We all know that the PlayStation 4 is a sales phenomenon, selling significantly more units than the last Sony console did at this stage of its life – but just how many PlayStation 4’s is Sony selling?
According to their latest financial statements, plenty. In the last quarter, Sony shipped 4 million PS4 units to retailers, which brings the global tally of units shipped to retail to 29 million. Sony hopes to have shipped 17 and a half million by the end of the financial year.
But how many of those have been sold, sitting in people’s homes? Shipped and sold are very different things, afterall.
Sony’s Michael Denny, speaking to Gamesindustry.biz, says the install base is sitting at well over 25 million.
“I don’t think there’s a better time to buy into PlayStation – PS4 particularly,” he says. “Our installed base now is well over 25 million. That gives us a massive community of gamers, supported by a lot of new community features. We’ve got great games out there, more coming through. We’re looking forward to 2016, it’s an exciting time.”
That’s 30 million sold in two years without so much as a price drop, and the recent cuts to the consumer cost of the device is only likely to help those figures skyrocket. That’s around 5 million more units than the mighty PlayStation 2 sold at the same point in its cycle.
The PlayStation 4 has been instrumental in turning around Sony’s fortunes, as Kaz Hirai’s “One Sony” returns to profitability.
“Sony’s fourth straight profit beat shows Hirai’s progress in reviving a company that has cut thousands of jobs to pivot away from phones and TVs. Sony, which posted losses in six of the past seven years, maintained its outlook for annual operating income of 320 billion yen in the year ending March 2016, the largest full-year profit in two decades.”
Last Updated: October 29, 2015
oVg
October 29, 2015 at 11:04
So for 2 years running their yearly financial sales forecast has more than doubled.
I hope this success does not make them arrogant again.
PS 4 LIFE
Hammersteyn
October 29, 2015 at 11:06
Arrogancy can come with success. Being close to broke got them down to Earth.
Allykhat
October 29, 2015 at 11:35
If Sony get too big for their boots they’ll drop back to the bottom then kick themselves up to the top again better than ever. So the cycle continues.
Hammersteyn
October 29, 2015 at 12:15
Agreed, maybe the same rule will apply for MS? The XBOX One is their PS3.
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 29, 2015 at 11:29
FOUR to ONE because they kept it old school with their 80s gamer mentality. #amirite
oVg
October 29, 2015 at 11:36
Still better than your profile pic 😛
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 29, 2015 at 11:45
lol
WitWolfy
October 29, 2015 at 13:39
Best.. DAY.. EVER!!!
Nikola
October 29, 2015 at 11:52
Bro this is the best thing you ever said!! haha
oVg
October 29, 2015 at 11:07
Sucks to be the SQUARE ENIX Exec who gave the greenlight to make Tomb Raider an Xbone exclusive back when the Bone and PS4 were neck and neck at 3million sales each.
Hammersteyn
October 29, 2015 at 11:09
The brief case was so heavy it sprained his wrist as he picked it up.
oVg
October 29, 2015 at 11:11
lol If only they thought ahead, they would need dumpster trucks instead of a briefcase. They could have asked me 2 years ago when I thought I was being clever by chanting FOUR TO ONE. I never thought it would come to fruition.
Hammersteyn
October 29, 2015 at 11:14
He did think ahead. He thought of himself. Four to One. Yeah, one 22 second video put the writing on the wall
http://cdn.destructoid.com//ul/255956-aaheader.jpg
oVg
October 29, 2015 at 11:14
It was right in front of them. To be fair, Microsoft made it so easy for them.
Hammersteyn
October 29, 2015 at 11:15
At least MS is not focusing on the competition anymore, but on gamers. Whatever that means coming from them.
oVg
October 29, 2015 at 11:16
America
WitWolfy
October 29, 2015 at 13:41
I loled so hard that day with pleasure!!! TAKE THAT Don Mattick!!
Nikola
October 29, 2015 at 11:52
Hahaha yip idiots:) and how many people are actually going to buy TB when it releases on PS4 not too many…
oVg
October 29, 2015 at 11:58
It releases a year from now. A YEAR. That is after Dawn Horizon, Uncharted 4, No mans Sky, and all the other 20 exclusives and 30 AAA mulyiplatform games….
What were they thinking?
If it was a game on its own I would be fine. But its a sequel. What a big F U to the fans.
Nikola
October 29, 2015 at 12:04
Like I know I am very anti Xbox but in all honesty Sony just has much better game lineup than the Xbox I am sorry, Xbox maybe as a console you can do more but there is much more happening from gaming perspective on PS!
I know after those many awesome game no one is gona care about TB. Huge F U dude and I LOVE the Tomb Raider series!
oVg
October 29, 2015 at 12:12
I’m over it, Its sad to see how Microsoft entered the 8th gen with little interest in GAMES (They even sold off mIcrosoft game studios) to sell media. If they had invested more into games then their AAA titles would be trickling out about now.
When the hell is Quantun Break going to be released? That is the only game that will sway me to by a Bone.
The BIG turning point for me deciding on ditching Microsoft for SONY was when they included the word MANDATORY in their Bone selling point. They said the Bone will be sold for an extra $99 because the Kinect is MANDATORY. Never mind the MANDATORY internet connection.
That was when I just walked away.
