PS5 Sales Reach 10 Million (Record Breaking)

Despite the scarcity, Sony’s latest console, the PS5, has once again passed another milestone in record time. The next generation PlayStation 5 has now sold over 10 million units, despite people claiming they can’t find one. I am curious if the PS5 would have better sales if the supply was able to keep up with demand or if the system is selling ultra fast because of the limited availability and people who wouldn’t normally buy one taking a flier on the system. Either way the PS5 has now become the fastest selling Sony console hitting ten million units from the release on November 12, 2020 until July 18, 2021.

This means in just over 8 months the company has sold ten million units globally and at a rate of about 1.25 million units per month. With a little simple math based on how long the PS4 was on the market until the launch of the PS5 is 8 years give or take a few days or 96 months. If Sony continues to sell at a rate of 1.25 units per month for that long then we are looking at 120 million units

This means that as of the last update would put it above total PS4 sales which around somewhere around 115 million units. The previous record for a Sony console can be found with a quick Google search and seeing a post on the official PlayStation Blog in 2014 about the success of the PS4. The PS4 sold 10 million units and 30 million PS4 games in about 9 months.

While Sony didn’t disclose selling over 30 million games this time around they did share some specifics on software. Obviously, Sony wanted to highlight the performance of PlayStation studios games with Spider Man: Miles Morales selling more than 6.5 million copies, MLB: The Show 21 selling more than 2 million copies with over 4 million players. It doesnt say how many of the copies sold were for Xbox but at least 2 million of those users are on Game Pass because there is no other explanation for how you can have double the amount of users compared to the copies sold.

Then there was some data that interesting for two reasons. One, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, a highly touted exclusive from Insomniac has sold 1.1 million in just over a month of availability. Easily you can see that not only is this figure very impressive on its own, it also is very impressive for a system that has only sold 10 million units meaning that ten percent of PS5 owners bought the next gen Ratchet experience.

The other data that was a little disappointing for me was that the now first party studio, Housemarque and their very impressive time loop rogue like Returnal has only managed to sell around 560 000 copies since its release on April 30. I was hoping that with the critical success and the positive word of mouth, Returnal would have been able to sell more copies.

Although, there is plenty of silver lining with this sales figure. First, this has to be the best selling Housemarque game to date, especially considering that it was full next gen price. Second, Sony is obviously impressed with this sales figure as they acquired the independent Swedish Studio post release. Finally, over half a million copies is still a great feat when compared to the systems sold meaning that around 5 percent of PS5 owners purchased Returnal in just two months. Hopefully with some sales and new gamers joining the ecosystem, Returnal with have a long tail of sales.

Jim Ryan also tried to assure fans that they are doing their best. “While PS5 has reached more households faster than any of our previous consoles, we still have a lot of work ahead of us as demand for PS5 continues to outstrip supply. I want gamers to know that while we continue to face unique challenges throughout the world that affect our industry and many others, improving inventory levels remains a top priority for SIE”

If you haven’t been able to get your hands on a PS5 just yet, time will come as we have seen this play out time and time again over the years from the launch of every PlayStation system, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo classic mini consoles and many others over history. Eventually, supply catches up with demand and scalpers have less of a guaranteed product on their hands and they will move on to the next hot ticket item they can find. It becomes a domino effect as inventory levels get raised and then all of a sudden all of these scalpers aren’t buying them anymore, meaning finding a PS5 becomes as easy as walking into any store or logging onto Amazon.

We also took a more data oriented approach on the best time to buy a next gen console and it turns out that when looking at many factors, the best time is 17.5 months. Inventory levels are high, sales or good bundles start to happen, studios are learning how to harness more power from next generation system, you are still getting high value from your purchase for years to come and there is plenty of content. Content on the PS5 including the sequel to God of War, Horizon Forbidden West, Deathloop, and Gran Turismo 7. All titles which should be either available or releasing around 17.5 months.

If you are still looking for a PS5 or Xbox Series X then your best time to purchase one is around April 2022.