PS5 sales reach a new milestone, but it's still behind the PS4
Sony's PlayStation 5 console continues to fly off the shelves
Sony has announced that PS5 sales have surpassed 50 million units, just three years after the console launched in November 2020.
In a press release on Business Wire, departing president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment Jim Ryan said: “Achieving this PS5 sales milestone is a testament to the unwavering support of the global PlayStation community and their passion for the incredible experiences created by the talented developers from PlayStation Studios and our partners.
“We’re grateful for all of our players who have joined the PS5 journey so far, and we’re thrilled that this is the first holiday season since launch that we have a full supply of PS5 consoles – so anyone who wants to get one can get one.”
November 2023 was also the biggest month for PlayStation in terms of consoles sold to consumers, with many purchasing the new PS5 Slim during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: PS5 sales hit 50 million
📈 Sony has sold over 50 million PS5 consoles
🤏 It’s tracking just behind the PS4, which is still in the lead
💰 PlayStation had its best-ever November in the company’s history
🥅 Sony is aiming to sell 25 million PS5s this financial year
The refreshed model is 30% smaller in total volume, includes 1TB of storage and is available with a game included for $499.99 – a saving of $60. It coincided with some tentpole releases for Sony, including Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Alan Wake 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
Despite reaching 50 million sales, the PS5 is still behind the PS4 in life-to-date sales, but not by much. It achieved the milestone on December 9, 2023, which means it’s just one week behind the PS4 in terms of keeping pace.
That’s an impressive feat considering the PS5 was plagued with supply issues during the pandemic, and similar stock problems have occurred with the PlayStation Portal restock and PlayStation Earbuds.
Things haven’t been completely smooth sailing for Sony, though. Naughty Dog announced it had canceled its The Last of Us multiplayer game after years of work, Insomniac Games suffered a severe data breach, and layoffs hit its recently acquired studio, Bungie.
Sony may be seeing success on the hardware front, then, but the health of its revered studios isn’t exactly rosy right now. It also still needs to justify the recent PS Plus price hike in the eyes of some subscribers. Sony introduced Sony Pictures Core and PS5 cloud streaming from the console, but the recent free PS Plus games haven’t been the best.
Still, it’s good news overall for Sony, and it seems only a matter of time before the PS5 eclipses the PS4 sales, especially if a PS5 Pro is released in November next year and a price cut follows.