I decided to do some research into PS1 sales and I've found some surprising results:
The PS1 launched in Dec 1994 in japan
It took 6 months to sell a million there
The PS1 launched in Sept 1995 in NA
within two days it sold over 100 000 units
The PS1 launched in Sept 1995 in europe
It sold 350 000 units by Christmas 1995
It took 7 months to ship 700 000 units to Europe (march 1996)
May 1996
SCEE bring down the price of PlayStation in Europe from £299 to £199
USA: Price drops to $199 US Dollars
June 1996
Japan: Price drops under 20 000 Yen. (SCPH-500) on sales (including 1 controller/SRP 19 800 Yen)
It took 21 months for the PS1 to ship 7.2million units (August 1996)
Japan 3.5 million
North America 2.1 million
Europe 1.6 million
So only 3.7 million units were shipped to NA and europe in 11 months.
It took 27 months for the PS1 to ship 12 million units (Feb 1997)
Japan 5.6 million units
North America 3.8 million units
Europe 2.6 million units
March 1997
SCEE bring down the price of PlayStation from £199 to £129
USA: PlayStation Game Console to retail for $149 and PlayStation software to be targeted at a MSRP of $49.99 or less
There's more here http://www.absolute-playstation.com/api_faqs/faq20.htm
and since these numbers were kinda surprising, I found a couple other sources:
another source for 7.2million shipped number http://www.vidgames.com/ps/misc/1996.html
Here's a SCEE document with the same numbers www.scee.presscentre.com/imageLibrary/downloadMedia.asp?MediaDetailsID=9264
The PS1 didn't seem to really take off until it hit the $150 price tag and had a larger library.
The PS1 launched in Dec 1994 in japan
It took 6 months to sell a million there
The PS1 launched in Sept 1995 in NA
within two days it sold over 100 000 units
The PS1 launched in Sept 1995 in europe
It sold 350 000 units by Christmas 1995
It took 7 months to ship 700 000 units to Europe (march 1996)
May 1996
SCEE bring down the price of PlayStation in Europe from £299 to £199
USA: Price drops to $199 US Dollars
June 1996
Japan: Price drops under 20 000 Yen. (SCPH-500) on sales (including 1 controller/SRP 19 800 Yen)
It took 21 months for the PS1 to ship 7.2million units (August 1996)
Japan 3.5 million
North America 2.1 million
Europe 1.6 million
So only 3.7 million units were shipped to NA and europe in 11 months.
It took 27 months for the PS1 to ship 12 million units (Feb 1997)
Japan 5.6 million units
North America 3.8 million units
Europe 2.6 million units
March 1997
SCEE bring down the price of PlayStation from £199 to £129
USA: PlayStation Game Console to retail for $149 and PlayStation software to be targeted at a MSRP of $49.99 or less
There's more here http://www.absolute-playstation.com/api_faqs/faq20.htm
and since these numbers were kinda surprising, I found a couple other sources:
another source for 7.2million shipped number http://www.vidgames.com/ps/misc/1996.html
Here's a SCEE document with the same numbers www.scee.presscentre.com/imageLibrary/downloadMedia.asp?MediaDetailsID=9264
The PS1 didn't seem to really take off until it hit the $150 price tag and had a larger library.