With the data from its latest quarterly earnings call taken into account, it's now official: the PS5 has outsold the PS3.
Sony sold eight million PS5 consoles in Q3 of fiscal year 2025 to bring the PS5's overall total to 92.2 million units, as of 31st December 2025. This sees the system outsell PS3, which managed 87.4 million lifetime sales. Next up for PS5 will be to beat the current count of PS4 sales, which stands at 117.2 million.
In the same quarter of the last fiscal year, Sony sold 9.5 million PS5 units, so today's new eight-million figure represents a drop of 1.5 million sales compared to Q3 of fiscal year 2024.
Elsewhere, PS5 and PS4 software sales and first-party title purchases were all up compared to the same quarter last year. 97.2 million PS5, PS4 games were sold during Q3 of fiscal year 2025, which represents an increase of 1.3 million over the same time period last fiscal year. With the release of Ghost of Yotei helping the stats, 13.2 million first-party games were sold in the same quarter.
Other points from the earnings report include 76% of PS5, PS4 game purchases being for the digital version, and the number of monthly active users on PSN reaching 132 million. This is three million more active users than the same period in fiscal year 2024.
What do you make of the latest PS5 sales stats? Does it deserve to outsell the PS3? Put your thoughts in the comments below.
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[source sony.com]
Comments 77
What i think is that the market share has dramatically increased in size since 2006. I wonder what the per capita sales are?
In time it'll probably beat PS2 as well, since the PS6 won't be out till about 2037.
1. PS2 at 160 million
2. PS4 at 117 million
3. PS1 at 102 million
4. PS5 at 92 million
5. PS3 at 88 million
6. PSP at 82 million
7. Vita at 15 million
PS5 needs to sell 11 million more to pass PS1, which is possible with GTA 6 and Wolverine alone.
But congrats to Sony 🍻
A bit offtopic but it's always nice to give a little praise for the good old PS3: I bought a new Sony OLED due to some circumstances so I hooked up the PS3 just to see how it holds up. There was a Ridge Racer 7 disc inside which past me forgot to take out. After booting up the game I was blown away by the vivid colors, clean graphics, banging soundtrack and the classic addictive gameplay. Yes, half of this is due to Sony manufacturing great TVs, but still, that is one sick console packed with amazing games.
Coming from having owned all PlayStations, I must say that PS5 has been a great console, best to date in my opinion. Excellent value and superb user experience.
With Wolverine and GTA 6 and the usual good discounts around November and December they could pass the PS1.
@Czar_Khastik I bought myself a Sony Oled recently too.
You're aware going in that it's going to look better, and you've heard all about VRR etc, but when you actually load up a game on it and see it for yourself? Wow.
It's my favourite thing in my house atm (not counting the dogs and the cat of course...)
@PuppetMaster PS5 will outsell PS1 this year. They are still around 2.2 million behind PS4 (94.4m v 92.2m) launch aligned. GTAVI etc. could change that but PS4 also had large games late in gen.
Either way it's a roaring success it doesn't need to beat PS4.
"With the release of Ghost of Yotei helping the stats, 13,2 million first-party games were sold in the same quarter"
I think it's safe to say Yotei already pass 5-6 million copies. But i'm curious what's the rest. Death Stranding 2? GoW Ragnarok? TloU 2 remaster? GT 7? Spiderman 2? Astro Bot? Horizon? Ratchet? Demon's Souls? Returnal? Sony should show the numbers, at least for top 10.
But I was told the PS5 was bad....
@Oram77 Only bad when you go online. Normal people still find it the most comfortable and hassle free way to play games.
I feel a bit weird about the PS5. It's the best console they've made, load times are lightning fast, the console is silent, the design is great, the DualSense is better than any other controller (except when it comes to battery life).
But at the same time, in my opinion there was no game that defined the generation. The most successful games weren't necessarily technical marvels and most of them were also sold on the PS4. I keep feeling like the PS5 didn't spread its wings because it was hampered by the PS4.
I still love it and it's my main console since I bought it for Christmas in 2021.
