Since last November, when Sony launched Playstation 4, the Japanese company’s video game console sold like hotcakes (or is it the other way around?), hitting milestone after milestone.
A month after Sony announced that it had sold 6 million PS4 consoles, another important milestone is hit in the form of 7 million sales. Obviously, the Xbox One is not doing so well, but more on that soon. The Japanese company also announced that it sold 20.5 million copies of PS4 software (as in games) worldwide, and this is yet another impressive achievement from them.
Andrew House, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, stated in a press release that “The PS4 journey has just begun, and although we are still facing difficulties keeping up with the strong demand worldwide, we remain steadfast in our commitment to meet the needs of our customers, and surpassing the wildest expectations of gamers, by delivering new user experiences that inspire and engage.”
Sony currently sells the PS4 in 72 countries, its homeland being one of the most important markets. Just to put things into perspective, it took Sony less than 10 days to sell 370,000 units in Japan. From this point of view, Microsoft and its Xbox One are lacking, as the Redmond tech giant’s video game console is nowhere near as widely available.
The fact that Microsoft bundled hit game Titanfall with its Xbox One at no additional cost definitely had a major impact on the sales of this console. More than that, British retailers cut the price of the bundle even more, thus making the PS4 less attractive. In the end, it looks like it’s certain games that determine people to pick Xbox One over PS4 and vice versa.
All these numbers, despite being very impressive, didn’t affect Sony’s stock price that much. So why did Sony want to release sales figures now? Well, in February the Japanese company’s revenue generated by the PS4 sales in the US beat Microsoft’s by an inch, and that’s a feat, considering that the Xbox One has a higher price tag.
Come September, when the Xbox One gets launched in 26 more countries, Sony will have to struggle even harder the top position, especially since some of these countries are key markets in Europe, Middle East and Asia, including Israel, UAE, Korea and Japan.
Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the Playstation 4’s user interface and Google’s Android console and smartwatch.
