Sony’s latest financial report have confirmed what was practically inevitable: the PlayStation 4 is now the second best-selling home console of all time, surpassing the PlayStation 1 and trailing only the PlayStation 2.
Having passed 100 million consoles sold last quarter, the summer saw Sony shift a further 2.8 million units between 1st July and 30th September, edging past the PS1’s 102.49 million. There’s now another mighty leap to catch up to the PlayStation 2, which is still sitting pretty at over 155 million, and it will also take quite some doing to best the front-running handhelds of the Game Boy (118.69m) and Nintendo DS (154.02m).
Will it catch those consoles? It’s starting to feel a little less likely as the PlayStation 4 heads toward the end of its life as Sony’s premier console – the PlayStation 5 is due out around this time next year, after all. Console sales were down year-on-year by 1.1 million units, and though we can expect a jump in sales through the Christmas shopping season, Sony have adjsuted 2019’s financial year expectations down from 15 million units to 13.5 million.
Gaming revenue and profits were also down compared to 2018, dropping by 17% and 35% respectively, and while there was a large drop in revenue from games sold at retail, digital sales followed the industry trend to make up 37% of sales in the last quarter, compared to 23% the year before.
Overall, not a spectacular quarter for Sony, as the PlayStation 4 shows more signs of losing steam, but that’s to be expected with the spectre of next gen looming.
camdaz
They must be very happy at Sony Towers that they hold the top three best selling home consoles.
Is it known how many consoles they’ve sold altogether (PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4, PSP & Vita)?
MrYd
It’s at least half a billion. Most likely somewhere around 540 to 550 million.
Nintendo seem to have sold around 750m. Well over half of that is there handhelds. (About 430m, not counting the Switch because is that handheld or a proper console??)
MS have 149m.
camdaz
That’s quite a few sold then.
Whoever came up with the idea to take Sony down the gaming route has certainly earned their yen.