At one point in time, the PlayStation 4 looked like it would rival the PS2 to become the best-selling console of all time – but now that seems impossible. In the quarter spanning July through September, the system sold just 200k units, taking its lifetime tally up to 116.6 million. In the same period, the supply constrained PS5 sold 3.3 million units.
It’s now likely that the Nintendo Switch’s install base will eclipse the PS4, and Sony’s previous system could be discontinued by this time next year – a number of models have already been removed from sale in Japan. But why has the PS4’s success been curtailed so dramatically? Surely there’s still value in a cheaper alternative to the PS5?
It’s worth remembering that the last PS4 price cut was in 2016, and Sony has favoured profitability on the format ever since. With the PS2, the company continued to drop the price even after the PS3 had launched, and sold some 50 million units after its successor became available. But it was quick to abandon the PS3 once the PS4 launched, and it looks like the same thing is happening here.
Of course, it’s important to remember that we’re still amid a global pandemic, which has affected manufacturing massively. The stark drop-off for the PS4 could be attributed to Sony simply allocating all of its resources to the PS5, which has been difficult to find since its launch last year. If that’s the case, it’s probably smart business.
It’s also worth remembering that the PS5 is fully compatible with all PS4 software, so is a natural replacement for the last-gen format. The Japanese giant will perhaps rue the lack of availability, as we imagine the PS4 could have continued to sell in developing nations around the world, but it looks like the system is already nearing the end of its life.
[source sony.com, via sony.com, resetera.com, News: PS5 Console Sales Reach 13.4 Million After Strong Q2 Period]
Comments 43
'At one point in time, the PlayStation 4 looked like it would rival the PS2 to become one of the best-selling consoles of all time '
How are you saying has PS4 NOT achieved this? It clearly is one of the best-selling consoles of all-time.
I’m going to go ahead and guess the number of people who acquired a 2nd hand PS4 skyrocketed in that period though
@get2sammyb It's the 2nd best selling home console of all time with close on 120 million units!
The sale of the base 500Gb PS4 was always going to tail off, especially as it's resolutely stuck to its £260 price tag. Drop the price to less than £200 and I'll bet more units will leave the shelves.
Might've actually been beneficial to consumers if they'd kept the Pro going.
New Pros are currently selling for more than the RRP of the full fat PS5 on eBay - so there's clearly demand.
@Voltan yeah and in general it was a well built console...mine is 7 years old and i'm gonna sell it tomorrow..works like a charm.
I sold my og ps4 for £100 for a quick sale the moment I got a ps5. As voltan says, the second hand sales for ps4s have probably rocketed.
Not surprising. PS5 plays the vast majority of PS4/Pro games better than those pieces of hardware do and, purely anecdotal, it's been a long time since I've seen PS4 slim or Pro on store shelves. Saw fairly consistent stock for a month or two after PS5 was out, than those stopped as well. Between the virus and chip shortages, PS4 was probably effected too.
Still playing on my ps4 pro.ps4 is one the best console ever made.the sales is good.word up son
Actually saw a rare PS5 restock in person today. There was a line wrapping itself around the GameStop of people looking to get one.
I went in to look around and noticed a bunch of lonely Series S systems collecting dust in the Xbox section, lol.
The difference in demand is insane.
Anyway, yeah, Switch is an easy shoe-in for second best-selling home console of all time at this point, I think.
Sony needs $200 ps4 super slim to reach ps2 numbers, or ps4 slim digital. Ps4 portable (like steam deck) is fine too
@Integrity I think because the PS2 had lifetime sales of 155mil PS4 is on 116 so think it would be hard for PS4 to surpass PS2 lifetime sales now, but as some have mentioned probably a lot of 2nd hand sales of PS4 now so probably hard to say.. But the PS4 has been my favourite console of all time so many great games.
I sold mine this April.
Put it online for more than the average price they go here for and it was sold in a matter of hours. Same with my PSVR (with Aim+Moves)
Articles like these is when I know being a journalist means you pretty much just take one article and recycle it 5 times using the same information but in different context.
@Daleaf They said the PS4 looked like it would rival the PS2 to become one of the best-selling consoles of all time. It has done exactly that and has rivalled the PS2. Its the 2nd best of all-time.
Doesn't matter, I found it an odd thing to say.
Yet, I still haven't seen even a new PS4 slim on a store shelf for months if not since the PS5's launch.
They’re probably unable to drop prices to £100/£150 like they’ve done with previous consoles. PS4 seems a bit pricey theses days considering it’s age and it’s now last gen.
@Integrity Ah fair enough see what you mean now lol.
To be fair, a lot of switch owners have double, triple or even quadruple dipped on the multiple Switch versions where as Playstation 4 only had one real redesign for the most part that would tempt people to double dip (the Pro).
Gotta give Nintendo credit. I have no idea how they sold people on the literally same exact console multiple times but they found a way.
Nonetheless the PS4 was an outstanding console with three games released on it I now hold in my top five favorite games of all time so thanks for the memories PS4!
@Ralizah That's because it's really a handheld device.
😛
still have my launch ps4 and Xbox 1 one. Great games across both.
Definitely bound to be surpassed by Switch (tell that to all the comparative spec mockers back in 2017), but its numbers are nothing to sneeze at anyway - and well-deserved IMHO, as Sony's first home console that focused on being an actual video game machine rather than a multimedia center.