It’ll never beat the PS2 but has a damn good chance of beating the PS4 now, what with how close its tracking and the probability that this generation will be extended.
They've done well to outlast a major rival, but in that context, these sales figures aren't amazing.
Xbox sales have been almost non-existent this generation but Sony haven't managed to expand their install base much beyond what it was when they were a competitor.
A few other stats from the report.
It will definitely be the 2nd best selling console, I don't think it can beat the PS2.
But if a PS6 is slated to come later like 2028-2029, it could be possible to get to near to 130-140.
@Czar_Khastik
People's favourite is usually PS2 but PS3 was my beloved. GoW3, Uncharted2&3, The Last of Us and inFamous1&2 were enough.
I really would like to see up to date sales numbers on first party stuff in these quarterly reports. I am curious about them. Nintendo does this and I think it is great to see them. I think it will surpass PS4&3 for sure with GTAVI.
@Shepherd_Tallon Absolutely, glad we're in the same Sony OLED club! I mean, I expected the games to look better as you said, but when I booted up Tony Hawk 3+4 and kickfliped around Canada, I was blown away with how good it looks and sounds.
The PS3 was a also pleasant surprise: I knew Sony has some great image processing chips in their TVs but this I did not expect. Ridge racer always looked good, but the color contrasts and the audio are sick on the Bravia 8 II.
@Scottyy PS2 for me is a landmark and can't be beaten (maybe by the PS1 due to nostalgia) but I had to unplug it since the new TV is a bit larger than my old one, so the new OLED and the old CRT Trinitron could not fit on the TV stand. I will think of something, but I must confess that I was playing only the PS5 recently due to it having a rest mode which really comes in handy when you're a dad having an hour for playing games before bedtime.
@cainhurst94 Oh I'm aware, just makes me laugh how delulu people on social media can be.
@Pat_trick I think there's a few things going on here. But I wonder when the last time you actually played a game on the PS4, because side by side it is night and day. Firstly frame rates almost always 60fps vs an often shaky 30fps. Then load times, sometimes they simply don't even exist on PS5 when they do on PS4, sometimes even taking minutes. The other big one is textures and resolution which is noticeably higher. All in all it's still a big leap, it may just not be all in graphics.
That said PS4 is still a powerful enough to play most of these games 720p -1080p @30fps with lower pre-sets on everything. It's like a vaseline smeared version of the PS5. Fine for some, would you want to play that version.
The other trouble is we have reached diminishing returns for graphics, even Digital Foundry have to zoom in and slow things down or pause them to highlight things like draw distances, different lighting models or ray tracing. Devs are more limited by time, budget and skill than they are by hardware.
@Czar_Khastik I was just playing on PS3 yesterday and I am happy with it with the exception of creaking controller . This only shows how the technical evolution slows down, sometimes there is less difference between PS3 and PS5 than there was with PS2 and PS3.
@Shepherd_Tallon @Czar_Khastik OLED is a must for PS5. I like the most how strong in-game light literally flashes out of the screen into the room when playing in dark.
@themightyant
PS4 had more competition by Xbox than PS5 has. So I find the PS5 numbers kind of disappointing. But I also see what Trump‘s favourite word is doing here.
GTA6 will shift 10m PS5s extra.
@Stepan THE CREAKING CONTROLLER! For some time I thought I was the only one having that since it never happened with my PS4 and PS5 controllers. And also what's weird is that a friend of mine gave me an original sixaxis controller and that old thing doesn't creak, but my barely used dualshock 3 creaks.
@Pat_trick
Why are you using the past tense?
What is the one game that defined PS1, PS2, PS3, and PS4? Even if you somehow provide an answer, the problem is that everyone has to agree in order for your logic to be applicable.
Furthermore, we have all heard of GTA VI, right? It is obviously going to be the generation-defining game and I'll say that whilst I cannot pick out any game for the previous gens, I can, in advance, pick it out for this gen. Ironic.
The ps3 will forever be sonys best console AND era.🙏
@Max_the_German I can see how you might think be disappointed. But I think there's a lot of factors going on over the last 5 years and when you weigh them all up PS5 has done great. e.g.
