38.4 Million PS5 Systems Sold as Sony Records Its Best Q4 Results

Wow. That is seriously impressive, particularly given the stock shortages over the pandemic. Well done Sony.

Time for that showcase now please

Great. Having healthy companies in the industry is good for everyone. When you are competing against a trillion dollar company every little helps. Now just start making different genres of games again Sony, and fund more Japanese developers while you’re at it.

It's kinda funny to see PlayStation breaking record after record but the same old japanese journalist insists on saying that the numbers are not good.

What's even more crazy about this is the price increase they had a while back didn't even slow them down lol.

Thes gap between the Ps5 and xbox series consoles grew massively in just a few months. Damn I guess Microsoft really did needed that activision deal to compete against PlayStation lol.

@nookie_egg Do you need me to list all the games they released since the PS5 dropped?

@WallyWest you're more than welcome to list ratchet and clank, demons souls and a horizon dlc mate yeah 😂

@nookie_egg R.I.P., facts. Gotta love the internet.

3rd year and it's already this high and this is before any true next gen exclusives outside of Ratchet and Returnal!

@GorosBat to be fair, I don't think that, had it been readily available from the start that it would be selling so well at the moment. Let's see how long it lasts, though.

@nomither6 dude you sound mad about PlayStation success 😂.

And this is even before Spider-Man 2 is released. I can actually see the PS5 beating total consoles sold the PS2.

@naruball Yeah, kinda ironic that a shortage actually leads to higher sales because of FOMO.

Look at that bloodborne sold 1 million copies after 11 days on the market, what it sold in the following eight years no one really knows other than Dave but Dave ain’t talking because he’s still angry that Jim Ryan stole his lunch bag from the break room fridge.

No mention of PSVR2 in the slides.
The relevant stream - Others - is almost 3x to Q4’22, but it includes revenues from other peripherals and sales on other platforms (PC, I guess).
This probably corroborates earlier reports about PSVR2 sales below expectations, otherwise Sony would likely brag about it.

After the stock shortages I actually thought demand for the console wouldn't be high. There are exclusive games, sure, but not many that are PS5 only. I'm surprised it's selling so fast.

Especially with what Xbox are doing. PS5 shortages might have impacted people towards the availability of Xbox because of GamePass. And I think Microsoft were really banking on much better growth this time with the Series S being a cheap affordable entry point but even that is not helping much now the stock shortages are over. I think, besides GamePass which has plateaued Microsoft were hoping the Series S would be their "ace in the hole" to finally close console sales gaps.

Just seems to me that Xbox are never going to go toe to toe with PlayStation sales numbers if that hasn't worked. It's just another runaway success for Sony. Just another day at the office.

And I don't believe the narrative of "Microsoft don't care about console sales". As of right now, it's their primary (not only) entry point to GamePass.
No wonder they're desperate for ABK. They can say it's about King all they want. Deep down most know that they seek to control CoD. Later down the line. Or they wouldn't be fighting this hard. Even going so far to throw a tantrum and threaten a country if it was just about mobile.

@nookie_egg Demon Souls, Spider-Man MM, Returnal, Horizon 2, Ratchet and Clank, God of War Ragnarok, The Last of Us Remake, Sackboy, GT7 and Spider-Man 2 later this year now tell me what has MS put out?

Well-deserved success! PlayStations are great!

Picked up a PS5 Yesterday for the release of FF16. popped in a 1 month premium subscripion now I have more than enough Top Quality Titles to keep me going. I'm still in shock at how Phenomenal this Machine is

@WallyWest already mentioned, ps4 and pc, yeah fair enough plus pc, ps4, ps4, much maligned and also broken on pc, ps4, ps4 and yeah maybe.

Didn't mention ms.
But which of those ps4 and pc things are reasons for the ps5 to be selling well? They may have released stuff but none of that is a reason for ps5 doing well. My point is they have done nothing for the ps5. Which is amazing considering how well it's selling.

@WallyWest

A car sim, a dead fps franchise, redfall and a bunch of indies or games that are also on PS

@nookie_egg

If you think people didn't buy a ps5 for the ps5 versions of those games then you have no clue what's happening. Plus there are 3 next gen only games and we are getting 2 this year (and a dlc).

