Sony hit the milestone over the bank holiday weekend, but without the notorious chip shortages, it would have sold a lot more and a lot quicker.
The Playstation 5 craze doesn’t show any signs of slowing down as Sony announced they’d crossed the magical 20 million units sold mark. It’s quite impressive as the entire industry has been near-crippled by the component shortages, affecting both Playstation and Xbox.
The PS5 is still lagging behind the Playstation 4 in sales. As noted by Daniel Ahmad on Twitter (see below), PS4 sold 20 million units in 471 days whereas the PS5 took 568 days to do the same. It’s disappointing for Sony considering how great the new console is supposed to be, but understandable given the circumstances.
For reference, the PS4 sold 20m units in 15 months and 14 days (471) days.
The PS5 hits 20m units after 18 months and 22 days (568 days).
It’s worth noting that the PS5 actually hit 10m faster than the PS4 did. But the issues with supply is the reason why it’s behind now https://t.co/TVYbguCjvH
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) June 3, 2022
Playstation has started to slowly phase out its previous console, the classic PS4, by choosing to release certain titles for only its newest console. This in turn has likely only served to increase demand for the console, which currently sells out in minutes when online stores get the stock back in.
Veronica Rogers, Senior Vice President of business operations at Sony did offer some words of comfort for the fans who haven’t been able to purchase a PS5 yet.
“To those fans who have yet to get their hands on a console,” she said, “please know that we are planning on a significant ramp-up in PS5 production this year and we are working endlessly to make sure that PlayStation 5 is available for everyone who wants one.”
It’s unclear how Sony plans on dealing with the components that aren’t available at the moment, but Rogers seems confident that better days are ahead.
