The SingStar franchise has sold 12 million units across the PAL territories to date, 5 million of which were sold in 2007. This is the latest word from Sony, who also announced that one million tracks were downloaded across the PAL region from the SingStore within its first four months of trading.

The first SingStar title was released on the PS2 in 2004 and saw the PlayStation brand widening to include non-traditional gamers. The franchise broke on to the next-gen PS3 platform in December 2007, offering SingStar fans the chance to download extra content from the SingStore and share recorded performances via My SingStar Online.

My SingStar Online now boasts 140 000 registered users. Together with visitors to the game’s official website, these users have shared over 20 000 videos of their SingStar performances which have been viewed over 2.5 million times.

Sony also pointed out that SingStar PS3 had earned three Guinness World Records including Most Successful Singing Game, First Customisable Track in a Singing Game and First Music Game to Let Players Record Their Performances and Share Them Online.

SingStar fans can indulge themselves in various SingStar titles spanning different musical genres, decades and themes such as SingStar ‘80s, SingStar ‘90s, SingStar Rocks, SingStar R&B, SingStar Pop, SingStar Pop Hits, SingStar Legends, SingStar Party and SingStar Summer Party.

SingStar Volume 2 for the PS3 was also recently announced and will include tracks from top artists such as The Killers, Eminem, Kaiser Chiefs, Gorillaz as well as a new harmony duet mode and PSP Remote Play functionality.

Simple but entertaining

Mark Hardy, Director of Product Marketing of SCEE said “The term ‘social gaming’ is widely recognised in 2008 – however, it was relatively new when we launched the first SingStar title in 2004.”

“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” he continued.

“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,” commented Paulina Bozek, executive producer of SingStar.

“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 realisation of this and the experience is now more user-focused, personalised and interactive.”