@wiiware "PS4 portable (like Steam Deck)"
@Korgon to be even fairer, though, most Switch revision double-dippers I've heard about tend to pass their older units down to friends and family or even just sell ebay them off their hands (unless the unit in question is too battered for either), so how much those double-dips ultimately boost the actual number of tracked sales is a different question.
Normally we would expect a price cut and a superslim model at this point. As it stands for PS4 is a low end console with a mid tier price. Making its bad value at the current time.
If when when supply constraints end if they do do the final superslim at a low price it might sell more to the budget orientated low end.
@Col_McCafferty Not untrue, although the sales of the bigger models compared to the Lite and statistics released by Nintendo about how people are playing the system tell me most people at least want access to docked play.
In general, the hybrid form factor is a massive hit and probably the biggest factor in the system's success.
@sanderson72 @Integrity You're right, I've corrected that!
@get2sammyb 😊👍
In other news: the sky is blue
If they dropped it to $200 it would still sell many more. Must not be worth it currently.
@Ralizah At the rate it’s selling I wouldn’t be surprised if it surpassed the PS2. And the handful of titles coming to it next year looks like a repeat of 2017. It doesn’t have the big titles Xbox and PlayStation has, but the hybrid factor sold a lot better than expected.
I get the feeling Sony releasing their games on PC will slow down sales because PC has mods and free online above other things. I’m keeping my PS5 and PS4 regardless, but it just seems likely.
When you are selling the PS5 Digital at £360 there is little to no reason to allocate any resources to making more PS4 models. Once the supply constraints settle down the digital will sell an insane amount of units.
@Texan_Survivor there were quite a few games that were 1080p and hit 60fps (diablo 3,resogun,nex machina) though there wasnt many its not true to say the pro couldnt...my wife inherited my ps4 and she is loving gta v...murderous little minx..
@Voltan well there is no more new ps4s or pros to buy anymore who i'm not surprised by the decline
If you've only got £250 to spend, are you buying an ancient ps4 that dies next year or a next gen series s?
For some reason they're kinda hard to find at decent prices in my area. They're holding their value well relative to their MSRP. Like finding a base model used (not slim or pro) under $200 is a steal. Pro models are damn near MSRP used. Must be since scalpers are buying up PS5s lots of people are holding onto their PS4s.
I mean we're talking about an 8 year old console here that's the 4th best selling console of all time. You could've gotten a new PS3 at the end of its life cycle for less than what these used PS4s are going for
Edit: lots of folks above saying the PS4 is second best selling, but only by ignoring the Nintendo DS and Gameboy families. If we're going by one singular system then absolutely it is the second best selling of all time which makes the current situation that much worse
I haven't seen a PS4 on the shelves in a store in ages, and if you look on Amazon, they're only available through third parties for $500 or more. If you go to most stores websites, its not even there as being out of stock, they have to little confidence getting them back in any time soon. Clearly, this is a big reason for the drop off in sales. No one who might want one can buy one.
Its been a very solid machine. I still have the one that I bought in 2014, and use it almost every day. I've never had any issues with it whatsoever, and it works like a charm. At over seven years now, its very easily the longest I've ever used one machine as my primary.
@sanderson72 I got a very reasonable £135 for my pro in August, which I put towards my ps5.
@nhSnork Now that I think about it, steam deck is a playstation portables, with horizon zd, god of war, days gone, and others future titles, lol.
@wiiware I would totally get a PS4 slim and one that uses the speed of SSD sata 3 please. It would be great for people with a less money to spend.
The PS4 are sold out at a lot of places to be fair.
@Unlucky13 You can get a solid system with tons of games for next to nothing. With so many classics for €10/€19 its a great system.
@Flaming_Kaiser Yup, ps4 games graphics is still quite good, especially sony 1st party games, it's just that after using ssd, it's really hard to go back to slow ps4 hdd. I think $250 ps4 slim with 500GB sata 3 will sells.
Also since most ps5 games will be ported to pc (with slow hdd), I hope sony update ps5 so it can use minimum pcie 3 ssd, which is way cheaper than pcie 4.
See what happens when PlayStation games go to PC Jim What an AMAZING console it was(I have moved on to the PS5 now) Not sure why there hasn't been a price cut for it? And even a slimmer version to? Come on SONY they use to be good at that.
@wiiware as PS just reported, Yoshida seems to agree.😏
@wiiware I agree irs important to keep the price low the can fix battery issue with a new design while they are at it. Maybe puf in the Kraken for samller installs.
Be interesting to see if the games sales have dropped off. Some of the reports on here seem to indicate that PS5 owners are buying more copies of certain games at least - either that or PS4 owners are peed off by these price hikes to pay for PS5 development so we wait for a sale?
Certainly during lockdown, there were no new PS4s to be found anywhere.
A few have reappeared now but who in their right mind would pay £260 for a new base one when you can spend almost the same money and get a boxed Pro with 2 year warranty from somewhere like CEX?
Have to agree on the SATA3 front though, as my Pro's running sweet as a nut with the Crucial 3D NAND 1Tb drive in its internal slot. Put the old Pro HDD in a £7 external case and hey presto, a 2Tb PS4!
Tap here to load 43 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...