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With the weekend coming up, a growing number of people will be looking forward to settling down on the couch, bean bag, or in some cases perhaps that super-duper gaming chair with speakers built into the frame, and getting ready to do battle on their video game platform of choice. For many, that is the PlayStation and Sony (NYSE: SNE, initial buy $13.64) this week announced the PlayStation 4 has smashed through the 30 million unit sales mark as of 22 November.
That marks an extraordinary run for the PS4 and the fastest growth of any console in PlayStation hardware industry.
The PS4 launched just a little over two years ago on November 15, 2013 in North America and was a little more widely released later that month, with Australia one of the countries to be part of the second wave. The PS4 has blitzed the Xbox One in terms of sales, which are thought to be somewhere between 15 and 18 million currently as Microsoft hasn’t released any sales figures for some time. The Nintendo Wii U is not really in the same league as the other two consoles, but is still thought of as being part of the same generation and as of September unit sales were a rather paltry 10.7 million.
The latest total is a nice jump from the over 20 million unit sales as of March this year and around 25 million in September, likely given an assist by price cuts in the American, European and Japanese markets. And we expect to see these discounts rolled out more widely soon. According to Sony’s press release, the PS4 is currently available in 124 countries and regions worldwide. The PS4 still has a long way to run as we expect the lifecycle of this generation to be at least 6 – 7 years. Sony will be hoping the PS4 can go on to surpass the PS2 as the best selling console and to do this, the PS4 will need to break 155 million in unit sales.
Along with the image sensor business, the PlayStation is spearheading Sony’s hopes to return its core consumer electronics business to growth. The PlayStation experience has expanded to include streaming gaming via a subscription service and on-demand TV. Next year Sony is set to launch its virtual reality (VR) headset, as the next chapter of its gaming experience.
Some upcoming games that are likely to be popular this holiday season and drive additional PS4 sales are Bloodbourne: The Old Hunters Edition and Gravity Rush Remastered. Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 has been selling like hot cakes and Star Wars Battlefront has been EA’s biggest digital launch yet – which can at least be in part attributed to the buzz for Lucasfilm’s and Disney’s (NYSE: DIS, initial buy $48.60) upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
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