Sony prez: We'll hit the 11 million PS3 target by March 2008

Confident despite poor 4.7 million units sold to date

21 September 2007 11:01 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Sony Computer Entertainment president Kazuo Hirai has said he that he believes the company will achieve its predicted sales target of selling 11 million units of the PS3 in the fiscal year ending next March.

But, according to figures from VG Chartz, "the most comprehensive videgames charts in the world", that combines sales stats from Japan, America and other territories across the globe, the PS3 has only managed to hit sales of 4.64 million units to date.

It seems hard to believe that the PS3's current "sluggish" performance will ensure that target is reached - without that substantial, much-rumoured price cut.

News earlier this week strongly suggested that Sony is prepping a 40GB entry-level PS3 that would go on sale in the States for around $400, and in the UK for around £300.

Although Hirai appeared to rule out a price cut in his key-note speech at the Tokyo Games Show, he did concede that a future price reduction was "possible".

A new cheaper unit would get Sony back in the next-gen console race, and Hirai's bullish confidence in the face of so-far poor sales figures might go some way to confirm the existence of this new model.