Ultimately PS4 AND PS5 have both been great successes in terms of unit sales.
P.S. Eh? Trump's favourite word?
@Cry_Zero I respect your choice, but for me it's either the PS2 or PS4 era.... gun to my head I would have to pick PS4
@stocko An interesting fact is that the PS4 sold faster than the PS2. It reached 100 million in 5 years 7 months versus 5 years 9 months for PS2. The only reason PS2 sold so many more is because Sony kept selling it well after the PS3 came out, especially marketing it in emerging markets LATAM etc. whereas since PS3 they have moved on quickly to the new console worldwide.
PS5 is about in line with PS2 give or take a month. One big game like GTA6 could escalate it ahead of PS2 or even PS4 launch aligned.
@themightyant Yeah it's very possible for PS5 to outsell PS1 either this year or early next year. And i agree it doesn't need to outsell PS4 although i think it's still possible.
@Pat_trick "But at the same time, in my opinion there was no game that defined the generation"
R&C Rift Apart? Spiderman 2? Death Stranding 2? Astro Bot? FF 16?
GTA 6 and Intergalactic also have potential as game of this generation.
@Max_the_German tbf a lot of Xbox one users probably had a PS4 as well so you wouldn't see much of a jump in the share of the market for Sony, plus id wager most of the players leaving Xbox are just going to PC as they can play their already bought games there.
@themightyant Trump says his favourite word is „tariff“.
@PuppetMaster Most of the games you cited are great, but not generation defining.
Also in my opinion Spider-Man 2 is a downgrade in most aspects except graphical fidelity.
I agree with GTA VI being a possibility, but as a reminder, that's six years into the console lifespan.
@UltimateOtaku91
Good points! Most Xbox gamers should also have a PlayStation (that wasn’t that clear to me, but is very reasonable). And with the end of Xbox exclusivity, there is just no need for getting an Xbox as a secondary console. That could also contribute to the very high sales on the PS Store, with game sales that are shifted from Xbox to PS5.
@EfYI If you paid attention to my comment, you would've noticed I start with "I feel". I'm clearly not coming for an argument of logic.
To me and a lot of people Bloodborne was generation defining, and it came out earlier in the console's lifespan than GTA VI will.
Also you come from a place of "logic", yet you state GTA VI will be generation defining. The game is not out, so there's absolutely no agreement that it has defined this generation. Ironic.
@Stepan Yes! I was saying something similar to a friend not that long ago - The TV lights up the whole room.
Do we know how many Pro's have been sold in total, @themightyant?
Well, I've bought added twice to the PS5s totals; first I received my base PS5 the day it released, and yesterday I received my PS5 Pro. Both are excellent machines, though I have not used my Pro yet as the first game I want to play on it is Resident Evil: Requiem and I am finishing up a game on my Xbox in the meantime...
@Fiendish-Beaver No. No data on total PS5 Pro sales have been released. But we do know it's doing well in certain territories.
e.g. 13% of all PS5 consoles sold in the US during 2025, according to Circana (formerly NPD) who have sales data. That's in line with PS4 Pro which is surprising considering the added cost. Most assumed it would be worse.
In Japan 25% of all PS5s sold since PS5 Pro released (Nov 2024) have been the Pro model. See here and here.
There are other stats out there but they aren't official / don't come from as reputable sources. But they all point to a hit.
Let's not forget that the PS4's sales figures were capped at 117 million by Sony not being bothered to count them any more.
As we saw with the PS2 though, we'll no doubt get the final total as and when they stop selling them (which they've not done yet). Must've cleared 120 million by now?
@sanderson72 PS4 would continue to sell a little, at a trickle, but it's unlikely to change the total massively. Maybe a couple of million, three at a push.
The key difference with the PS2 is Sony kept selling, and marketing, PS2 as their lead console in many countries even after the PS3 had released in North America, Europe etc.
E.g. PS3 didn't release in Brazil, the largest South American PlayStation fanbase by far, until August 2010, almost four years after PS3's release. It effectively extended PS2 life cycle to almost two generations worldwide.