Lots of friends bought ps5s for miles ps5 version.

Nice! I love my PS5! So much better than the ps4.

@nookie_egg PS5 versions with far better visuals, better performance, faster loading and the odd exclusive feature. People bought the PS5 to play new releases at their best on console.

N.i.c.e. im happy the ps5 did sell realky good.the more they sells the better.word up son

@nookie_egg I see where you're coming from. It is a shame the PS5 hasn't had more non-PS4 exclusives or even multiplats that are only current gen. But saying the games that are also on PS4 don't offer a reason for people to buy a PS5 is like saying there's no incentive to buy a new CPU and GPU for a PC because you could play the same games at 1080p, medium settings and 30fps on your old PC.

For another example, I think if most SNES games were also on the NES, but in 8-bit graphics with about 5 colours on screen and worse sound, people would've still really wanted a SNES. People still bought Mario All-Stars, after all.

In few months PS5 will surpass Xbox one lifetime sales. Thats very impressive. Hope that means more PS5 only (or current gen only) games and better services for us gamers

@GorosBat Yup. I have at least two friends who bought a ps5 last summer because of FOMO, yet they've barely touched it since.

@WallyWest Halo Infinite, Hi-Fi Rush, Forza Horizon 5, Psychonauts 2, Flight Simulator, Grounded, Pentiment, Age of Empies II Definitive Edition, As Dusk Falls, Gears Tactic, Minecraft Legends, Deathloop, Ghostwire: Tokyo.

Redfall in 5 days. Starfield and Forza Motorsport later this year.

Now you can argue that none of those games reached the same level of success as the games you listed or that you don't particularly like Microsoft's game output (which are both valid arguments); but Microsoft has put out plenty of games under the Xbox Game Studios umbrella over the past couple of years. The whole "Microsoft hasn't released anything" argument doesn't hold water.

On topic: Congratulations to Sony for the success. While I made my PS5 my exclusives-only machine (same for my Switch), I certain have enjoyed the system. God of War Ragnarok is fantastic! I still need to get Horizon Forbidden West to round out having all of the exclusives that interest me.

@WallyWest Those are all PS4 games with the exception of Returnal which didn't even sell well. Oh and the two remakes of PS3 games, one of which didn't need one.

Microsoft ain't putting out anything good either. Seems Nintendo is really the only one winning in software.

Next generation for PlayStation and Xbox has been completely lackluster and I don't why people try to pretend otherwise. Right now, the majority of the games are just upgrades for PS4 and Xbox One games.

3 years in and PS5 is only going to have Spuderman at the end of it. Meanwhile Xbox is begging God for help. Maybe 2024 will finally be the start of next generation.

@GamingFan4Lyf They have began to release games with more frequency, but a lot of that list are either ports or the bought intellectual property of other studios.

Hi Fi Rush, Psychonauts 2, Deathloop, Ghostwire, Redfall and Starfield were all in development before MS reached in to their pockets and put their label on it.

Flight Simulator came out in August 2020 and was ported almost a year later. Gears Tactics came out in April 2020 and was ported 18 months later. AOE 2 came out in 2019 and took over 3 years to port.

Halo was delayed a year and has been a complete mess. They make a new Forza almost yearly so that's to be expected, and Redfall is an FPS that's releasing without a 60 fps option on the self titled worlds most powerful console.

They really need to be doing a lot more than they are. Although Grounded, Pentiment and As Dusk Falls absolutely deserve some praise. I haven't played any of them but I believe they were all extremely well received critically.

@GamingFan4Lyf A chunk of those were released on PS4/PS5 though and the Bethesda games were all being prior to MS buying them.

@FenIsMightier just pay for everything on PayPal. No cards needed. I buy all my Japanese, Hong Kong, American software on PayPal, and I live in the UK

@Phornix No they are all PS5 games as well as they all have native PS5 versions with the enhancements that come from it.

My only gripe with PS5 is I have to use my Roku to use itvX and a few other on demand services because in the UK we have BBC iPlayer and not a lot else.
If you are in the UK, you'll know what I mean

PlayStation will always blow Xbox out of the water with console sales. Sony could put out ten games a year and still sell gangbusters. The fan base is that committed. Sony have done little to push PS5 and it’s sales are crazy.
Nintendo will always sell well as long as the system is pitched right - see Wii U Vs Switch.

