As part of its quarterly earnings announcement today, Sony revealed that it has now sold over 83 million PlayStation 4 video game consoles. So it will soon surpass the lifetime sales total for its predecessor, the PS3.
And by “soon,” I mean this quarter: Despite warning earlier this year that PlayStation 4 sales had peaked, Sony somehow managed to sell 3.2 million PS4 consoles in the most recent quarter, almost neck-and-neck with the 3.3 million it sold in the year-ago quarter.
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This is interesting on a number of levels. But the most obvious is the relative time frames. It took the PS3 exactly 7 years to hit 80 million units (with the remaining 4 million dribbling in over the next four years until the console was discontinued). But Sony needed just over 4 years to hit the same level of sales.
While the PS4 will never attain the level of success enjoyed by the PS2, which sold an incredible 155 million units, it will clearly win this console generation and by a wide margin. (The original PlayStation sold over 100 million units too.)
And there are other signs of success here. Gamers purchased over 40 million PS4 games in the prior quarter alone. There are about 34 million PlayStation Plus subscribers. Digital games sales, which are more profitable, are up. And the division of Sony responsible for PlayStation just turned a $750 million profit, helping to offset the $250 million that the firm’s smartphone division lost in the quarter.
Game on.
My Hell baby speaking
<blockquote><em><a href="#297749">In reply to jrickel96:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Concerning the attachment rate: We all know that Microsoft stopped publishing numbers of shoved console units when it continued going downhill for them and started some arithmetical magic show with 'attachment rate' (in Jim Sterling's 'Triple A industry' voice). You seem to take the same boat, however when I look at review numbers of multiplatform AAA titles (and not much else is left on Xbox to play) on Amazon.com (that Amazon in the Xbox heartland) the relation of review numbers on Xbox One in comparison to those on PS4 are desastrous.</p><p><br></p><p>Amazon.com:</p><p>Assassin's Creed Origins: 528 (PS4) vs 296 (XBO)</p><p>Far Cry 5: 478 (PS4) vs 246 (XBO)</p><p><br></p><p>Now, I'm curious about the numbers in my home market Germany:</p><p>Assassin's Creed Origins: 542 (PS4) vs 102 (XBO)</p><p>Far Cry 5: 192 (PS4) vs 30 (XBO)</p><p><br></p><p>And let#s not forget to compare Paul's daily intake of Call of Duty WWII:</p><p>738 (PS4) vs 129 (XBO)</p><p><br></p><p>Now, I means those numbers tell us something, don't they? When you still deny any correlation to the amount of activity on each console, then it follows Xbox owners to be more inapt of composing a text like a review. If you say, review numbers are dependent on buyer numbers I would argue, that not all reviewers have to have bought the game at Amazon. I for one, if I would have bought such a mainstream triple A title (J. Sterling's voice again) I would have done so digitally, for the PS4 and without bothering to review this c*p. And this touches another line of arguments from Xbox friends: Digitally distribution is _the thing_ on Xbox. Well, not when I had one in my living room. I just started buying digital content on PS4 because of the immensely attractive sales on Playstation store even for non-subscribing users. </p><p><br></p><p>My synopsis: Higher activity on XBO is a myth and in contradiction to reality like a burning bush and a talking snake is in contradiction to science and rational thinking.</p>
Bats
<p>WOW…this is a major butt kicking by the Playstation 4. All of this, despite Microsoft's attempts to get back in the game with their Xbox revisions (S and X), Sony continues to kick butt. </p><p><br></p><p>Think about it, 40 million games. 40 MILLION GAMES! 40 million PS4 games vs 39.1 million Xbox One's sold (One, S, and X). </p><p><br></p><p>I think it's safe to say that the Xbox One X failed in it's mission to gain any kind of traction against the Playstation. Nobody cared for the Xbox One X's slightly better graphics. It's like what I said earlier (months ago), the Xbox One X was not a game changer. Not even for Microsoft! </p><p><br></p><p>In all honesty, Microsoft should just quit the console business and just stick to PC gaming. Sony clearly controls this space and they will continue to do so in the future. I look at the Xbox One X's launch as Microsoft's MOAB on Sony….and it did nothing. Now, when it's Sony's time to launch their MOAB, aka the PS5, I'm quite certain it's going to be a hit. That's because we all know that the PS5 will be technologically greater than the XBox One X. Also, because of the Playstation's tremendous popularity, as well as their services, developers will continue to flock and develop for that platform first. </p><p><br></p><p>I am a PS4 user. I've always wanted to buy an Xbox One, just to have it, but I never did, mainly because it's not that important for me to have one. All I can tell the Xbox One faithful is this, ….. the party is kick'n with the PS4. People are streaming on Twitch, the PvP Online game play is always full, the free games that come with a PSN account are popular and the non-free ones are really cheap. I one time bought the Tell Tale Batman series (season 1) for $10. A few months later, it became free on PS+. I have a friend who came to me with this problem, because his kid wanted a PS4 Pro. He didn't want to get for him, because he bought him the Xbox One a couple of years ago. However, he was torn because his son is a good kid (with good grades in school) and he really really wanted it and it's because all his friends have the PS4 and he can't take part of any of their "online" adventures. Eventually my friend bought him the PS4 Pro with the VR and put the Xbox One on Ebay for $200, but sold it at $150 because no one wanted to buy it for $200. </p>
dontbe evil
<p>this is (was) for the players</p>