I think it would have already cleared PS1 sales as well if Covid didn't happen.
@themightyant The japanese market is strange, one one hand, PS5 is supposedly too expensive there (until that special budget model came) and on the other so many of buyers go for Pro. I guess either they don't have the luxury to own big TV set with console or they go straight for the better options.
@Stepan Yes. It's about demographics. The PS5 is expensive in Japan, so if you have the money for a PS5 you are more likely to also have the money for a PS5 Pro, hence the large percentage uptake of that model.
Massive success of the Switch probably impacted sales?
Thank you, @themightyant. That's interesting. As we know, there are some individuals who like to dump all over the PS5 on the Xbox forums, and it would be good to have some numbers to push back against his assertions. I imagine, if he saw this article, he'd be fuming to see the PS5 doing so well... 😂
Can't play GTA 6 on PS4, or even pc they're about to sell a ***** load more
I am so tired of seeing companies list their digital to physical sales data without a breakdown. This leads to all the stupid youtubers saying physical is dead videos. I want to see what the ratio of new titles physical to digital is. In these sony numbers they are including every game on the digital store front. So a game that has been out 25 years and goes 90% off during the holidays, lets say like Destroy All Humans or something and it's 1.99 and it sales 350,000 copies gets included into this data. Now multiple this by 5,000 games and then they report "well looks like digital is dominating physical" while the real new games are closer to 50/50 split or higher for physical. The reason this concerns me is by reporting the numbers this way people may feel like everyone else is doing it and I better get on board with dropping physical and this is just not the case. It's the way they are reporting it.
Easy 100 mil by year’s end then due to the inevitable GTA6 boost.
PS3 has a better games library than PS5
@Fiendish-Beaver They just move the goal posts as they always do. I try not to engage, but sometimes when people are spouting utter nonsense as fact you have to call it out.
I've been disagreeing with him a fair bit recently, @themightyant, and had a couple of my comments removed (as did he), so I'm trying to be a little more choosy in the battles I wage... 😂
Just get 60FPS on Pro GTA6 and it will take off as well sales wise.
Well I would hope so; PS3 (especially at launch) was a massive fumble for Sony. I and everyone I know jumped over to Microsoft that gen, and I have no regrets. But don’t get me wrong: I was happy to switch back to Sony when the PS4 reveal knocked it out of the park!
@PuppetMaster i could see a wolverine console being a good seller , i see it going over 100 million by Christmas time
I think we have become jaded to things selling in the millions, but 92M is a metric sh*t ton of units. Most people can't imagine that many.
@Pat_trick
Bloodborne is a good one, actually.
You are talking to a hopeless case, unfortunately, when it comes to Soulslike games. I simply do not enjoy them at all!
Most credible video game (industry) commentators (all of them?) are saying that GTA VI will be the biggest game launch of all time and Rockstar has delivered on GTA and Red Dead Redemption. I could bet my buttom dollar it is of the highest attainable quality.
To me, it makes sense that the console generation-defining game only arrives when the console's well established. But if it needs to be in the first part of the "life cycle" (which makes less and less sense because of the smaller leaps between each generation) we have 3 of the best games ever made in KCD2, BG3 and Disco Elysium.
It will be interesting to see how far GTA propels these numbers. I've never been interested in the series personally but it's mental how many non gamers has asked when it's out as they will buy a console to play one game.
due to the delay of the ps6 to 2029-2030 it is possible the ps5 tops the ps2 in console sales when it is all said and done..
I've had every PlayStation except the ps4 pro and the ps5 is my fave. It dosnt have the greatest ui but next to the ps2 it's the most silent and certainly the easiest to keep dust free. I just love being able to play all my ps4 games pro enhanced. The only real gripe I have is the battery life in the controller although the midnight black one that replaced my original does last about an hour longer on average. I liked my ps3 even though I thought the online play could be really atrocious at times and I really miss bad company 2 which I thought was the best game on it. Glad the ps5 is doing so well.