Xbox are going all in on cloud. I’d say that in ten years they won’t even do consoles. Streaming boxes and sticks.

@Intr1n5ic Microsoft does need to get things straight with its studios as there is a lot in the pipeline that we know about and have seen nothing to instill confidence in any of the games.

The Redfall 30fps thing is so bizarre. I play-tested the game back in March and it ran very well (granted there were visual bugs).

The only thing I can gather is that Arkane went "all hands on deck" to work on removing the "always online" requirement for single player and 60fps optimizations took a back seat.

I also think that delaying was not an option due to 1) more bad optics with delays of Microsoft games and 2) didn't want to bump into Tears of the Kingdom release window (can't compete with 122+ million Switch consoles out there).

I am sure there is huge pressure to get Starfield "right". I feel that's going to be a "make or break" game for the Series consoles. I know many people expect some "jank" from Bethesda RPGs, but the console version specifically needs to be "on point" if Microsoft expects it to help push consoles (and Game Pass subscriptions).

Has anyone heard a rumor of a Street Fighter 6 edition possibly coming out? I'd think it would be up by now but I'm not privy to how these work sometimes. Thanks(I'm buying this machine solely for SF).

@GamingFan4Lyf It's really strange, especially coming from Arkane who are an awesome bunch of devs. I don't think this is their fault though. They were clearly directed to push the game out even though it obviously needed more time.

And yeah, Starfield needs to land, the talk around that will be awful if it doesn't. I'm holding out hope though because I want it to be phenomenal. I'm not that interested in some of the gameplay elements that have been shown, but I'm all for a Bethesda driven narrative in space that I can lose myself in for a couple of months.

@Intr1n5ic And during the showcase in June, Bethesda needs to show it running on Xbox (and explicitly state as such) rather than do everything on a high-powered PC.

That's another problem Microsoft runs into when it comes to reveals.

"Is this running on a high-end PC or Xbox?"

Sony doesn't have that issue and it helps set the tone: what you see is what you get on PS5.

@GamingFan4Lyf Many of those games are on PS or more PS aligned than Xbox aligned (Deathloop, Ghostwire), or were deep in development well before MS made a purchase.
Calling much of that output is kinda stretching the term to tearing points as they threw money out there to have the label put on after the fact. The fact that you had to include two-PS timed exclusives as Xbox Studios output proves the point against your argument and shows how empty it is.

Do the digital and disc versions count as one or not?

@Jaz007 So...let's throw out the Bethesda games and Psychonauts 2 - that leaves 8 first-party games I mentioned that were released on Series X|S. Sony had 9 and 2 were PS3 remakes. In Microsoft's case, Age of Empires is the only re-release mentioned (but a first for consoles). But, whatever, a release is a release.

It shouldn't matter if the games also came to PlayStation (in Minecraft's case): they are Xbox Game Studios published games.

Bottom line: Xbox Game Studios is producing games - whether you like them or not is a matter of opinion and can't be argued.

@WallyWest

I have more PS4 games than PS5 games.

Make of that what you will.

@sword_9mm Considering the PS4 is nearly 10 years old so you should.

@Matroska not really got any kind of response for this one to be fair, other than agreeing in principle, but it doesn't change the fact that there is next to no focus from Sony on ps5, mostly pc and cross gen. But I do appreciate the fact that you aren't just diving into "protect the corporation at all costs" mode like a lot of the die hard fans round these parts tend to do.

@nookie_egg To be fair, you don't completely abandon your previous generation in the first two years of a new one, and you certainly don't during a pandemic when you're having issues with manufacturing and actually getting the new system in to people's hands. Those issues seem to be over now and we'll probably see a lot more focus on the PS5 going forward.

It really is beginning to look like Xbox is going to be outside massively once again.

Its never going to catch up with the Switch.

PS4 is my favourite PlayStation so far with it's constant exclusive games.

Spiderman 2 is going to shift a lot more hardware.

@4kgk2 he is dude, he comes to the site just to flame users, or at least he tries XD.