According to Sony, the first party karaoke franchise sold five million units alone during financial year 2007, while one million tracks were downloaded from the online store, SingStore, during its first four months in operation.
My SingStar Online, a social networking arena where fans can share their recorded game performances with the SingStar community, has also attracted 140,000 registered users who have shared over 20,000 videos of their performances.
“The term ‘social gaming’ is widely recognized in 2008 – however, it was relatively new when we launched the first SingStar title in 2004,” said Mark Hardy, SCEE’s director of product marketing.
“That game entered the charts at number one in many countries, allowing us to pioneer the social gaming category and a new market of consumers who might not have bought games before. We really are teaching the world to sing with SingStar – and business for 2008 is looking excellent.”
SingStar’s executive producer Paulina Bozek added, “SingStar’s success is built upon simple and entertaining game play. Historically we have added new music tracks to keep the experience fresh but the arrival of PS3 has allowed us to think differently. We can now take advantage of the next-generation features to take the next step forward in the SingStar experience. The launch of SingStore and My SingStar Online is the realization of this and the experience is now more user-focused, personalized and interactive.”
SingStar for PS3 is slated for US release on May 20.