A good run… A GREAT run…
The latest quarterly financial report from Sony has revealed that sales of the PlayStation 4 are finally starting to slow down, as the super-popular games console enters its twilight years.
In the “Holiday quarter” of 2019, Sony shifted 6.1 million PS4 consoles. Not a number to be sniffed at, although it is down on the 8.1 million sold during the same period in 2018. To date, PlayStation 4 has now sold 108.9 million units worldwide, beating out such legends as the original PlayStation and the Nintendo Wii to become the second greatest-selling console of all time. Only that pesky PlayStation 2 still stands in its way with its staggering 155 million units.
PlayStation software also saw a downswing in numbers, with 81.1 million software units sold in the third quarter of 2019, down on the previous year’s 87.2 million. Of note, 49% of software sales were digital, as physical game purchases continue to shrink year on year.
One area that did see growth for Sony is its paid subscription service PlayStation Plus, which, as of the end of 2019, has 38.8 million subscribers – an increase of 2.5 million subscribers on the previous year.
The end of 2020 will see the anticipated launch of PlayStation 5, and with it the dawning of a whole new generation. PlayStation 4 and its aligned console generation has been an incredible financial success for Sony, one the company will no doubt be hoping to replicate in the coming years. PlayStation 5 launches worldwide in late 2020.
Sony PlayStation quarterly results [@ZhugeEX]
