the Xbox and the GameCube by a huge margin throughout the year - with the one notable exception being a single week in which unofficial price cuts to the Cube made it into the UK's best selling platform.