Sony's PlayStation 5 has reached 50 million sales, according to a Sony executive, three years after its initial release.
It mirrors the performance of the Sony PS4, which came out in 2013 and hit 50 million sales in December 2016. This is despite significant supply issues that hampered the PlayStation 5 until 2023.
PlayStation 5 figures have been buoyed in recent months by box-shifting sales during the Black Friday period. The console dropped from £469 to £389 in the UK, while the cheapest deals online were around £360.
“Given the momentum we've had in November and a lot of what we're seeing in December, just in general we're feeling very good about sales overall,” said Eric Lempel, a senior vice president at Sony Interactive Entertainment, according to Reuters.
The PlayStation 5 is also expected to reach 25 million sales in this financial year alone, which runs from April 2023 to March 31, 2024.
Sony PlayStation 5 vs Xbox Series X sales
It’s an impressive number and one Microsoft’s Xbox Series X is not close to matching, according to data from market research company Ampere Analytics.
It estimates Xbox Series X and S annual sales at 7.6 million, a drop of 15 per cent year on year. The picture is even worse in Europe, according to reporting by GamesIndustry.biz from back in November that suggests sales are down by as much as 52 per cent.
Microsoft has attempted to recreate the Black Friday frenzy of the PS5 with a recent Christmas discount. The cost of an Xbox Series X was slashed by up to £120 at some online retailers.
Of course, Microsoft has never matched Sony for sales, even in the PlayStation 3 versus Xbox 360 generation. In that era, Microsoft played a blinder and Sony thoroughly messed up the first years of its console.
Here’s a quick rundown of the Xbox versus PlayStation sales war:
Microsoft Xbox (2001-2005): 24 million
Sony PlayStation 2 (2000-2013): 158 million
Microsoft Xbox 360 (2005-2016): 85 million
Sony PlayStation 3 (2006-2017): 87 million
Microsoft Xbox One (2013-2022): 58 million
Sony PlayStation 4 (2013-): 117 million
Microsoft Xbox Series (2020-): 21 million (estimated)
Sony PlayStation 5 (2020-): 50 million