The PS5 can't outsell the PS2 because no PlayStation will ever be as good as the PS2. We all know videogames and the industry were way better back then, this is why our nostalgia is constantly manipulated now.
I’ve been gaming for 48 years and the PS5’s success makes sense to me. Consoles have done well by being an affordable way to play games on tv at a reasonable cost and with little fuss and while times are tough for developers as a whole due to an abundance of strong competition, they have been great for games/gamers.
I’ll also say that whiles times have been tough for game studios that is because successes have longer tails (in the form of post launch content, both free and paid) than ever. That ability of existing games to update and even radically change post launch doesn’t preclude new games from succeeding (tips hat to Unicorn Overlord, Cronos: The New Dawn, The Elden Ring, Dispatch and Arc Raiders) but logically it must make things a little tougher.
Tariffs and soaring component prices are a huge issue for Sony and everyone else trying to sell hardware to consumers but Sony seems to be trying to keep things in check. Of course the fact the PS5 unlike its predecessors is slightly more expensive than it was at launch as opposed to much cheaper is a huge issue which no doubt will keep many parents and/or people without much money to burn from buying one.
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/ps5-price-increase-unlikely-for-now-as-sony-moves-to-protect-supply/1100-6537958/
Amid an ongoing global memory shortage driven by AI companies, will the PS5 console see another price hike? Sony isn't saying yes or no to that question, but it has confirmed it has a supply of memory to meet demand for PS5 consoles throughout 2026.
"As for securing a supply of memory, we are already in a position to secure the minimum quantity necessary to manage the year-end selling season of next fiscal year--October to December 2026," Sony CFO Lin Tao said (via This Week in Videogames). "Going forward, we intend to further negotiate with various suppliers to secure enough supply to meet the demand of our customers."
@Czar_Khastik hear hear buddy! My love for PS3 is boundless. 8m is one quarter is insane though. GTA6 is gonna send this thing into the stratosphere.. glad I’m pro ready 😁
Not surprising when there's no competition
Well, that's good to hear. 🙂
Keep going, PS5.
@Dampsponge that's not how it works. Even if it were the only console available, there'd be no guarantee it'd sell well.
@JDINCINERATOR nah. Ps2 also sold well because it was the cheapest DVD player when DVDs were all the rage. Plus it sold well in some less developed countries, since it went as low as 99 USD. Ps5 won't have that luxury.
@Czar_Khastik after owning PS1 and PS2, I jumped ship to Xbox 360 which I think was the better ecosystem for the first two thirds of that particular generation. Then, with The Last of Us, Heavy Rain, Beyond Two Souls, Uncharted 1-3, Shadow of the Colossus/Ico remasters, Infamous 1+2, Killzone 2+3, Resistance 1+2 - I just had to grab a PS3 for the final third of that generation. Also the controller was so much better for Pro Evo Soccer.
Edit: totally forgot GOW 3/Ascension! Probably the best PS generation for games if not overall sales.
@Czar_Khastik RIIIIIIIIIIIDGE RAAAAAACER!
Now that's a great find! Glad to hear that they pair up well!
@JDINCINERATOR nostalgia is the killer of progress and creativity. People latch on to the past and always think things were better back then. Little do we know that it’s because it’s likely we lead simpler lives and had fewer worries.
Anyway, PS2 had many things that benefited it and lead it to be the commercial success that it is. But it’s not better than PS5. And if you list off why you think it’s better. I best most those things will reflect that it’s pure nostalgia.
Great numbers for sure. I hope that with the issues facing Sony when it comes to making a new console that they let the generation go on for a few more years, they really don’t have competition from Microsoft now, so there is zero need to even try to match their ambitions to get the next (probably insanely priced) Xbox to market. Let this generation simmer, allow for as many game to still get released and don’t worry about going cross generation like we had this time again. I don’t feel like this generation ever really got going. It still feels like it has at least 3 more years in it!
@trev666 i see a lot of people saying this , but honestly there were a lot of ps3's sold and their games sold really really poorly, i think killzone 3 and resistance 3 both sold around 1 million copies each or less.
