GAMERS WITH a keen eye for a bargain have been snapping up the cut-price 60GB PS3 Value Pack in their droves – leaving the 40GB SKU with an 11 per cent cut of PS3 hardware sales.

ChartTrack revealed the enormous gulf between the two offerings to MCV this week as Sony’s plan to clear the channel of the 60GB model kicked off in spectacular fashion – resulting in a huge week-on-week rise in sales.

“PS3 went up by 178 per cent over the previous week, which puts it third in terms of overall hardware sold behind DS Lite and Wii,” said ChartTrack director Dorian Bloch. “It was PS3’s biggest week since weeks one and two in March.”

The result was a bumper week for retail, with the continued success of DS, stock troubles easing slightly on Wii hardware and the new ‘bargain’ PS3 bundle forcing gamers to open their wallets.

“As expected, everyone’s buying the 60GB PS3 as it is such a bargain – the split is about 89 per cent to 11 per cent in the 60GB console’s favour. If you look at the software chart it’s had an affect there too, people have started buying three main titles: Resistance, Heavenly Sword and Motorstorm.”

Gamestation head of product Anna Downing summed up the sales boost as she told MCV: “The recent PS3 price drop and introduction of the new 40GB SKU certainly brought about increased interest at store level. An increase in sales was highly evident during the first week of the new RRP.

“Being a specialist retailer, Gamestation enjoyed success on the 60GB SKU in particular, and would expect volumes to continue rising on the 40GB version over the coming weeks. The timing of the strategy has been perfect, with the new lower entry price coming in just as we approach gifting season.”

HMV senior accounts manager Jason Brooks also revelled in the sales bonanza.

“The sales increase has been pretty phenomenal, with the 60GB offer particularly appealing to our customer base,” he told MCV.

“A lot of our technically savvy customers will have been persuaded to buy now because of the additional functionality of the 60GB machine – demand has continued to be high. We believe demand for the 40GB version will increase significantly as we enter Christmas trading.”