Sony sold 4.5 million PlayStation 5 consoles in its launch quarter (Q4 2020), which is comparable to PS4's launch quarter. The company is still struggling to meet demand for PS5.
PS5 launch sales
Sony has provided us with the first hard figures on PlayStation 5 sales performance as part of its earnings report for Q4 2020 (Sony's Q3 FY2020), which was the launch quarter for PS5.
A total of 4.5 million PS5s were sold in Q4 2020. PS5 launched in November 2020 and Sony is struggling to meet demand so it could obviously have sold more if supply was adequate. The company said that it is aiming to ship a at least 3 million PS5 units in Q1 2021.
Also read: Review: PlayStation 5
Sony also confirmed that it is selling PlayStation 5 at a loss, and said that 103.7 million PS4/PS5 games were sold in the quarter.
Screenshot: Sony's financial results for Q4 2020 (Sony's Q3 FY2020)
Comparable to PS4 launch
Similarly, PlayStation 4 sold 4.2 million in its launch quarter in 2013, according to Sony's financial report from that time. Total sales of PlayStation 4 now stand at 115 million.
As for PS4, only 1.4 million units were sold in Q4 2020, down from 6 million in Q4 2019. It is not surprising to see PS4 sales drop in PS5's launch quarter but it is worth noting that total PlayStation unit sales were down slightly in Q4 2020 (5.9m units) compared to Q4 2019 (6m units).
Microsoft did not reveal sales figures for Xbox Series X/S with its earnings report last week. Microsoft has previously touted the launch as the "biggest launch in Xbox history".
In Q4 2020, Sony's games division saw revenue hit 883.23 billion yen ($8.43b USD), up 40% year-over-year. It is a quarterly record for the company, according to analyst Daniel Ahmad.
- Source: Sony (2013), Analyst Daniel Ahmad
