As Sony is gearing up to launch its next-generation game console, PS4 lifetime unit sales are about to pass 100 million. The company's game streaming service, PS Now, has topped 700,000 users.
PS4 to surpass 100 million sales
Sony sold a total of 87.4 million PlayStation 3 consoles so PlayStation 4 has already surpassed its predecessor. However, the best-selling console of all time, according to most estimates, remains PlayStation 2. For PS4 to beat the historical sales record, it must surpass 155 million.
In its earnings report for fiscal year 2018, Sony has confirmed that 17.8 million PS4 units were sold from April 2018 to March 2019, bringing the total up to 96.8 million PS4 units since launch. Sony expects to sell a total of 16 million PS4 consoles in its fiscal year 2019 so sales will surpass 100 million units in the coming months.
The company unveiled the first details about its next-generation game console, likely to be called PlayStation 5, earlier this month. At the earnings call, Sony said that the next game console will not launch over the next 12 months.
PlayStation Now is growing
During its earnings call, Sony revealed that its $20/month game streaming service PlayStation Now has 700,000 users and is growing 40% on average per year.
Sony was not the first company to launch a game streaming service but it was the first major player to enter the field. It will soon be joined by Google and Microsoft. The latter recently previewed its xCloud, while Google unveiled Stadia at big press event in March. Apple will also be competing with its download-only Apple Arcade game service that will launch later this year.
Sony said that PlayStation Now has gained popularity after it introduced a download feature in September 2018.
- "Since the launch of this download service ... Gameplay time per user has grown significantly to the point where gameplay time on downloaded PS4 titles is double that of streamed titles, a trend which has contributed to higher user engagement with, and retention on, the PS Now service," said Hiroki Totoki, Sony CFO.
Lastly, Sony confirmed that there are now 36.4 million PlayStation Plus subscribers.
As the industry is entering the next phase of console gaming, it is clear that Sony is in a strong position. Many expect the next-generation of physical game consoles to launch sometime in the second half of 2020, at which point a number of major game streaming services will be available.
- Source: Sony, twitter
