Enterbrain Prez Expects PS3 Surge From Final Fantasy XIII

Key Final Fantasy XIII persons share a toast at the premiere party last week.

With the release of its anticipated ¥29,800 slimline model, PlayStation 3 saw its biggest week ever last week to the tune of over 150,000 units sold. But that could be just a taste of what's to come later this year.

Hirokazu Hamamura, president of Famitsu publisher Enterbrain, said today in a speech with the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan that he expects the PS3 to sell around 500,000 units over the year end sales period. He expects the surge to come both due to the popularity of Final Fantasy XIII, which is due out on December 17, and due to the system's lower price.

As reported at Bloomberg Japan, a 500,000 surge would represent 15% of the PS3's current 3.28 million units.

Joining the FFXIII release on December 17, Sony will be releasing a special hardware bundle combining the new PS3 with the game. Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Kaz Hirai announced this himself at Square Enix's Final Fantasy XIII Premiere Party last week.

Separate from Hamamura's comments, the latest sales analysis report that accompanies Media Create's weekly sales charts mentions the possibility of the PS3 reaching the 4.5 million mark by the end of the calendar year and 5 million mark by the end of the fiscal year. Media Create suggests that in addition to FFXIII, demand for Blu-ray players could help out the system.