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Less than a week behind PS4, despite sales constraints.
Image credit: DiEtte Henderson/ Unsplash
PlayStation 5 has now sold over 50m consoles worldwide since its launch in November 2020.
Sony announced the milestone today, and said PS5 had passed the 50m mark earlier this month, on 9th December.
That means PS5 took 160 weeks and 2 days to reach the 50m milestone – just one week longer than PS4, despite severe sales constraints for much of its early lifecycle.
(Indeed, the news comes almost seven years to the day after PS4 hit 50m itself, on 6th December 2016, fuelled by the then-recent launch of the PS4 Pro console. The PS4 launched in November 2013, meaning the console took 159 weeks and 4 days to reach the same record.)
In a statement issued today, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan noted the sales constraints – and said that Sony was now seeing the full power of its now-entirely operational console supply.
“Achieving this PS5 sales milestone is a testament to the unwavering support of the global PlayStation community and their passion for the incredible experiences created by the talented developers from PlayStation Studios and our partners,” Ryan said.
“We’re grateful for all of our players who have joined the PS5 journey so far, and we’re thrilled that this is the first holiday season since launch that we have a full supply of PS5 consoles – so anyone who wants to get one can get one.”
In an accompanying press release, Sony stated that PS5 was now “hitting its stride” as developers take “full advantage” of the console’s technology, and that player excitement for the platform ws now “higher than ever”.
November 2023 was the “biggest November for PlayStation consoles sold through to customers,” Sony noted, driven by the sale of blockbuster games such as Spider-Man 2, Baldur’s Gate 3, Alan Wake 2, EA Sports FC 24 and the PlayStation debut of Roblox.
There’s no room in that list for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, interestingly – perhaps because it is now owned by Microsoft following its $68.7bn Activision Blizzard acquisition.
Today’s news comes just a day after hackers released more than 1.3m files stolen from PlayStation studio Insomniac following a ransomware attack, containing employee information and intricate plans for the studio’s game releases over the next decade. Sony and Insomniac are yet to comment on the matter.
