Sony PlayStation 5 Records with 40 Million Units Sold Since Launch
The SIE CEO claims that it took months for the console juggernaut to meet consumer requirements.
Varun Gavankar 
Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has revealed that 40 million PlayStation 5 (PS5) systems have been sold globally. Despite difficulties brought on by COVID-19, the business was able to release the PS5 on schedule in November 2020. The PS4, which reached this milestone two months earlier, continues to be the Sony system with the fastest sales growth to 40 million units.
Jim Ryan, CEO of SIE, thanked customers for being patient amid the pandemic-related supply chain problems. He said that the PS5 supply is now plentiful and that the demand that has been building up is now being satisfied.
"It took months for supply chains to normalise so we could have the inventory to keep up with demand," Sony Interactive CEO Jim Ryan said in a release.
By March 31, 2024, Sony hopes to have shipped 25 million PS5 systems, which is one of its lofty targets for the current fiscal year. If accomplished, this will break the previous record for console sales held by the original PlayStation, which sold 22.6 million systems in FY98.
Sony shipped 6.3 million PS5 Consoles in the fourth quarter of the previous fiscal year, for a total of 38.3 million units sold throughout the course of the whole fiscal year. It doubled the PS4's peak sales within the first three months of the year, setting a record for any video gaming system.
In contrast, Microsoft withholds sales data for their Xbox Series X/S consoles—also introduced in November 2020—from the general public. However, rumors claim that a slide with a cumulative total of 21 million Xbox Series X/S devices sold was displayed during the Big Festival 2023 in Brazil. Microsoft, however, has neither verified nor refuted these claims.
Sony has employed considerable price discounts to sustain sales momentum, and there are rumors of a brief price reduction in the US and EU. There are also speculations that Sony will introduce a new PS5 model with a removable disc drive later this year.
