Sony’s latest console, the PlayStation 5, has been a great success in the market, but it has not yet been able to surpass its predecessor, the PlayStation 4. PS5 sales have reached 40 million units worldwide, which is only slightly behind the 43 million PS4 sales in the same period.

According to Sony, the PS5 has reached 40 million sales, slightly behind the PS4. PS5 already supports expansion storage via USB, but it’s only for playing PS4 games and storing PS5 games Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) claims that PlayStation 5 sales have reached 40 million units worldwide.

The PS4 remains the fastest-selling Sony console to reach 40 million units sold, having reportedly hit the milestone two months earlier, though it hasn’t faced the same Covid-related supply issues that have slowed the PS5’s momentum.

“We introduced the PlayStation 5 in November 2020, and the world was in a strange and different place than when we announced the console in 2019,” said Jim Ryan, CEO of SIE.

“Despite the unprecedented challenges posed by COVID, our teams and partners worked diligently to deliver PS5 on time. We continued to face headwinds from the pandemic, and it took months for supply chains to normalize for us to have inventory to meet demand. For months than “For as long as I can remember, we’ve been thanking our community for their patience while we worked through these issues. But now PS5 inventories are well stocked and we’re seeing the pent-up demand finally make its way to the console.”

Sony recently announced that it plans to sell a record number of PlayStation consoles in the current fiscal year.

The company aims to ship 25 million PS5 consoles during fiscal year 2023 (the 12-month period ending March 31, 2024). If successful, it would break the console sales record set 25 years ago when the original PlayStation shipped 22.6 million units in FY98.

Sony revealed its PS5 annual target as part of its FY2022 results in April.

In the fourth quarter of its most recent fiscal year, which ended in March, the company shipped 6.3 million PS5 consoles, reaching a lifetime value of 38.3 million units.

That number was a record for any game console in the first three months of a calendar year, and double the PS4’s all-time high for the same period. The recent boost in PS5 sales has been fueled by major price promotions, with temporary $50 / £75 / €75 / €75 price cuts reportedly set to be announced soon in the US and Europe.

Sony may be trying to clear inventory before unconfirmed plans to introduce a new PS5 model with a removable disc drive later this year.

Source: Video Games Chronicle