Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Sony Corp., the world's largest maker of video game consoles, will discontinue the sale of its priciest PlayStation 3 players in Japan this month after the introduction of a cheaper model helped the company gain market share.

Sony will stop selling the 44,980 yen ($410) console that's equipped with a 20 gigabyte hard-disk drive and the 60-gigabyte model that sells for 54,980 yen, the Tokyo-based company said in a faxed statement today.

The decision leaves Sony with the 39,800 yen PS3s, whose introduction in October helped PS3 sales in November trump those of Nintendo Co.'s Wii for the first time in Japan. The company said last week it sold 1.2 million PS3s during the year-end shopping season, more than twice the number researcher NPD Group Inc. estimates Sony sold in November.

``This is a good strategy,'' Michael On, who oversees $100 million as managing director at Beyond Asset Management Co., said in Taipei. ``The move can help Sony focus and cut inventory and management costs.''

Still, Nintendo regained the lead in Japan last month by selling 774,123 Wii players from Nov. 26 to Dec. 30, more than triple the 232,421 PlayStation 3s sold, Tokyo-based research firm Enterbrain Inc. said on Jan. 7. Microsoft Corp. sold 38,994 Xbox 360 machines in the country, according to Enterbrain.

Unprofitable Division

Sony's games division has lost money for seven consecutive quarters because of costs to develop the PlayStation 3 and sales that trailed Nintendo's Wii and Microsoft's Xbox 360 in countries such as the U.S. The company has forecast the division will post a 50 billion yen operating loss in the year ending March 31 before breaking even in the next fiscal year.

Chief Financial Officer Nobuyuki Oneda said Oct. 25 that Sony may miss its target to sell 11 million of the consoles this fiscal year.

Sony's stock fell 1 percent to close at 6,130 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The shares have dropped 1 percent this year after climbing 22 percent in 2007.

To contact the reporters on this story: Hiroshi Suzuki in Tokyo at Hsuzuki5@bloomberg.net; Chinmei Sung in Taipei at csung4@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 10, 2008 03:23 EST