@twitchtvpat Granted not every PS3 game sold well but based on the data I’ve seen the tie in ratio was good (roughly 11:1). There is a lot more data at the link if you are curious. If you have other sources that say different I’d like to read them.
https://sonyinteractive.com/en/our-company/business-data-sales/
Cumulative Worldwide Hardware Unit Sales (Sell-in)
PlayStation 5 More than 92.1 million
(As of December 31, 2025)
PlayStation 4 More than 117 million
(As of June 30, 2022)
PlayStation 3 More than 87.4 million
(As of March 31, 2017)
PlayStation Software
Cumulative Worldwide Software Unit Sales (Sell-in)
PlayStation More than 962.0 million
(As of March 31, 2012)
PlayStation 2 More than 1537.0 million
(As of March 31, 2012)
PSP (PlayStation Portable) More than 331.0 million
(As of March 31, 2012)
PlayStation 3 More than 999.4 million
(As of March 31, 2019)
PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5* More than 1.566 billion
(as of December 31, 2025)
*Including physical and download-only titles, PS VR titles as well as software bundled with PS4, PS5, and software for PS VR
Sales data on PlayStation® Vita are not disclosed
@twitchtvpat Back then the budget wasn't as high as PS4/5 gen. Uncharted 2 for example, based on Eurogamer report the budget was estimated around $20 million. So Resistance 3 and Killzone 3 possibly got break even + earned some profit despite they only sold 1-2 million copies.
But it's true that many 1st party PS3 games sold modest to not well like Puppeteer, White Knight Chronicles, Modnation Racers, LBP Karting, PS AllStars Battle Royale, Siren Blood Curse, Folklore, Lair, Starhawk, MAG, Twisted Metal, Genji, Afrika, Tokyo Jungle etc.
Despite the diverse lineup, PS3 was Sony most painful era because the result was the start for many studio closure (Japan studio, London studio, Zipper, Evolution etc).
@twitchtvpat thats not what i posted i said games library not sales figures.
if all your interested in is sales figures you end up with chasing live service games
ps3 games library
uncharted
uncharted 2
uncharted 3
red dead redemption
gta 4
gta 5
resistance
Resistance 2
Resistance 3
Killzone 2
Killzone 3
infamous
Infamous 2
metal gear solid 4
spec ops the line
Darkness
last of us
heavy rain move edition
beyond two souls
batman arkham asylum
batman arkham city
batman arkham origins
enslaved
south park stick of truth
dead space
dead space 2
dead space 3
deus ex human revolution
Fallout 3
fallout new vegas
mass effect
mass effect 2
mass effect 3
Darkness 2
max payne 3
bioshock
Bioshock 2
bioshock infinite
not a bad library of games
The ps5 is a huge success in europe.
If the next gen really is delayed this can come to rival the ps2.
@AhmadSumadi The PS2 is a better console in spite of nostalgia. If you look back you'll notice the PS2 was thriving with many different kinds of games, ones that too creative risks and weren't afraid to tell stories. The PS5 however, doesn't take those same risks. Now I know that every gaming system like every industry runs in accordance with what is acceptable within the culture that surrounds it. So while the PS2 had risk-taking games that had grit like The Getaway or the Def Jam games, the PS5 and the games on it are softer because our culture is softer. So my point is the PS2 is better, not just because of nostalgia, but because it wasn't restrained by the culture that surrounded it, whereas the PS5 is.
The PS5 is a much better system technically that is indisputable, but many of the games are safe and are designed with trends in mind. If the PS5 did things differently and wasn't carrying on from what the PS4 accomplished, then it would be an outstanding system. Yes, the PS5 has many great games, I'm not arguing that either, but again it exists in a time where the games industry has been corrupted by many issues, whereas the PS2 was representative of creative freedom.
We've cultivated a culture that has made things the way they are, and as such the PS5 is part of this vision. So no, the PS2 isn't just better than the PS5 due to nostalgia, it's better than the PS5 because it was indicative of a culture that far more expressive, and SONY capitalized on it perfectly.
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