PS4
Sony Interactive Entertainment recently released an updated report to present the figures for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021. In addition to such information as sales and profit, the report also has a particularly interesting passage about the PS4. It recently set a record that was as impressive as it was historic.As the annual report shows, the PlayStation 4 (buy now € 329.00) has reached more than 1.577 billion since its launch in 2013 games sold worldwide. No console - not even from other manufacturers - has sold more games to date. How this number is distributed across the individual countries or continents is not yet known. However, it does not change their imposing character. The previous record holder in this category was, by the way, the PS2. During its lifecycle, it sold a little more than 1.537 billion copies of games worldwide, which is also an impressive achievement.
Another interesting figure from the report relates to the PS4 itself: As announced by Sony Interactive Entertainment In the past financial year (April 2020 to March 2021), around 5.8 million copies of the console were brought to customers - despite the in-house competition in the form of the PS5. That's a significant number for a console of this age. Thus the total number of copies of the PlayStation 4 sold rose to 115.9 million - worldwide, of course.
Source: Sony Annual Report
The PS5 is still selling better than the PS4, despite shortages
© Provided by CNET Andrew Hoyle/CNETYou've spent every week since November trying to get a PlayStation 5 and you've failed. Semiconductor shortages and an intense demand for next-gen gaming has made the new console almost impossible to find -- but that doesn't mean it isn't selling. According to Sony's latest earnings call, the new console has sold 7.8 million units since launch.
That's a full 200,000 more than the PlayStation 4 at this point in its life cycle, but the company isn't completely satisfied. 'Supply has not been able to keep up with the extremely strong demand for PS5,' Sony Executive Deputy President Totoki Hiroki stated for the earnings presentation. Despite semiconductor shortages, the company still hopes to outpace the performance of its previous console. 'Our current target is to exceed the 14.8 million units we sold in the second year after the launch of the PlayStation 4.'
© Andrew Hoyle/CNETThat momentum carried over to software, with more than 338.9 million PS4 and PS5 games sold over the past year -- most of which were digital game sales. Combined with the 6 million additional PlayStation Plus subscribers added last year, it seems like Sony's bet on a discless PS5 could pay off.
If you're interested in diving into the numbers for yourself, Sony has made the full financial report available online. If you're just trying to figure out how you can get your hands on a PlayStation 5 of your own, well, we have a guide for that.