Nikola
October 29, 2015 at 12:19
You know what everything they have done leading up to this point was so dodgy and they constantly went they word back on things like constant internet connection the whole can’t play second hand games! The way Microsoft does bussnies I just don’t trust them they not straight up.
People have picked up on it and that’s why SOny is doing so well and selling so many consoles. My main problem with MS is that I do not trust them one bit and that’s the reason why I will never get an Xbox.
And you 100% right it’s supposed to be a gaming console not a media box!
Aries
October 29, 2015 at 12:55
and then there is windows 10 which never wants to stop downloading updates when I want to play online
Nikola
October 29, 2015 at 13:14
OMW I thought it was only me experiencing this!! Sooo annoying hey! Constant updates don’t even know for what anymore
Aries
October 29, 2015 at 16:24
I deleted the system file that starts the downloads but it seems to reappear after every restart, and sometimes it forces a restart if I havent done so in a week or two
WitWolfy
October 29, 2015 at 14:19
Dont worry I feel your pain.. For some reason.. My Xbox One brick light is always white (downloading mode) But I never see what the hell the thing is downloading!!!
Aries
October 29, 2015 at 16:23
My internet already so bad with high latency and what not that W10 makes it seem worse
WitWolfy
October 29, 2015 at 13:44
One thing is for sure. MS will def try online DRM again next gen.. I guarantee IT!
Maybe Sony and MS had like an agreement to both go online DRM and MS thought Sony would stick to their end of the deal, but didnt making them look like the gaming Nazi’s this gen.
Nikola
October 29, 2015 at 13:50
Oh yeah I think they will for sure, I understand things are moving forward technology wise most of Europe now days I mean internet is dirt dirt cheap! So I can see why it is moving that way you know. Funny thing is in SA we sooo far behind in our internet infrastructure it’s actually sad, if I was leaving in Europe or USA I couldn’t give to shits about DRM.
Possible you never know with these companies but I doubt it Sony for me took their console more the gaming way and MS went the Media streaming machine which they trying to correct now.
WitWolfy
October 29, 2015 at 14:18
So true.. So true.. MS didnt think gaming specs.. They wanted to go the apple TV route.. I feel sorry for people who buy Xbone’s brand new though, especially in 3rd world countries.. The thing wont work if you dont have a stable Internet connection, and by that I mean downloading the software that removes online DRM completely.. Unless you wanna use your mobile data of course..
Nikola
October 29, 2015 at 14:25
Yip exactly I feel like the Xbox One would work great in America where you hook up your cable through it and have proper internet infrastructure to stream as well! But yeah if it was constant DRM countries like SA people would be screwed:) Hahaha yeah mobile data noooo thanks.
WitWolfy
October 29, 2015 at 14:27
I think I downloaded like a 3GB update the first time I turned on my Xbox One, the console doesnt even come with an OS out of the box… INSANE!!
Hammersteyn
October 29, 2015 at 11:11
First SF5 now this…
oVg
October 29, 2015 at 11:13
Remember when Microsoft had those kick ass exclusives like the 60fps Dead or Alive 4? What happened?
Hammersteyn
October 29, 2015 at 11:14
Kinect
oVg
October 29, 2015 at 11:17
peter molyneux 😛
Hammersteyn
October 29, 2015 at 11:18
haha
WitWolfy
October 29, 2015 at 14:14
I miss the days when I used to hate Sony and adored MS even if their console hardware was shitty…
Nikola
October 29, 2015 at 11:52
I know after the PS experience I realized we have quite a few exclusive coming, they have backward compatibility though hahaha!
Hammersteyn
October 29, 2015 at 12:14
Well it’s not like they are bursting with new titles. They have to play something. Might as well be the classics
oVg
October 29, 2015 at 11:29
I still love you Microsoft 😛
http://i.imgur.com/RuHZQQT.jpg
WitWolfy
October 29, 2015 at 14:14
Right in the red ring…
CypherGate
October 29, 2015 at 14:10
Thats awesome news! Glad they doing so well. When this price cut happens then we going to see sales skyrocket!
WitWolfy
October 29, 2015 at 14:22
The only thing I’m afraid of is, will they be able to keep up with demand. Like they did when they first launched?!
CypherGate
October 29, 2015 at 14:29
My thoughts as well. They will need to do a good price drop and release SERIOUSLY good games. Software is the biggest draw so they will need to work hard at that!
WitWolfy
October 29, 2015 at 14:36
Read in Jan this year that Sony corp is actually investing more into the Playstation brand seeing its doing so great to pump out even more “for the gamers” titles.
CypherGate
October 29, 2015 at 14:43
Thats awesome to hear. I sometimes wonder if they going to eventually be a console and Camera manufacturing company since their TVs and Phones aren’t doing too great. I mean they in negotiations with Toshiba to buy their Camera sensor business so it could be moving down that road.
Sageville
October 29, 2015 at 14:26
If you consider that Gaming sales outstrips Movie sales these days, clearly the entertainment dollar is going increasingly towards gaming, and with PS being in the lead, this means the future is looking bright for Sony gaming.
I think the listening to what gamers wanted instead of telling them what they want, was the killer here.
MS opted out basically handing cash dollar over to Harai. GG
HisDivineOrder
October 29, 2015 at 17:33
Poor Microsoft. The Big Engine That Couldn’t. It’ll be interesting to see if insane Black Friday deals give them a momentary sales bump like last year only to recede back to even greater and greater month to month defeats over the rest of the year…
…like last year.