The Japanese entertainment giant Sony announced on Wednesday that it had reached the milestone of 50 million copies sold of its PlayStation 5 console, three years after its debut, confirming a strong acceleration in its sales long hampered by shortages.
“Thanks to the support of PlayStation fans around the world, the PS5 console has seen strong momentum this year, driven by a series of very popular games,” Sony said in a press release.
Sales were notably supported by successful game releases, such as Marvel’s Spider-man 2 which sold more than 2.5 million copies in just 24 hours upon its release at the end of October, but also the role-playing game Baldur’s Gate 3 or the survival horror title Alan Wake 2.
Production and shipments of the console, released in November 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, have long been burdened by semiconductor shortages and global disruptions to supply chains linked to health measures taken in many countries. .
“We are delighted to see that this is the first time since the launch of the PS5 that we have a full stock of consoles for the holidays, allowing everyone who wants to acquire one “, commented Jim Ryan, president of Sony’s video games division, quoted in the press release.
This milestone was reached by Sony’s latest console 161 weeks after its launch, just one more than the 160 weeks it took for the PlayStation 4, released in 2013, to exceed 50 million units sold, d ‘after data from Financial Times.
The PS5’s sales figures “are impressive, considering it wasn’t really available in stores for half of its life cycle” due to shortages, commented analyst Serkan Toto of Kantan Games.
“Sony smartly used the momentum from the success of the PS4 to bring the PS5 to market,” added Mr. Toto, according to whom “Sony may be able to surpass the incredible sales of the PS4.”
The PlayStation 4 has sold more than 117 million copies over its entire life cycle, according to the specialist site VGChartz. Across all brands, the best-selling console of all time remains the PlayStation 2, with more than 158 million units.